The Faulkner Glossary

A
Abnegation: self-denial
"Two tears slid down her fallen cheeks, in and out of the myriad coruscations of immolation and abnegation and time" (The Sound and the Fury, p. 295).

"They went on, in a steady single file, the two backs in their rigid abnegation of all compromise more alike than actual blood could have made them" (Light in August, p. 148).

Acrimony: harshness
"He leaned on the rail, looking down at the trout which he had already spent, and suddenly the acrimony, the conflict, was gone from their voices…" (The Sound and the Fury, p. 118).

Adulant: Faulkner's variant of "adulatory": here, one who praises excessively
"Adulant. Adulant if not a husband he'd ignore God" (The Sound and the Fury, p. 111).

Adze: a cutting tool that has a thin arched blade set at right angles to the handle and is used chiefly for shaping wood
"Chuck. Chuck. Chuck. of the adze" (As I Lay Dying, p. 5).

Ague-fit: shivering due to a malarial fever
"She just stood there looking at me, shaking like an ague-fit, her hands clenched and kind of jerking" (The Sound and the Fury, p. 206).

Aguer: variant of "ague," a malarial fever
"…shaking like he had an aguer" (As I Lay Dying, p. 188).

A holt: as in "a hold"
"…take a holt of my hand" (As I Lay Dying, p. 139).

Ahun: as in "iron"
"Holding on to that ahun gate" (The Sound and the Fury, p. 6).

Aihy: as in "any"
En ef I'd a knowed of aihy one higher, we'd a been on it instead" (The Sound and the Fury, p. 114).

Aiming to: as in "intending to"
"Are you aiming to leave it laying there?" (As I Lay Dying, p. 31).

Airy: as in "every"
"You use airy one of them?" (The Sound and the Fury, p. 195).

Alpaca: the wool of a South American mammal related to the llama
"The visitor was undersized, in a shabby alpaca coat" (The Sound and the Fury, p. 293).

Ammoniac: the aromatic gum resin of a Persian herb
"…smells of cooling flesh and ammoniac hair…" (As I Lay Dying, p. 56).

"… faintly ammoniac with that breathless desertion of old stables…" (Light in August, p. 109).


Animal magnetism: a paranormal belief that humans and other organisms produce a magnetic force
"The animal magnetism of a dead body makes the stress come slanting, so the seams and joints of a coffin are made on the bevel" (As I Lay Dying, p. 83).

Annealment: a variant of "anneal," here it suggests the tempering and cooling of Dilsey's spirit as if it were glass or metal
"Dilsey sat bolt upright beside, crying rigidly and quietly in the annealment and the blood of the remembered Lamb" (The Sound and the Fury, p. 297).

Apotheosis: exaltation to divine rank, deification
"He would be sort of grand too, pulling in lonely state across the noon, rowing himself right out of noon, up the long bright air like an apotheosis" (The Sound and the Fury, p. 120).

"It was as if all their individual five senses had become one organ of looking, like an apotheosis…" (Light in August, p. 291).

Approbation: praise
"For a while still she looks down at him from the composite picture, neither with censure nor approbation" (As I Lay Dying, p. 48).

Arras:: a wall hanging, tapestry
"It seemed to him that he could see the yellow day opening peacefully on before him, like a corridor, an arras, into a still chiaroscuro without urgency" (Light in August, p. 111).

Asbestos: a fireproof material. Quentin may be referring to the fire curtain in old theaters, but "Asbestos" was also a brand name found on flat-irons (like the ones he uses to weigh himself down in the river).
"Theatrical fixture. Just papier-mache, then touch. Asbestos. Not quite bronze" (The Sound and the Fury, p. 92).

A-tall: as in "at all"
"…I couldn't see nobody a-tall…" (As I Lay Dying, p. 69).

"I never heard of nobody a-tall named it" (Light in August, p. 33).

Auger: a hand tool with a helical shaft used for boring holes
"…the top of the box bored clean full of holes and Cash's new auger broke off in the last one" (As I Lay Dying, p. 73).

Augur: a sign or omen
"… a man's name, which is supposed to be just the sound for who he is, can somehow be an augur of what he will do…" (Light in August, p. 33).

Avatar: the incarnation of a deity in human or animal form to fend off evil
"When he blundered again at the door a moment later, again invisible and blind within and beyond his wooden avatar, Dilsey opened the door and guided him across the kitchen with a firm hand" (The Sound and the Fury, p. 273).

"… she advanced in identical and anonymous and deliberate wagons as though through a succession of creakwheeled and limpeared avatars…" (Light in August, p. 7).

Ax: as in "ask"
"Whut you fixin to ax me kin you do now?" (The Sound and the Fury, p. 273).


B
Bait: to feed an animal, especially on a journey
"…bait the mules…" (As I Lay Dying, p. 116).

Baleful: portending evil, ominous
"… he worked well enough, with a kind of baleful and restrained steadiness" (Light in August, p. 34).

Battery: an artillery unit in the army equivalent to a company; Faulkner is comparing the people watching Lena to a firing squad
"She rises and walking a little awkwardly, a little carefully, she traverses the ranked battery of maneyes and enters the store, the clerk following" (Light in August, p. 27).

Beardsley: British illustrator whose black and white, often erotic drawings were both highly individual and typical of the art nouveau style
"… formally erotic attitudes and gestures as a Beardsley of the time of Petronius…" (Light in August, p. 260).

Beast with two backs: a phrase meaning partners engaged in sexual intercourse (In Shakespeare's Othello, the villain Iago says, "I am one, sir, that comes to tell you your daughter and the Moor are now making the beast with two backs.")
"Darl had a little spy-glass he got in France at the war. In it it had a woman and a pig with two backs and no face" (As I Lay Dying, p. 254).

"…running the beast with two backs and she blurred in the winking oars…" (The Sound and the Fury, p. 148).



