Love Medicine vocabulary (0)

to be on the wagon (194) - someone who is on the wagon has decided not to drink any alcohol for a period of time.
Albertine talks about Gerry , who had been thirteen years on the wagon. He was drinking tonic water with crescent of soiled lemon and Maraschino cherries.
mayhem (196) – Infliction of violent injury on a person or thing .
Albertine says she had a false view of pregnant women . She had thought that pregnant women are wearing invisible halos, not committing mayhem.
a suit of mail (199) - a kind of armor, made from interlocking metal rings . It's effective against some cutting weapons.
Albertine describes Dot’s knitted garments which stood up like miniature suits of mail.
sallow (203) – Of an unhealthy yellowish color .
Albertine describes Dot after pregnancy. Her skin was loose, sallow, and draped like upholstery fabric over her bones.
to weld (206) - To bring into close association or union.
When Albertine misses Dot, the days were like welded seamlessly to one another and taking the mind away .
addled (208) – Make unable to think clearly ; confuse.
After visiting Dot, Gerry looked bewildered , silly and a little addled with what he saw.
warped (218) - strange and unpleasant.
June haunts Gordie. Gordie escapes from the house, drives a car and then pulls it over to catch his senses. His mind lit in warped hope on another bottle. He thought that another bottle would straighten him out.
a crowbar (221) - A straight bar of iron or steel, with the working end shaped like a chisel and often slightly bent and forked, used as a lever .
Gordie driving drunk one night , he hits a deer and puts the body in his back seat. He continues to drive, but then the deer, merely stunned, wakes up. Gordie grabs a crowbar and kills it, but then he becomes convinced that it is June he has just killed.
taut (223) - Strained; tense.
Sister Mary felt excited rising alone , her legs felt springy and lean , her body taut like a girl’s.
an orderly (229) – An attendant who does routine, nonmedical work in a hospital .
Mary Martin follows Gordie into the apple trees but losts him. The whole morning they were waiting for the orderlies and the tribal police to come , they heard him cry like a drowned person.
to be/stay at somebody’s beck and call (230) - Ready to comply with any wish or command.
Lipsha is grateful for his Grandma…
a smokescreen (232) - An action or statement used to conceal actual plans or intentions.; A disguise.
to hanker after/for something (239) - To want someone or something; to long for someone or something.
The problem wasn’t that Nector was not all there , but that what was there of him often hankered after Lamartine.
to prickle (241) -
slough (242) - A swamp.; The dropping off of dead tissue from living flesh.
malpractice (245) - 1. Improper or negligent treatment of a patient, as by a physician, resulting in injury, damage, or loss.
2. Improper or unethical conduct by the holder of a professional or official position .
3. The act or an instance of improper practice .
to pull the wool over somebody’s eyes (247) - to deceive someone (in order to prevent them from knowing what you are really doing).
uncannily (249) - 1. Peculiarly unsettling, as if of supernatural origin or nature ; eerie. ; 2. So keen and perceptive as to seem preternatural.
to slug (250) To hit very hard
Grandma got mad at Grandpa and so she hopped up quickly and slugged Grandpa between the shoulderblades to make him swallow .
to tamper with something (255) -
The love medicine was stronger than Grandma and Lipsha had thought it would be. Lipsha was afraid and said that they shouldn’t have tampered with it.
to quill (260) to arrange (fabric) in flutes or cylindrical ridges, as along the edge of a garment, hem, etc.
One night Marie found a skin bag, which had one end quilled with rawhide strips of pale , washed-to- sand colors, dyed with butternut, wild grapes, ocher, fading sere.
to sprawl (261) to spread the limbs in a relaxed, awkward, or unnatural position.
When Marie saw Gordie again, the circle of Gordie’s motion grew rounder and wider until in one movement he uprooted himself and sprawled headlong.
a quilt (261) a type of bed cover .
Marie unfolded a quilt cut and repaired it with woollen clothing.
fervour (265) An intense , heated emotion.
When Gordie started to laugh, he started talking with animated fervour.(because he is in need of a drink)
to get/have somebody over a barrel (281) in a situation in which someone has no choice about what to do.
Lulu got the best of Nector. But for a time it seemed to Lulu that Nector had her over the barrel of his love.
restitution (284) a restoration of something to its rightful owner ; The act of restoring to the rightful owner something that has been taken away, lost , or surrendered.
Lulu offered to point out all her sons ’ fathers and the tribal council presented the restitution for Lamartine.
a beeline (286) the shortest, most direct route.
