John Muir Reading Vocabulary

 To today's blog posters: Here is an abbreviated list of terms to define, do not define the ones I removed. Peter

to carve
1. make object or pattern[transitive] to make an object or pattern by cutting a piece of wood or stone [↪ carving]
 carve something out of/from something 
 a statue carved from a single block of marble
  carved wooden chairs


2. cut something into a surface[transitive] to cut a pattern or letter on the surface of something
 carve something on/in/into something 
 Someone had carved their initials on the tree.

wanderlust [singular, uncountable]

a strong desire to travel to different places

wondrous
good or impressive in a surprising way


expound[intransitive and transitive]

formal to explain or talk about something in detail

odd-jobbing / an odd-job
small jobs of different types

 I've got a few odd jobs to do this weekend.

to beckon
1. [intransitive and transitive] to make a signal to someone with your hand, to show that you want them to come towards you or to follow you:

 I could see my husband beckoning me.

beckon (to) somebody to do something

 She beckoned to the waitress to bring more wine.

beckon somebody forward/over etc

 He beckoned us over and introduced us to his wife.

2. [intransitive and transitive] if something such as a place or opportunity beckons, it appears so attractive that you want to have it:

A career in the film industry beckoned.

3. [intransitive] if something beckons for someone, it will probably happen to them

beckon for

Early retirement beckoned for George.

to quell
1. to end a situation in which people are behaving violently or protesting, especially by using force [= put down]

quell the violence/disturbance/riot etc

Police used live ammunition to quell the disturbances.

2. literary to reduce or stop unpleasant feelings such as fear, doubt, or worry:

'Jerry?' she called, trying to quell the panic inside her.

glaciation
the process in which land is covered by glaciers, or the effect this process has

waist-high
high enough to reach your waist:

 waist-high grass

to roam
1. [intransitive and transitive] to walk or travel, usually for a long time, with no clear purpose or direction [↪ wander]

roam over/around/about etc

The dogs are allowed to roam around.

roam the countryside/desert/forests etc

Wild sheep roam the hills.

2. [intransitive always + adverb/preposition, transitive] if your eyes roam over something, you look slowly at all parts of it:

Her eyes roamed the room.

roam over

His eyes roamed over the bookshelves.

unspoiled

1. an unspoiled place is beautiful because it has not changed for a long time and does not have a lot of new buildings:

unspoiled countryside

2. someone who is unspoiled has not changed in spite of the good or bad things that have happened to them:

She remained unspoilt by her success.

chores

1. a small job that you have to do regularly, especially work that you do to keep a house clean:

 everyday chores like shopping and housework

 We share the domestic chores.

2. something you have to do that is very boring and unpleasant:

 I find driving a real chore.

naive

not having much experience of how complicated life is, so that you trust people too much and believe that good things will always happen [↪ innocent]:

 a naive young girl

 Jim can be so naive sometimes.

it is naive to think/suppose/assume etc

 It would be naive to think that this could solve all the area's problems straight away.

By Sandy and Andrianne