Beggar lice: a plant having seeds that cling to clothing
"I had gotten beggar lice and twigs and stuff all over me…" (The Sound and the Fury, p. 241).

Begridge: as in "begrudge," to envy the possession or enjoyment of, or to give with reluctance
"I dont begridge um" (The Sound and the Fury, p. 231).

Beholden: owing gratitude, indebted
"We would be beholden to no man" (As I Lay Dying, p. 19).

"'I wouldn't be beholden,' she says" (Light in August, p. 14).

Bellering: as in "bellowing," the roaring of a large animal
"You reckon I be found anywhere with him, time he start bellering" (The Sound and the Fury, p. 15).

Bellied: to cause to swell, fill out
"The saw gave forth a single sluggish twang that ceased with lifeless alacrity, leaving the blade in a thin clean curve between Luster's hand and the floor. Still, inscrutable, it bellied" (The Sound and the Fury, p. 287).

Benignant: favorable, kind and gracious
"He looked down at me, benignant, profound" (The Sound and the Fury, p. 100).

Bevel: the angle of a surface that meets another at any angle but 90°
"I made it on the bevel" (As I Lay Dying, p. 82).

Biggity: self-important and conceited
"Aint you talking biggity" (The Sound and the Fury, p. 15).

Billets: short, thick pieces of wood used as firewood
"He loaded himself mountainously with stove wood. He could not see over it, and he staggered to the steps and up them and blundered crashing against the door, shedding billets" (The Sound and the Fury, p. 269).

Birdsell wagon: a high-quality farm hauling wagon, not the cheap, rattling kind like the Bundrens own
"A rattling wagon is mighty dry weather, for a Birdsell" (As I Lay Dying, p. 34).

Bit: an amount equal to one-eighth of a dollar
"I figures dat tomorrow mawnin I be still owin un nine dollars and six bits at dat rate" (The Sound and the Fury, p. 231).

Bivouac: a temporary encampment often in an unsheltered area
"One night he disappeared from the bivouac" (Light in August, p. 476).



Blackguard: a scoundrel
"Yet any blackguard—" (The Sound and the Fury, p. 93).

Blooden: related by blood
"…blooden children…" (As I Lay Dying, p. 256).

Blow: to go away, depart
"'Then I'll blow,' he thought" (Light in August, p. 236).

Bofe: as in "both"
"Here I had to tote yo wood en build yo fire bofe. Didn't I tole you not to leave dis place last night befo dat woodbox wus full to de top?" (The Sound and the Fury, p. 269).

Boll-weevil: insect that attacked cotton plants and devastated Southern agriculture in the 1920s
"'You'd better be glad you're not a boll-weevil waiting on those cultivators,' I says. 'You'd work yourself to death before they'd be ready to prevent you'" (The Sound and the Fury, p. 189).

Bolt: to eat hurriedly and with little chewing
"… the messenger was eating breakfast in the kitchen, bolting his food with decorous celerity" (Light in August, p. 244).

Boneyard: a cemetery or graveyard
"Whar you gwine, Luster? To de boneyard?" (The Sound and the Fury, p. 319).

Bootblack: a person who cleans and polishes shoes for a living
"At the corner two bootblacks caught me, one on either side…" (The Sound and the Fury, p. 83).

Boy: an offensive form of address for a male servant or black man
"'Keep him out about half an hour, boy.' Uncle Maury said" (The Sound and the Fury, p. 5).

"… behind him stood two slaves which he owned: the negro woman who cooked, and his 'boy,' a man older than himself and who did not have one remaining hair, who was the cook's husband" (Light in August, p. 471).

Branch: a tributary of a river
"… they splashed and fought in the branch" (The Sound and the Fury, p. 16).

Brogans: a heavy shoe; especially a coarse work shoe reaching to the ankle
"Beside his chair his brogans sit" (As I Lay Dying, p. 11).

"… a pair of her husband's brogans…" (Light in August, p. 329).

Bridge-piling: a heavy beam driven into the earth as support
"He said it had already covered the highest water-mark on the bridge-piling he had ever seen" (As I Lay Dying, p. 85).

Bruck hit: as in "broke it"
"…not fo days since you bruck hit." (The Sound and the Fury, p. 113).

Buckboard: a four-wheeled vehicle with a floor made of long springy boards
"They had already dragged the buckboard back from where Quick found it upside down straddle of the ditch about a mile from the spring" (As I Lay Dying, p. 85).

"'There's father,' Nathaniel said to the woman on the buckboard seat beside him" (Light in August, p. 245).

Bucket shop: an illegally operated brokerage
"I'd just have to prove that they were using the telegraph company to defraud. That would constitute a bucket shop" (The Sound and the Fury, p. 227).

Busted-out: plowed or harrowed in preparation for planting
"'You take off and stay in the house today," ma said. 'With that whole bottom piece to be busted out?' pa said" (As I Lay Dying, p. 128).

Byword: an object of notoriety or interest
"… I try to uphold to have her with no more respect for what I try to do for her than to make her name and my name and my Mother's name a byword in the town" (The Sound and the Fury, p. 233).

"It is a byword among young men and even boys that whiskey can be bought from Brown almost on sight…" (Light in August, p. 46). C
Cahy: as in "carry," to take from one place to another
"…cahy her to school" (The Sound and the Fury, p. 186).

Calculant: given to thought, calculation
"His face is calm, down-sloped, calculant, concerned" (As I Lay Dying, p. 147). Chicanery: artful deception, trickery
"…ranging all the way from violence to petty chicanery that would not deceive a child…" (The Sound and the Fury, p. 177).

"… fruit of what small chicanery and deceptions…" (Light in August, p. 168).

Chile: as in "child"
"And when family woman look him in the eye in the full of the moon, chile born bluegum" (The Sound and the Fury, p. 69).

