pusillanimous - lacking courage and resolution
Used: "Every pusillanimous creature that crawls on the earth,
or slinks through slimy seas has a brain!"
(The Wizard before giving the Scarecrow his Diploma)
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aver - to confirm as authentic
Used: "As Coroner, I must aver, I thoroughly examined her,
And she's not only merely dead, She's really most sincerely dead."
(The Coroner, singing in Munchkinland, verifying the death of the
Wicked Witch of the East)
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cataclysmic - to inundate, flood, deluge
Used: "Well you force me into a cataclysmic decision."
(The Wizard talking to Dorothy about how to get her back
home to Kansas from Oz)
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cruller- a small, sweet cake in the form
of a twisted strip fried in deep fat
Used: "Here, here - can't work on an empty stomach.
Have some crullers."
(Aunt Em speaking to the farmhands before Dorothy goes to Oz)
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careworn - showing the effect of grief or anxiety
Used: "She's - she's wearing a-a-polka dot dress. Her face is careworn."
(Professor Marvel speaking to Dorothy while consulting the crystal ball)
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vernacular - using a language or dialect
native to a region or country
Used: "There's a storm blowin! - a whopper,
to speak in the vernacular of the peasantry!"
(Professor Marvel as the wind increases and
Dorothy leaves to return to the farm)
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beneficent- performing acts of kindness and charity
Used: "The beneficient Oz has every intention
of granting your requests!"
(The Wizard speaking to the four as they first meet)
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mettle- vigor and strength of spirit/temperament/disposition
Used: "When a man's an empty kettle, he should be on his mettle,
and yet I'm torn apart."
(Sung by The Tin Man in "If I Only Had a Heart")
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muddled - a state of mental confusion
Used: "Well, I'm a little muddled. The Munchkins called me
because a new witch has just dropped a
house on the Wicked Witched of the East..."
(Glinda speaking to Dorothy as she has just arrived in Munchkinland)
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The following words were used in
"If I Were King of the Forest" (sung by the lion)
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chintz - a printed calico from India/glazed
printed cotton fabric
Used: "Would be satin, not cotton, not chintz"
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kowtow - to kneel and touch the forehead to the
ground in token of homage
Used: "And the mountains bow and the bulls kowtow"
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genuflect - to touch the knee to the floor in worship
Used: "The chipmunks genuflect to me"
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Hottentot - a member of a people of southern Africa
apparently akin to both the
Bushmen and the Bantus
Used: "What makes the Hottentot so hot?"
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caliginous - black, misty, dark
Used: "You dare to come to me for a heart, do you?
You clinking, clanking, clattering collection of caliginous junk!"
(The Wizard speaking to the Tin Man as the foursome first meet him)
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affrontery - to insult to the face by behavior or language
Used: "And you, Scarecrow, have the affrontery
to ask for a brain..."
(The Wizard speaking to the Scarecrow as the
foursome first meet him)
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bovine - of, resembling or relating to the ox or cow
Used: "...you billowing bale of bovine fodder!"
(The Wizard speaking to the Scarecrow
as the foursome first meet him)
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Whippersnapper - a diminutive, insignificant,
or presumptuous person
Used: "Silence! Whippersnapper! The beneficient Oz has
every intention of granting your requests!"
(The Wizard speaking to Dorothy after he has frightened
the Lion when they first meet)
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meritorious - deserving of reward or honor
Used: "Therefore, for meritorious conduct, extraordinary valor,
conspicuous bravery against wicked witches, I award you the Triple Cross."
(The Wizard awarding the Lion with his medal after
melting the Wicked Witch)
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hob-nob - to associate familiarly
Used: "To confer, converse and otherwise hob-nob with my brother wizards."
(The Wizard speaking to the population of The Emerald City before departing)
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Among the resources used was:
"The Wizard of OZ" published by SMITHMARK Publishers Inc., New York