- raftersnounChapter 1 →
The sloping wooden beams that form the internal framework of a roof, visible from inside a building when the ceiling is open.
“he was in the act of slicing at the head of a Moor which swung from the rafters”
- disguiseverbChapter 1 →
To conceal or hide the true nature of something, making it hard to identify or recognize correctly.
“the fashion of the time did something to disguise it”
- wintryadjectiveChapter 1 →
Having the cold, pale, bleak quality associated with winter; used here to describe a faint, colorless shade of blue in the sky.
“the sky above it was of a pale, wintry blue”
- consumedadjectiveChapter 1 →
Completely overwhelmed and taken over by a feeling, so that nothing else can be thought about or felt.
“He was consumed by love.”
- pavilionnounChapter 2 →
A large, ornate tent or temporary structure used as a grand meeting place or official residence, especially by a foreign delegation.
“coming from the pavilion of the Muscovite Embassy, a figure”
- tunicnounChapter 2 →
A loose, hip-length or knee-length garment worn over the body, here part of Russian-style dress that made the wearer's sex hard to determine.
“the loose tunic and trousers of the Russian fashion served to disguise the sex”
- reveredverbChapter 2 →
Regarded with deep respect and almost religious awe, treated as something sacred or worthy of worship.
“The love of the woman was to him a thing of wonder, a thing to be revered”
- splinteringsnounChapter 2 →
The sharp cracking and breaking apart of a rigid material — here, the sounds of thick river ice fracturing as it begins to melt and move.
“with a thousand cracks and splinterings, the whole mass was in motion”
- sustainingverbChapter 3 →
Keeping up or carrying on different roles or identities over time without dropping or failing in any of them.
“She had, it seems, no difficulty in sustaining the different parts that life had thrust upon her.”
- incapableadjectiveChapter 3 →
Legally or officially declared unable to do something; here, barred by law from holding or controlling property.
“the law at once declared her incapable of owning property”
- chasteadjectiveChapter 4 →
Sexually pure and virtuous according to the moral standards of the time; abstaining from sexual relations outside marriage.
“She was a woman, Lady Orlando, a beautiful and chaste woman.”
- vainadjectiveChapter 4 →
Appearing trivial, worthless, or of no real importance — used here to dismiss the apparent insignificance of clothing before arguing the opposite.
“Vain trifles as they seem, clothes have, they say, more important offices than to merely keep us warm.”
- triflesnounChapter 4 →
Things considered too small or unimportant to be worth serious attention; minor, trivial matters.
“Vain trifles as they seem, clothes have, they say, more important offices than to merely keep us warm.”
- officesnounChapter 4 →
Functions, duties, or purposes that something serves — here, the deeper social and psychological roles that clothing performs beyond simple warmth.
“clothes have, they say, more important offices than to merely keep us warm”
- inbornadjectiveChapter 4 →
Present from birth as a natural part of one's character, not learned or acquired through experience.
“The English disease, a love of Nature, was inborn in her”
- swoonnounChapter 4 →
A state of faint, dizzy, or overwhelmed surrender, as if losing consciousness from the intensity of an emotion.
“she fell into its arms with a passion which was almost a swoon”
- symbolnounChapter 5 →
An outward sign or object that stands for and points to something deeper or hidden that cannot be seen directly.
“Clothes are but a symbol of something hid deep beneath.”
- selvesnounChapter 5 →
The different versions or aspects of a person's identity — the distinct personalities or roles one inhabits at different times or in different situations.
“She had a great variety of selves to call upon”
- biographynounChapter 5 →
A written account of a person's life; here used self-consciously by the narrator to describe the book itself and its limitations in capturing a full human identity.
“a biography is considered complete if it merely accounts for six or seven selves”
- pagenounChapter 5 →
A boy servant employed in a noble household to run errands and attend to the needs of the family.
“As a child he was sometimes found at midnight by a page still reading.”
- veiledverbChapter 6 →
Covered or obscured as if by a thin cloth, making something difficult to see clearly.
“the words seemed to fill the room with a fine dust which settled on the tops of the bookcases and veiled the mirror”
- obscuredverbChapter 6 →
Blocked from view or made unclear, so that something can no longer be seen or understood properly.
“veiled the mirror and obscured the view of the sea”
OrlandoNovel by Virginia Woolf