Chillen: as in "children"
"Look at them chillen playing in the branch, if you got to look at something" (The Sound and the Fury, p. 14).

Chimaera: in Greek mythology, a fire-breathing she-monster with a lion's head, goat's body and serpent's tail; also spelled "Chimera"
"Like it were put to makeshift for enough green to go around among the trees and even the blue of distance not that rich chimaera" (The Sound and the Fury, p. 113).

"… sent him against all reason and all reality, into the embrace of a chimaera…" (Light in August, p. 449)

Chinking: to fill narrow openings in
"The cottonhouse is of rough logs, from between which the chinking has fallen" (As I Lay Dying, p. 4).

Chocked: secured with block placed under a wheel, to keep the wheel from moving
"The wagon is hauled clear, the wheels chocked…" (As I Lay Dying, p. 157).

Christmas gift: a game in the South between blacks and whites, in which the one who can say "Christmas gift" first gets a gift; the custom expresses an affectionate yet racist paternalism
"'Christmas gift!' I said" (The Sound and the Fury, p. 87).

Christmas masts: according to Faulkner, comic masks worn by children at Christmas and Halloween
"Him so dead for sleep that Cora says his face looked like one of these here Christmas masts that had done been buried a while and then dug up…" (As I Lay Dying, p. 73).

Chub: a freshwater fish
"'We're going to the Eddy for a chub,' the first said" (The Sound and the Fury, p. 121).

Clamb: as in "climb"
"Me and Benjy seed her clamb out de window last night" (The Sound and the Fury, p. 286).

Clove stems: used to freshen one's breath
"After a while he kind of sneaked his hand to his mouth and dropped them out the window. Then I knew what I had been smelling. Clove stems" (The Sound and the Fury, p. 197).

Cognizance: acknowledgement or recognition
"If you've anything to say, you can come to the squire's and make cognizance of the prisoner" (The Sound and the Fury, p. 142). Complected: as in "complexioned," skin color, especially of the face
"Even when they told me the man they meant wasn't dark complected" (Light in August, p. 51).

Conjure: to influence by magic
"I be durn if Anse don't conjure a man, some way" (As I Lay Dying, p. 193).

Coruscations: flashes of light
"Two tears slid down her fallen cheeks, in and out of the myriad coruscations of immolation and abnegation and time" (The Sound and the Fury, p. 295).

Crepe myrtle and syringa and althea: decorative flowering shrubs
"The house, the brown, unpainted and unobtrusive bungalow is small too and by bushing crepe myrtle and syringa and althea almost hidden…" (Light in August, p. 57).

Cubistic: Cubism is a school of art developed in the early 20th century, characterized by the reduction and fragmentation of natural forms into abstract, often geometric structures
"The square squat shape of the coffin on the sawhorses like a cubistic bug…"(As I Lay Dying, p. 219).

Cuirass: a piece of armor for protecting the breast
"Father had a v-shaped silver cuirass on his running chest" (The Sound and the Fury, p. 82).

Cupola: the observation tower in a train caboose
"It crossed the hill, then descended winding, carrying the eye, the mind on ahead beneath a still green tunnel, and the square cupola above the trees and the round eye of the clock but far enough" (The Sound and the Fury, p. 120).

Curry-comb: a comb used for grooming horses
"He climbs onto the manger and drags the hay down and leaves the stall and seeks and finds the curry-comb" (As I Lay Dying, p. 182).

Curvetting: a light leap by a horse
"With tossing mane and tail and rolling eyes the horse makes another short curvetting rush…" (As I Lay Dying, p. 12).

Drawers: another name for underpants, or old fashioned bloomers
"Then she didn't have on anything but her bodice and her drawers" (The Sound and the Fury, p. 18).

Dregs: the sediment in a liquid
"I fling the dipper dregs to the ground…" (As I Lay Dying, p. 11).

Dropsical: swollen with an excessive accumulation of fluid
"She had been a big woman once but now her skeleton rose, draped loosely in unpadded skin that tightened again upon a paunch almost dropsical…" (The Sound and the Fury, p. 265).

Drummer: a traveling salesman
"There was a drummer there. It was a couple of minutes to ten, and I invited him up the street to get a dope" (The Sound and the Fury, p. 191).

Dry up: stop talking
"'Ah, dry up,' the second said" (The Sound and the Fury, p. 120).

Durns't: "doesn't", although "durn" often substitutes for "damn" or "damned"
"If he had been a man, he would a been there instead of making his sons do what he durns't" (As I Lay Dying, p. 153).

E
Egvice: as in "advice"
"Soon as Quentin need any of yo egvice, I'll let you know" (The Sound and the Fury, p. 298).

Ejaculent: a sudden, short exclamation
"We hear sudden voices, ejaculent" (As I Lay Dying, p. 229).

Elefump: as in "elephant"
"Hum up, elefump" (The Sound and the Fury, p. 319).

Ellum: Elm tree
[Quentin's attention to pronunciation reflects his consciousness of difference between Southern and Northern speech.] "…a rippling shawl of leaves. Elm. No: ellum. Ellum" (The Sound and the Fury, p. 124).

En: as in "and"
"'Put hit down dar en g'awn back to bed" (The Sound and the Fury, p. 267).

Engendered: produce, procreate
"She is looking out the window, at Cash stooping steadily at the board in the failing light, laboring on toward darkness and into it as though the stroking of the saw illumined its own motion, board and saw engendered" (As I Lay Dying, p. 48).

Ere: traditionally, ere is a conjunction for "before," or "rather than." Faulkner's characters seem to use it as in "ever" or "every."
"I mislike undecision as much as ere a man" (As I Lay Dying, p. 17).

"She will be grateful to ere a one of you" (As I Lay Dying, p. 182).

Et: as in "eat," "ate"
"…maybe throwed away for him to lie about the dogs et it" (As I Lay Dying, p. 38).

