English I (Pre-AP): Fahrenheit 451 Vocabulary

Write the definition of each vocabulary word in the space following the part of speech. Make sure the definition you choose matches the way the vocabulary word is used in the sentence from the text, below.

Use a dictionary!

• Compressed (v.):
• Gesture (n.):
• Gorging (adj.):
• Hysterical (adj.):
• Igniter (n.):
• Illumination (n.):
• Luxuriously (adv.):
• Marionette (n.):
• Pedestrian (n.):
• Pulverized (v.):
• Tatters (n.):
• Venomous (adj.):

With the brass nozzle in his fists, with this great python spitting its venomous kerosene upon the world, the blood pounded in his head, and his hands were the hands of some amazing conductor playing all the symphonies of blazing and burning to bring down the tatters and charcoal ruins of history. (3)

[H]e flicked the igniter and the house jumped up in a gorging fire that burned the evening sky red and yellow and black. (3)

[H]e showered luxuriously, and then, whistling, hands in pockets, walked across the upper floor of the fire station and fell down the hole. (4)

Or was the atmosphere compressed merely by someone very quietly there, waiting? (5)

It was not the hysterical light of electricity but—what? But the strangely comfortable and rare and gently flattering light of the candle. (7)

[H]is mother had found and lit a last candle and there had been a brief hour of rediscovery, of such illumination that space lost its vast dimensions and drew comfortably around them. (7)

It’s like being a pedestrian, only rarer. (9)

[S]he was like the eager watcher of a marionette show, anticipating each flicker of an eyelid, each gesture of his hand, each flick of a finger, the moment before it began. (11)

He felt that the stars had been pulverized by the sound of the black jets and that in the morning the earth would be covered with their dust like a strange snow. (14)

When you are confident you have the correct definitions, see me and you can complete the post-project quiz.