When the house was burning , Lulu ran in a beeline.
to venerate (289) to hold in deep respect ; to honour in recognition of qualities of holiness, excellence, wisdom , etc.
Lulu bought the Plunge of the Brave, which everyone had, whether they liked Nector and wanted to venerate his youth or not.
what with something (293)( informal ) because of sth; used to list the various reasons for something.
Nector and Lulu began to kiss and things being what they were, what with Nector knocking off Lulu’s wig and Lipsha popping in unexpectedly.
to jig (295) to dance quickly, in a jerky manner ; To move or bob up and down jerkily and rapidly.
Lulu explains that she is not supposed to stoop down, scream or jig because the stitching in her eye might have slip .
to take issue (with somebody) (299) – To argue with someone; to disagree.
Lyman wanted to see Henry again(make a contact), even though he was dead. He tries to argue with Henry to get him to take issue and argue back; to explain that the convertible is Herny’s.
a shambles (300) - a place of great disorder , confusion.
Lyman was looking for a paper clip. He couldn’t find it nowhere in the shambles.
to be solvent (301) - Capable of meeting financial obligations
Lyman thought that when he was solvent, he could have overpaid his taxes , and this thought made him thirsty.
limbo (302) - A region or condition of oblivion or neglect; A state or place of confinement; an imaginary place for lost things; an uncertainty.
to cut a swath ( through something) (303) - to cause a lot of destruction, death, or harm in a particular place or among a particular group of people
When Marie and Lulu were young, they were both cutting a wide unholy swath.
ebb and flow (306) - to decrease and then increase , as with tides; a decrease followed by an increase, as with tides
an adversary (309) – an opponent in a contest; contestant
Lyman describes the relationship between him and his mother . He says that he gave her mother strength by becoming the adversary.
to placate (312) - To allay the anger of, especially by making concessions; appease
When Lipsha went to work after school, Lyman let him sweep , box scraps, pack orders once in a while to placate Marie and Lulu.
conniving (313) – conspiring; acting in a way that secretly comes to other people. A conning plot , scheme.
Lyman wanted to fire his mother kindly, but her conniving stripped Lyman’s patience.
leverage (326) – (The use of credit or borrowed funds to improve one's speculative capacity and increase the rate of return from an investment, as in buying securities on margin ;) positional advantage or influence
When the Indians smartened up, they started using their only leverage – federal law.
tread (329) - The sound of walking, stepping; To walk on, over, or along
Women went around the bathroom . They had jars on their heads and they never stumbled. They had a calm tread.
bleary (332) – Unable to see clearly; Blurred or dimmed by or as if by tears: bleary eyes.; Vaguely outlined; indistinct.; Exhausted; worn-out.
King was advising Lipsha to turn himself in. King tells him that he was in the Marines, Nam. Lynette, with a bleary confiding look , says to Lipsha that King never got off the West Coast.
to be thick as thieves (334) - allies , very friendly (Cliché)
Lipsha describes Grandma Kashpaw and Lulu now as thick as thieves.
bleak (338) – offering little hope, no hope; to describe a situation in a particular way; hopeless
Lipsha stole Grandma Kashpaw’s money from her apartment . He justifies the crime by being unhappy . He feels confused and this confusion is a bleak sadness sweeping through his brain .
galled (340) – Angry, upset; Bitterness of feeling; rancor; Something bitter to endure
Lipsha wants to run away. He doesn’t want to go back to the reservation where everyone knew his background. He was too galled.
to crimp (348) – To mark sth(a card); To press or pinch into small regular folds or ridges: crimp a pie crust.; To bend or mold (leather) into shape
King and Lipsha started playing poker. Lipsha decided that he belonged and that he was a real kid now. Then he crimped himself an ace.
harrowing (354) - Extremely distressing; agonizing
When Lipsha told Gerry his name, Gerry started to laugh. Lipsha felt joy and comfort, but for King and Lynetteit was harrowing.
to ascertain (359) - To make certain, definite , and precise
The police were looking for Gerry. They were standing in the door and it took a quick look to ascertain that Gerry wasn’t in the apartment.
gingerly (361) - With great care or delicacy; cautiously; Cautious; careful.
Lipsha heard someone/something knocking. He jumped out and thought it was some trapped animal . He wasn’t sure that it would not spring for his throat so he held the key out very ginger when he put it in the trunk latch.
Lipsha holds the key gingerly while letting Gerry out of the trunk.
incarceration (363) – the state on being imprisoned; To put into jail.; To shut in; confine.
Gerry says to Lipsha how much he loved June. He tells that he knew she burned out young but he always saw him the way she was at the time of Gerry’s first incarceration.