"'Like a lady I et. Like a lady travelling'" (Light in August, p. 26)

Et ego in arcadia: from the Latin for "Here I am in Arcadia." Arcadia refers to an idyllic region in ancient Greece.
"'Et ego in arcadia I have forgotten the latin for hay.' Father said" (The Sound and the Fury, p. 44).

Euboeleus: variant of "Eubuleus," in Greek myth the swine herder witnesses Hades' abduction of Persephone and loses some of his herd
"…running the swine of Euboeleus running…" (The Sound and the Fury, p. 148).

Evincing: showing or demonstrating clearly
"…evincing an enigmatic profundity because it had but one hand, a cabinet clock ticked, then with a preliminary sound as if it had cleared its throat, struck five times" (The Sound and the Fury, p. 274).

Ev'y: as in "every"
"'Mr. Jason,' he says. 'Please, suh. I'll fix dem tires ev'y day fer a mont'" (The Sound and the Fury, p. 255).

Expiation: to make amends
"And she [Addie] said, 'My daily life is an acknowledgment and expiation of my sin'" (As I Lay Dying, p. 167).

"… I suffered to expiate it…" (Light in August, p. 129) Extemporised: variant of "extemporized," improvised
"… harsh, extemporised dissertations…" (Light in August, p. 242).


F
Fack: as in "fact"
"Dat's a fack" (The Sound and the Fury, p. 114).

Faustus: a magician and alchemist in German legend who sells his soul to the devil in exchange for knowledge
"…exulting perhaps at that moment as Faustus had, of having put behind now at once and for all the Shalt Not, of being free at last of honor and law" (Light in August, p. 207).

Fecundity: fruitfulness or fertility
"A kind of still and violent fecundity that satisfied even bread-hunger like" (The Sound and the Fury, p. 113).

"Now it was still, quiet, the fecund earth now coolly suspirant" (Light in August, p. 281).

Feint: a feigned attack
"Luster fed him with skill and detachment. Now and then his attention would return long enough to enable him to feint the spoon and cause Ben to close his mouth upon the empty air…" (The Sound and the Fury, p. 276).

Female dope: patent medicine used to alleviate pain of menstrual cramps
"So I thought that maybe her ma or somebody had sent her in for some of the female dope…" (As I Lay Dying, p. 199).

Fer: as in "for"
"'Mr. Jason,' he says. 'Please, suh. I'll fix dem tires ev'y day fer a mont'" (The Sound and the Fury, p. 255).

Fetlock: a tuft of hair on the back of the leg above the hoof of a horse
"Fetlock, hip, shoulder and head; smell and sound" (As I Lay Dying, p. 57).

Fice: as in "feist," a small, wiry dog of mixed ancestry prized for hunting
"She wasn't even listening, with her face all gummed up with paint and her eyes hard as a fice dog's" (The Sound and the Fury, p. 187).

Figger: as in "figure"
"If you had any actual proof, I'd have to act. But without that I dont figger it's any of my business" (The Sound and the Fury, p. 304).

Finitude: in a limited state
"…you are not thinking of finitude you are contemplating an apotheosis…" (The Sound and the Fury, p. 177).



Fixing up to: preparing to
"It's fixing up to rain" (As I Lay Dying, p. 18).

Flac-soled: Faulkner is referring to the lighter-colored skin of Dilsey's palms
"…one gaunt hand flac-soled as the belly of a fish…" (The Sound and the Fury, p. 265).

Flat-iron: an instrument used before the invention of the electric iron, made of cast iron with a smooth bottom, heated on top of a wood stove and used for pressing cloth
"Until on the Day when He says Rise only the flat-iron would come floating up" (The Sound and the Fury, p. 80).

Florid: ruddy, or flowery in style
"He responded with a hearty florid gesture" (The Sound and the Fury, p. 302).

Flotsam: floating debris
"It [the current] clucks and murmers among the spokes and about the mules' knees, yellow, skummed with flotsam…" (As I Lay Dying, p. 141).

"… his body empty and lighter than a forgotten leaf and even more trivial than flotsam lying spent and still…" (Light in August, p. 492).

Fo'c's'le: variant of "forecastle," section of the upper deck of a ship
"A man naked to the waist was coiling down a line on the fo'c's'le head" (The Sound and the Fury, p. 89).

Forehanded: prudent or well to do
"Well, I [Anse] got a little property. I'm forehanded; I got a good honest name" (As I Lay Dying, p. 171). Frailed: to whip or beat
"Inventing devilment to devil her till I would have frailed him time and time" (As I Lay Dying, p. 21).

Frail: to whip or beat
"Inventing devilment to devil her till I would have frailed him time and time" (As I Lay Dying, p. 21).

"'I'm going to frail the tar out of you!' he roared" (Light in August, p. 245).

French Lick: a resort and spa area in Indiana (where Herbert Head is from) known for its mineral springs; named "The Lick" by early settlers because animals flocked to lick the salty waters and wet rocks
"Bringing empty trunks down the attic stairs they sounded like coffins French Lick. Found not death at the salt lick" (The Sound and the Fury, p. 95).

Frieze: This is one of four words of Latin origin that Faulkner uses in his description of the fire (frieze, proscenium, nimbus and portière)
"They are like two figures in a Greek frieze…" (As I Lay Dying, p. 221).

Fulcrum: the point on which a lever pivots
"A piece of rotting log for fulcrum…" (As I Lay Dying, p. 52).

Fur piece: as in "far piece," or a long way
"Lena thinks, 'I have come from Alabama: a fur piece'" (Light in August, p. 3).

Furriners: as in "foreigners"
"Them furriners. I cant tell one from another" (The Sound and the Fury, p. 130).

High-blooded face: red-faced, angry
"Jewel's eyes look like pale wood in his high-blooded face." (As I Lay Dying, p. 17).


