LESSON 1 VOCABULARY
Set A
BESIEGE
• (v)to attack by surrounding with military forces; to cause
worry or trouble
EX: This town was besieged by the Greeks for ten years.
The troops besieged the fort.
Paris was besieged for four months and forced to surrender.
COMPRESS
• (v) to press together; to reduce in size or volume
• (n) a folded cloth or pad applied to an injury
EX: The editor helped compress my rambling 25-page mystery
into an 8-page thriller.
You can compress huge amounts of data on to a CD-ROM.
A cold compress may reduce headache pain.
DISPATCH
• (v) to send off or out for a purpose; to kill
• (n) an official message ; speed; the act of killing
EX: The Post Office will dispatch the letters by the next post.
We’ll dispatch a repair crew right away.
The Italian government was preparing to dispatch 4,000
soldiers to search the island.
He approved the request with dispatch.
DOUSE
• (v) to plunge into a liquid; to put out quickly, extinguish
Ex: Throughout the night, the firemen worked to douse
the apartment fire
I’ll douse the flames with the hose.
FAMISHED
• (adj) suffering severely from hunger or from a lack of
something
Ex: Isn't dinner ready? I'm famished
I was famished, having had no food or sleep for thirty hours.
What's for dinner? I'm absolutely famished.
GAINFUL
• (adj) profitable; bringing in money or some special advantage
Ex: I hope to find gainful employment that is pleasing to me.
Allen has a part-time job, but is actively looking for more gainful
employment.
Because he couldn’t find gainful employment, he had to come up with
another way to make money.
INGENIOUS
• (adj) showing remarkable originality, or resourcefulness; clever
• Ex: Johnny is so ingenious - he can make the most remarkable sculptures
from the most ordinary materials.
Ex: He had been using an ingenious method.
The students found an ingenious solution to the math problem.
Try to think of unusual and ingenious solutions.
IRK
• (v) to annoy, trouble, make weary
Questions that show a student’s lack of attention irk the
teacher.
It irks me to see money being wasted.
It irks us to wait for people who are late.
Luna didn’t told me what irked her that Sunday morning.
Oaf
OAF
• (n) a stupid person; a big clumsy, slow individual
EX: He generally moved like an oaf
Leave the lady alone, you drunken oaf.
You clumsy oaf! You've broken it!
RECEDE
• (v) to go or move backward; to become more distant
The flood waters finally began to recede in November.
When the storm quiets, the waters will recede from the beach.
The animals will recede further into the forest as developers continue to cut
down trees.
