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Full Glossary for The Great Gatsby
anæmic having anemia, an illness of the blood resulting in paleness and generalized weakness; also can mean anyone lacking vigor or vitality; lifelessness.
Argonne Forest a wooded region in northeast France, near the Belgian border.
Belasco David Belasco (1853-1931); U.S. theatrical producer, playwright, and actor.
caravansary in the Near and Middle East, a kind of inn with a large central court, where caravans stop for the night.
coupe a closed, two-door automobile with a body smaller than that of a sedan.
dilatory inclined to delay; slow or late in doing things.
El Greco (about 1541-1614); painter in Italy and Spain.
The Follies immensely popular revue started by Florenz Ziegfeld in 1907.
fortnight a period of two weeks.
Goddard's The Rise of the Colored Empires an allusion to Theodore Lothrop Stoddard's The Rising Tide of Color Against White World Supremacy (1920).
The Great War World War I
hauteur disdainful pride; haughtiness; snobbery.
Hopalong Cassidy cowboy hero of novelist Clarence E. Mulford's popular western series.
J.D. Rockefeller (1839-1937); U.S. industrialist and philanthropist.
James J. Hill (1838-1916) U.S. railroad magnate and financier; builder of the Great Northern Railway.
Kaiser Wilhelm ruler of Germany, 1871-1918. Remember, the U.S. had not long prior fought WWI (1914-1918) wherein the Allies (Great Britain, Russia, France, the United States., Italy, Japan, and so on) fought against the Central Powers (Germany, Austria, Hungary, and others).
Kant Immanuel Kant (1724-1804); German philosopher.
kike a Jew: a vulgar term of hostility and contempt.
Madame de Maintenon (1635-1719); second wife of Louis XIV of France. She is often depicted as ambitious, greedy, evil, and narrow-minded.
medium a person through whom communications are thought to be sent to the living from spirits of the dead.
meretricious alluring by false, showy charms; attractive in a flashy way; tawdry.
Midas and Morgan and Maecenas Midas, in Greek Myth, the king of Phrygia granted the power of turning everything that he touches into gold; J.P. Morgan (1837-1913), U.S. financier; Gaius Clinius Maecenas (70-8 BC), Roman statesman and patron of Horace and Virgil.
New Haven City in southern Connecticut; home to Yale University.
1919 World Series notorious championship baseball series plagued by scandal for being fixed.
omnibus a bus; having a variety of purposes or uses.
pasquinade a satirical piece of writing that holds its object up to ridicule, formerly one posted in a public place; lampoon.
pneumatic filled with compressed air.
prodigality wastefulness or extreme lavishness.
Sauterne a sweet white wine produced in southwest France near the Bordeaux region.
Simon Called Peter Robert Keable's best-selling fiction work from 1922.
Stoddard lectures travel books taking in the entire world.
Trimalchio wealthy character who lavishly feasts guests at a banquet in Petronius' Satyricon, a satire on Roman life in the first century A.D.
Victoria an early touring automobile with a folding top over the rear seat.
white flannels white trousers made of light flannel.
Yale Club private social club in New York City.