High brown: White racist vocabulary in the South "graded" African-American women according to how light or dark their skin was, with "light" as praise and "dark" as derogatory; hence "high brown" is a racist and misogynist left-handed compliment; see, later yaller
"…she was what is known as a high brown and it was known that there were two or three men in the town who would object to her doing whatever it was which she considered contrary to God and nature…" (Light in August, p. 72).

Hiram: contemptuous term for a farmer or yokel
"You better go back to the farm, Hiram" (Light in August, p. 183).

Hishing: example of an onomatopoetic word that imitates the sound of the action it references
"Through the wall I heard Shreve's bed-springs and then his slippers on the floor hishing" (The Sound and the Fury, p. 77).

Hit: as in "it"
"Hit hadn't happened then" (As I Lay Dying, p. 56).

Hitch-rein: the connection between a wagon or a buggy and the horse
"I run this way and that as they [the horses] rear and jerk at the hitch-rein, striking" (As I Lay Dying, p. 55).

Holp: as in "help"
"But you couldn't a holp it" (As I Lay Dying, p. 90).

Hophead: drug addict
"… if I married a wife she'd probably turn out to be a hophead or something. That's all we lack in this family, I says" (The Sound and the Fury, p. 247).

Horse-physic: medicine for horses (Doc Peabody is unavailable, so Jewel brings Uncle Billy Varner, a veterinarian, to treat Cash's leg.)
"…Uncle Billy had come back with him, with his satchel of horse-physic" (As I Lay Dying, p. 185).

Horsetrader: a shrewd bargainer
"To the people of the town it sounded like a horsetrader's glee over an advantageous trade" (Light in August, p. 61).

Hyer: as in "here"
"'I reckon I'll take this hyer one,' he says" (The Sound and the Fury, p. 195).

I
Ice floes: flat expanses of floating ice or segments that have separated from such an ice mass
"His mother came down in a hired auto, in a fur suit like an artic explorer's, and saw him off in a twenty-five mile wind and a steady drove of ice floes like a herd of dirty sheep" (The Sound and the Fury, p. 91).

Illumined: brought to light, made understandable
"She is looking out the window, at Cash stooping steadily at the board in the failing light, laboring on toward darkness and into it as though the stroking of the saw illumined its own motion, board and saw engendered" (As I Lay Dying, p. 48).

Immolation: killing as a sacrifice
"Two tears slid down her fallen cheeks, in and out of the myriad coruscations of immolation and abnegation and time" (The Sound and the Fury, p. 295).

"A spiritual privacy so long intact that its own instinct for preservation had immolated it…" (Light in August, p. 234).

Immured: confined, imprisoned
"…a meager figure, hunched over upon itself like that of one long immured in striving with the implacable earth…" (The Sound and the Fury, p. 294).

Implacable: impossible to appease
"That's the trouble with this country: everything, weather, hangs on too long. Like our rivers, our land: opaque, slow, violent; shaping and creating the life of man in its implacable and brooding image" (As I Lay Dying, p. 45).

"… a meager figure, hunched over upon itself like that of one long immured in striving with the implacable earth…" (The Sound and the Fury, p. 294). Indorsement: as in "endorsement," or signature
"I know they have Mother's indorsement on them" (The Sound and the Fury, p. 208).

Ineffable: incapable of being expressed; indescribable
"Ben quit whimpering. He sat in the middle of the seat, holding the repaired flower upright in his fist, his eyes serene and ineffable" (The Sound and the Fury, p. 319).

Interurban: early electric trolley car
"I asked, but he didn't know whether another one would leave before noon or not because you'd think that interurbans" (The Sound and the Fury, p. 104).

Inviolate: not violated or profaned
"… after a long time they cannot distinguish even bones upon the lonely and inviolate sand" (The Sound and the Fury, p. 80).

Irascible: prone to outbursts of temper
"She is still there, the gray woman with a cold, harsh, irascible face…" (Light in August, p. 15).

Irremediable: incurable
"She looks at pa; all her failing life appears to drain into her eyes, urgent, irremediable" (As I Lay Dying, p. 47).

Ise: as in "I is," or I am
"All I got to do is say Ise here" (The Sound and the Fury, p. 58).

J
Jack: slang for money
"With this town full of guys making good jack, that would treat you right" (Light in August, p. 192).

Jellybean: 1920s slang for a self-consciously fashionable adolescent male
"Are you hiding out in the woods with one of those dam slick-headed jellybeans?" (The Sound and the Fury, p. 184).

Jest: as in "just"
"I jest thought…" (As I Lay Dying, p. 44).

Jimson weed: a poisonous plant with large trumpet-shaped flowers
"Here's you a jimson weed" (The Sound and the Fury, p. 6).

Jouncing: bounce
"…the stick jouncing on my shoulder" (As I Lay Dying, p. 54).

Juggernautish: variant of "juggernaut," something that elicits blind and destructive devotion
"… leaning a little stiffly forward as though in some juggernautish simulation of terrific speed…" (Light in August, p. 203).


K
Keer: as in "care"
Dewey Dell a-takin good keer of her…" (As I Lay Dying, p. 44).

Ketch: as in "catch"
"Cant nobody else ketch hit" (As I Lay Dying, p. 42).

"'Hold him! Hold him! Ketch him! Ketch him!" (Light in August, p. 324).

Kilt: as in "killed"
"He kilt her. He kilt her" (As I Lay Dying, p. 54).

Knobnot: a childish insult
"'You're a knobnot.' Caddy said. Jason cried" (The Sound and the Fury, p. 36).

Kyo: as in "cure"
"Mammy aint feelin well dis mawnin.
"…Rev'un Shegog'll kyo dat" (The Sound and the Fury, p. 292).


L
Laidby: a cultivated crop that will require no further attention until it is picked at harvest time
"…between the green rows of laidby cotton…" (As I Lay Dying, p. 3).

