Barron's 1100 Words You Need to Know » Week 45 - Day 3

Word List
  • taut [tôt]
    tense, keyed up, on edge
    → “His face grew taut as he was questioned about his use of illegal drugs in his youth.” New York Post, 8/19/99
  • livid [liv´ id]
    pale
    → “Livid with anger, the poster boy for road rage jumped out of his red convertible and came running toward us.” Letter to the Editor, “Big Road Hazard,” Newsday, 8/19/99
  • martinet [märt´ n et´]
    strict disciplinarian
    → “The prospect of having to talk to Sheila’s principal, a real martinet, made him nervous, but he steeled himself to do it.” John Yount, “The Trapper’s Last Shot”
  • yen [yen]
    strong desire, strong longing
    → “She could not resist the yen to see how her classmates had progressed so she agreed to attend the class reunion.” Woman’s Home Companion, 9/94
  • bagatelle [bag´ ə tel´]
    a trifle
    → “He saw the benefits to his people as a mere bagatelle.” Winston Churchill, Great Contemporaries

Back at the castle, the situation is taut with emotion. The fair maiden’s mother is livid with fear and anxiety; she has attacks of vertigo.* She talks about her daughter’s audacity* in riding out into the ominous* forests despite many similar kidnappings. The girl’s father, a martinet who rules his family with an iron hand, staunchly* refuses to pay the ransom. Iniquity* shall not be rewarded! At this moment of crisis a heroic knight volunteers to rescue our heroine; he has had a secret yen for the young beauty. Avoiding rhetoric,* he pledges his all to castigate* those responsible for this ignominious* deed. He holds his life as a mere bagatelle against the duty he owes his beloved mistress. At the propitious* moment, he rides off to do or die for her.

Sample Sentences Use the new words in these sentences.

  1. The rabid* baseball fan lost his equanimity* and became __________ when the star pitcher became pugnacious* and was removed from the game.
  2. There was a __________ international situation caused by the proximity* of unidentified submarines to our coasts.
  3. When one enlists in the army, one expects to be under the aegis* of a __________.
  4. His __________ for imbibing* and romping* with girls worked to his detriment*.
  5. The little boy tried to wheedle* a larger allowance from his father by the caustic* observations that it was a mere __________ when compared to the allowances of his friends.

Definitions Match the new words with their definitions.

  1. a. strict disciplinarian
  2. b. tense, keyed up, on edge
  3. c. pale
  4. d. a trifle
  5. e. strong desire, strong longing
  1. taut __________
  2. livid __________
  3. martinet __________
  4. yen __________
  5. bagatelle __________

Answer Key
a cat’s paw—a person used as a tool or dupe*
The spy used the innocent girl as a cat’s paw to get military information from the grapevine.*

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