Ivanhoe
Vocabulary

3 uses

They promised implicit obedience, and departed with alacrity on their different errands.†

alacrity = quickness; and/or cheerful eagerness

2 uses

The royal policy had long been to weaken, by every means, legal or illegal, the strength of a part of the population which was justly considered as nourishing the most inveterate antipathy to their victor.†

antipathy = strong dislike

2 uses

The whole peaceful and quiet scene lay glimmering in twilight before the eyes of the traveller, giving him good assurance of lodging for the night; since it was a special duty of those hermits who dwelt in the woods, to exercise hospitality towards benighted or bewildered passengers.†

benighted = lacking enlightenment, knowledge, or culture

2 uses

All were silent; for none thought it safe, in the presence of the Grand Master, to avow any interest in the calumniated prisoner, lest he should be suspected of leaning towards Judaism.†

calumniated = false accusation against a person

3 uses

He told every rivet on my armour with a cloth-yard shaft, that rapped against my ribs with as little compunction as if my bones had been of iron—But that I wore a shirt of Spanish mail under my plate-coat, I had been fairly sped.†

compunction = guilt for a misdeed; or a feeling that it would be wrong to do something

5 uses

"If thou refusest my fair proffer," said the Prince, "the Provost of the lists shall cut thy bowstring, break thy bow and arrows, and expel thee from the presence as a faint-hearted craven."†

craven = exceedingly cowardly; or someone who is exceedingly cowardly

2 uses

But there was less equivocal testimony, which the credulity of the assembly, or of the greater part, greedily swallowed, however incredible.†

credulity = gullibility (being too willing to believe)

3 uses

The combat was to cease as soon as Prince John should throw down his leading staff, or truncheon; another precaution usually taken to prevent the unnecessary effusion of blood by the too long endurance of a sport so desperate.†

effusion = an enthusiastic expression of feelings or thoughts

or:

something flowing or given off (often a liquid or gas under pressure such as blood or leaking gas)

3 uses

Nay, in the last capital, being, as it were, the cope-stone which our blessed founder placed on the pure and undefiled doctrine which he had enjoined, we are prohibited from offering, even to our sisters and our mothers, the kiss of affection—'ut omnium mulierum fugiantur oscula'.†

enjoined = to command someone to do (or not do) something

3 uses

"Alas!" replied Prince John, with a deep sigh of affected sympathy, "since your son was a follower of my unhappy brother, it need not be enquired where or from whom he learned the lesson of filial disobedience."†

filial = relating to the relationship of children to their parents

3 uses

He had exchanged his shirt of mail for an under tunic of dark purple silk, garnished with furs, over which flowed his long robe of spotless white, in ample folds.†

garnished = decorated or adorned

3 uses

"God's will be done," said Cedric, in a voice tremulous with passion, which Front-de-Boeuf imputed to fear.†

imputed = attribute (to say one thing is the cause of another—often to blame and often wrongly)

or:

believe something to have a characteristic; or assign a value to something

4 uses

The Disinherited Knight refused all other assistance save that of his own squire, or rather yeoman—a clownish-looking man, who, wrapt in a cloak of dark-coloured felt, and having his head and face half-buried in a Norman bonnet made of black fur, seemed to affect the incognito as much as his master.†

incognito = with identity hidden — such as via a disguise or false name

3 uses

The royal policy had long been to weaken, by every means, legal or illegal, the strength of a part of the population which was justly considered as nourishing the most inveterate antipathy to their victor.†

inveterate = habitual; or something of long standing

4 uses

Locksley now proceeded to the distribution of the spoil, which he performed with the most laudable impartiality.†

laudable = worthy of high praise

10 uses

—The Saxon porkers, whom I have slain, they were the foes of my country, and of my lineage, and of my liege lord.†

liege = a feudal lord entitled to allegiance and service

or:

a person who owes allegiance and service to a feudal lord

3 uses

King Richard was absent a prisoner, and in the power of the perfidious and cruel Duke of Austria.†

perfidious = not trustworthy (prone to intentional betrayal)

3 uses

But scarce was this done ere the portentous strength of the Black Knight forced his way inward in despite of De Bracy and his followers.†

portentous = very important; or indicating something important in the future

or:

acting overly important or serious

3 uses

It must be owned, that if an interest displayed in his success could have bribed the Disinherited Knight, the part of the lists before which he paused had merited his predilection.†

predilection = preference (a predisposition in favor of something)

3 uses

My father will willingly satiate thy utmost wishes; and if thou wilt act wisely, thou mayst purchase with our spoils thy restoration to civil society—mayst obtain pardon for past errors, and be placed beyond the necessity of committing more.†

satiate = to satisfy or indulge a hunger; or fill to satisfaction