"Well, I have brought you back the devil's laidby crop" (Light in August, p. 377).

Lantun: as in "lantern"
"I reckon I had better clean dat lantun up" (The Sound and the Fury, p. 114).

Latch string: a string for raising the latch of a door by a person outside
"I'll make him think that dam red tie is the latch string to hell, if he thinks he can run the woods with my niece" (The Sound and the Fury, p. 241).

Lawed: penalized
"He should be lawed for treating her so" (As I Lay Dying, p. 187).




Leastways: at least
"Leastways, we might as well go on and make like we did" (As I Lay Dying, p. 74).

Leda: a woman in Greek myth raped by Zeus, who came to her in the shape of a swan
"Leda lurking in the bushes, whimpering and moaning for the swan, see" (The Sound and the Fury, p. 167).

Lessen: as in "unless"
"Lessen you behave, we will leave you" (As I Lay Dying, p. 63).

Liberry: as in "library," a place in which literary materials are kept, including a room in a private home for such a collection
"Luster going to take him to the liberry and play with him till I get his supper done" (The Sound and the Fury, p. 60).

Lick: (1) a sudden hard stroke; (2) speed, pace
"One lick less" (As I Lay Dying, p. 15).

"She's hitting that lick like she's been at it for a right smart while…" (Light in August, p. 9).

Liefer: as in "like to"
"I'd liefer go back there" (As I Lay Dying, p. 200).

Lochinvar: "Young Lochinvar" is a character in a poem by Sir Walter Scott about a brave highlander who rides off with the lady he loves before she is forced to marry another man
"Young Lochinvar rode out of the west a little too soon, didn't he?" (The Sound and the Fury, p. 93).

Mo'n: as in "more than"
"Aint I drove fer T.P. mo'n a hund'ed times?" (The Sound and the Fury, p. 318).

Mont: as in "month"
"'Mr. Jason,' he says. 'Please, suh. I'll fix dem tires ev'y day fer a mont'" (The Sound and the Fury, p. 255).

Moribund: approaching death or on the verge of becoming obsolete
"The gown fell gauntly from her shoulders, across her fallen breasts, then tightened upon her paunch and fell again, ballooning a little above the nether garments which she would remove layer by layer as the spring accomplished and the warm days, in color regal and moribund" (The Sound and the Fury, p. 265).

Mother hubbard: long, loose dress worn by rural women
"She now wore a faded mother hubbard and a sun bonnet, and she carried a cedar bucket" (Light in August, p. 151).

Mouf: as in mouth
"Hush yo mouf" (The Sound and the Fury, p. 254).

Mought: as in "might" or "ought"
"The driver spits. 'We mought,' he says" (Light in August, p. 28).

N
Natural: uncultivated, or in this case, simple-minded
"…Benjys the natural isn't he…" (The Sound and the Fury, p. 160).

Negative: to negate, nullify
"I gave Anse Dewey Dell to negative Jewel" (As I Lay Dying, p. 176).

Nekkid: as in "naked", bare, unsheathed
"'…Pappy Thompson's daughter's boy, that was six foot tall and had a razor nekkid in his hand'" (Light in August, p. 323).

Niggard: stingy, miserly
"Flowing around you, not brooding and nursing every niggard stone" (The Sound and the Fury, p. 113).

Nigh/Nigher: near/nearer
"He is carrying a fish nigh long as he is" (As I Lay Dying, p. 30).

"'It won't float like a saw,' Jewel says. 'It'll float nigher to a saw than a hammer will,' Vernon says" (As I Lay Dying, p. 161).

"By the second day she was well nigh desperate" (Light in August, p. 123).

Nimbus: a classical radiance said to surround a classical deity when on earth
"…he appears to be enclosed in a thin nimbus of fire" (As I Lay Dying, p. 222).

Noblesse oblige: the concept that those with high rank should act in a responsible manner
"…I at least revealed a blundering sense of noblesse oblige by getting myself born below Mason and Dixon…" (The Sound and the Fury, p. 91).

Nome: as in "no ma'am"
"'Nome.' Versh said" (The Sound and the Fury, p. 7).

Non fui. Sum. Fui. Non sum.: Latin: "I wasn't. I am. I was. I'm not."
"Non fui. Sum. Fui. Non sum" (The Sound and the Fury, p. 174).


O
Off: euphemism for poor, or unfortunate; as a farm term, "off" refers to the horse or ox on the far right side of the driver.
"...Peabody's team come up, lathered, with the broke harness dragging and the neck-yoke betwixt the off critter's legs..." (As I Lay Dying, p. 68).

Otherlike: as in "otherwise"
"I have done things but neither better nor worse than them that pretend otherlike…" (As I Lay Dying, p. 38).

Ourn: as in "ours"
"'She'll want to go in ourn,' Pa says" (As I Lay Dying, p. 18).

Outen: as in "out in" or "out of"
"Washed clean outen the ground it will be" (As I Lay Dying, p. 90).

"You can whup the blood outen me. But that's all I know" (Light in August, p. 293).

Projecking: fooling around in an irresponsible manner
"And dont you start no projecking with Queenie, you hear me" (The Sound and the Fury, p. 10).

Progenitive: variant of "progenitor" or "progeny," tending to produce offspring
"Say it to Father will you I will am my fathers Progenitive I invented him created I him…" (The Sound and the Fury, p. 122).

Proscenium: the wall that separates the stage from the auditorium and provides the arch that frames the stage
"…the dissolving proscenium of the doorway…" (As I Lay Dying, p. 221).

Pussel-gutted: bloated
"Get the goddamn stuff out of sight while you got a chance, you pussel-gutted bastard. You sweet son of a bitch" (As I Lay Dying, p. 13).

Putrefaction: decomposing organic material, often very stinky
"Liquid putrefaction like drowned things floating like pale rubber flabbily filled getting the odor of honeysuckle all mixed up" (The Sound and the Fury, p. 128).

Q
Quai: French for "quay," a reinforced bank where ships are loaded or unloaded
"I waked into the shadow of the quai" (The Sound and the Fury, p. 92).

Queer: odd, unusual (not as in "homosexual")
"It was Darl, the one that folks say is queer, lazy, pottering…" (As I Lay Dying, p. 24).

Quoil: as in "quarrel," or fight
"I wont quoil wid no man" (The Sound and the Fury, p. 114).


R
Rack: variant of "wrack," to cause the ruin of, fall apart
"If this team don't rack to pieces. Snopes must have fed them on sawdust" (As I Lay Dying, p. 196).

Ragtag and bobtail: a disorderly crowd
"You keep on worrying her like this until you get her into the graveyard too, then you can fill the whole house full of ragtag and bobtail" (The Sound and the Fury, p. 207).

Raiment: clothing
"…though his manner gradually moved northward as his raiment improved…" (The Sound and the Fury, p. 97).

Ravelled out: unwound and frayed
"Some looked at him as they passed, at the man sitting quietly behind the wheel of a small car, with his invisible life ravelled out about him like a wornout sock, and went on" (The Sound and the Fury, p. 313).

Rawhiding: a whipping with a whip made from untanned cattle skin
"You got to take a rawhiding for thinking they meant it" (As I Lay Dying, p. 118).

Recapitulant or recapitulation: repeated more concisely
"How do our lives ravel out into the no-wind, no-sound, the weary gestures wearily recapitulant…" (As I Lay Dying, p. 207).

"… Lena tells her story again, with that patient and transparent recapitulation of a lying child…" (Light in August, p. 25).

Reconnoitred: variant of "reconnoitered," to make a preliminary inspection of, especially in order to gather military information
"Two gaudily painted pullman cars stood on the track. He reconnoitred them before he got out" (The Sound and the Fury, p. 308).

Reducto absurdum: variant of reductio ad absurdum, a Latin phrase meaning reduction to the point of absurdity. This describes the taking of an extreme position to disprove an argument
"…the reducto absurdum of all human experience…" (The Sound and the Fury, p. 76). Reft: plundered, deprived of
"… his monkey body as reft of all motion as a mummy or an emptied vessel…" (The Sound and the Fury, p. 294).

Repair: to betake oneself, go
"…repair to that home in which you have put a living lie…" (As I Lay Dying, p. 177).

Retail: to tell or repeat (gossip or stories, for example) to others
"…he began to retail the story himself…" (The Sound and the Fury, p. 98).

Retrograde: tending toward or resulting in a worse or previous state
"Motionless, the tall buzzards hang in soaring circles, the clouds giving them an illusion of retrograde" (As I Lay Dying, p. 95).

Right smart: a goodly amount
"The horse is still a right smart piece away" (As I Lay Dying, p. 106).

Ricklick: as in "recollect"
"'I dont ricklick seeing you around here before.' Luster said" (The Sound and the Fury, p. 49).

Ricklickshun: as in "recollection," the act or power of remembering
"'I got de ricklickshun en de blood of de Lamb!'" (The Sound and the Fury, p. 295).

Right smart: a goodly amount
"The horse is still a right smart piece away" (As I Lay Dying, p. 106).

"'She's hitting that lick like she's been at it for a right smart while…" (Light in August, p. 9).

Rinktum: as in "rectum"
"I'll skin your rinktum" (The Sound and the Fury, p. 70).

Runnel: a brook, a narrow channel for water
"…about Jewel's ankles a runnel of yellow neither water nor earth swirls…" (As I Lay Dying, p. 49).

Ruther: as in "rather"
"Wouldn't you ruther have bananas?" (As I Lay Dying, p. 66).

Rutting: to have a strong sexual impulse at the reproductive period; said of livestock
"'Rutting,' Cash said" (As I Lay Dying, p. 131).

Suttee: banned in India since the 19th century, the practice of a Hindu widow cremating herself on her husband's funeral pyre
"All dressed up and mooning around like the prologue to a suttee" (The Sound and the Fury, p. 101).

T
Tableau: a striking incidental scene, or a scene on stage when actors freeze and then resume action
"…they are like two figures carved for a tableau savage in the sun" (As I Lay Dying, p. 12 ).

Tagend: or "tag end"; the last part, a miscellaneous or random bit
"Or perhaps it was some sorry tagend of shame, as a while ago it had been pride" (Light in August, p. 432).

Taint: as in "it aint"
"'Taint none of my dress.' Versh said" (The Sound and the Fury, p. 18).

Tarnation: an expression of annoyance, derived from the expression "eternal damnation" or, possibly, from "entire nation"
"Why in the tarnation you put it on there" (As I Lay Dying, p. 224).

Tech: as in "touch"
"I aint gwine let him tech you" (The Sound and the Fury, p. 185).

Terrapin: an aquatic turtle
"Spoade was in the middle of them like a terrapin in a street full of scuttering dead leaves…" (The Sound and the Fury, p. 78).

Ti': as in tire
"Dis here ti' aint got no air a-tall in hit" (The Sound and the Fury, p. 305).

Tideflats: variant of "tidal flats," a nearly flat coastal area, alternately covered and exposed by the tides
"…I saw the last light supine and tranquil upon tideflats like pieces of broken mirror…" (The Sound and the Fury, p. 170).

Tight: difficult to deal with or get out of
"If you get in a tight, maybe some of them'll get here tomorrow and help you" (As I Lay Dying, p. 50).



Toddy: a hot alcoholic drink, often drunk by the sick
"You git in bed and I'll fix you a toddy and see kin you sleep" (The Sound and the Fury, p. 199).

Tole: as in "told" or "tell"
"Didn't I tole you not to leave dis place last night befo dat woodbox wus full to de top?" (The Sound and the Fury, p. 269).

Tongue-and-groove planking: wood used in a wall
"Then he emerged carrying a sawn section of tongue-and-groove planking" (The Sound and the Fury, p. 283).

Tooth-cropped: a coined phrase from the verb "crop," meaning to appear or occur unexpectedly, as in "crop up"—when Jewel's horse jerks its head back, it bares its teeth suddenly and unexpectedly (most would say "teeth flashing")
"[The horse's] head flashes back, tooth-cropped" (As I Lay Dying, p. 183).

"'Lay into it, you slaving bastards!' Brown said, in a merry, loud voice cropped with teeth" (Light in August, p. 45).

Tote: to haul, or a load or burden
"I told them that if they wanted it [Addie's coffin] to tote and ride on a balance, they would have to" (As I Lay Dying, p. 165)

"Here I had to tote yo wood en build yo fire bofe. Didn't I tole you not to leave dis place last night befo dat woodbox wus full to de top?" (The Sound and the Fury, p. 269).

Tother: as in "the other"
"…neither because it's one or tother… (As I Lay Dying, p. 234).

Trestle: a horizontal beam held up by two pairs of divergent legs and used as a support
"He [Cash] holds the two planks on the trestle…" (As I Lay Dying, p. 4).

Trifling: of little importance or value
"…clinging to some trifling animal to whom they [women] never were more than pack-horses" (As I Lay Dying, p. 45).

Troof: as in "truth"
"'Dat's de troof,' Versh said" (The Sound and the Fury, p. 115). Turgid: swollen
"She watches Cash stooping at the plank, the turgid savage gleam of the lantern slicking on the raincoat as he moves" (As I Lay Dying, p. 79).

Twarn't: as in "it wasn't"
"'Twarn't none o my business,' Luster said" (The Sound and the Fury, p. 286).

Twell: as in "until" or "till"
"Well, if I lives twell tonight…" (The Sound and the Fury, p. 231).

U
Ubiquitous: widespread, everywhere at the same time
"…he was always in or out of your room, ubuiquitous and garrulous…" (The Sound and the Fury, p. 97).

Uncle: a patronizing form of address for older black men
"'Hey, Uncle,' I said. 'Is this they way?'" (The Sound and the Fury, p. 87).

Uncurried: not groomed
"Looking like an uncurried horse dressed up…" (As I Lay Dying, p. 123).

Undressed: how Caddy describes buzzards eating a carcass
"'Dogs are dead.' Caddy said. 'And when Nancy fell in the ditch and Roskus shot her and the buzzards came and undressed her'" (The Sound and the Fury, p. 33).

Uninferant: without inference, with no hint of
"…so dreamlike so as to be uninferant of progress…" (As I Lay Dying, p. 108).

Unitarial: as in "Unitarian"
"There's a clock in the unitarial steeple" (The Sound and the Fury, p. 119).

V
Vagaries: erratic or unpredictable actions
"…a fond and unflagging tolerance for whitefolks' vagaries like that of a grandparent for unpredicatble and troublesome children…" (The Sound and the Fury, p. 87).

Victuals: food for human consumption
"…so I could get my mouth fixed where I could eat God's own victuals as a man should…" (As I Lay Dying, p. 37).

Vilyun: as in "villain"
"'You vilyun!' Disley said. 'What you done to him?'" (The Sound and the Fury, p. 316).

Volitional: with decisiveness, consciousnesses and intent
"For an instant it resists, as though volitional…" (As I Lay Dying, p. 97).


W
W.C.T.U.: Women's Christian Temperance Union, an organization dedicated to reducing or prohibiting the sale and consumption of alcohol
"You were obliging the W.C.T.U. then, I reckon" (The Sound and the Fury, p. 98).

Wattermilyuns: as in "watermelons"
"…Aint got no front porch to set on en watch de wattermilyuns growin…" (The Sound and the Fury, p. 190).

Wedge: a piece of material, thick at one edge and tapered to a thin edge for insertion into a narrow crevice
"I have seen him [Cash] spend an hour trimming out a wedge like it was glass he was working…" (As I Lay Dying, p. 87).

Widout: as in "without"
"'Dont you dare come in dis do widout a armful of wood,' she said" (The Sound and the Fury, p. 269).

Winder: as in "window"
"I aint stud'in dat winder" (The Sound and the Fury, p. 276).

Wistaria: variant of "wisteria," a climbing vine with large clusters of fragrant flowers
"Honeysuckle was the saddest odor of all, I think. I remember lots of them. Wistaria was one" (The Sound and the Fury, p. 169).

Withers: part of a horse between the shoulder blades
"They descend the hill in a series of spine-jolting jumps, Jewel high, leech-like on the withers…" (As I Lay Dying, p. 13).

Wop: a disparaging term for a person of Italian birth or descent
"What the hell do you mean anyway, straggling off here, fooling with these damn wops?" (The Sound and the Fury, p. 145).

"I thought maybe you were just another wop or something" (Light in August, p. 225).

X
Y
Yaller: as in "yellow;" a slang term for an African-American with a sallow complexion
"Want dat yaller gal's / Pudden dont hide (Light in August, p. 228).

Yessum: as in "yes ma'am"
"'Yessum.' Caddy said" (The Sound and the Fury, p. 8).

Yistiddy: as in "yesterday"
"He said yistiddy he gwine out to St John's today" (The Sound and the Fury, p. 316).

Yit: as in "yet"
"Have you told her yit?" (As I Lay Dying, p. 45).

Yo: as in "your"
"Here I had to tote yo wood en build yo fire bofe." (The Sound and the Fury, p. 269).

Yonder: at an indicated place
"'Yonder,' Cash says, jerking his head toward the lane" (As I Lay Dying, p. 106).


Z
Zinc:see Stove-zinc