- middleweightnounChapter 1 →
A weight class in boxing for fighters who are heavier than welterweights but lighter than light heavyweights, generally between 154 and 160 pounds. Here it describes the level at which Cohn competed.
“Robert Cohn was once middleweight boxing champion of Princeton.”
- guide-booknounChapter 1 →
A book meant to give practical instructions for navigating life or a subject; here used mockingly to mean treating a romantic novel as a literal manual for how to live.
- sinisteradjectiveChapter 2 →
Quietly dangerous or corrupting in its influence, not obviously evil but capable of leading a person badly astray. Here it describes a book whose romantic ideas are harmful when read at the wrong stage of life.
“'The Purple Land' is a very sinister book if read too late in life.”
- mouldedverbChapter 2 →
Shaped or formed someone's character and personality over time, the way a sculptor shapes clay. The British spelling signals the influence of the women in Cohn's life.
“Internally he had been moulded by the two women who had trained him.”
- rottenadjectiveChapter 3 →
Thoroughly bad, unpleasant, or unfair — used here as a casual but heartfelt expression of how unjust or wretched something feels, not referring to physical decay.
“It's a rotten way to be wounded and on plenty of other ways to be wounded.”
- hard-boiledadjectiveChapter 4 →
Emotionally tough and unsentimental on the surface, refusing to show pain or vulnerability. The phrase describes a defensive attitude people adopt to get through difficult feelings.
“It is awfully easy to be hard-boiled about everything in the daytime, but at night it is another thing.”
- arrested developmentphraseChapter 5 →
A condition in which a person's emotional or psychological growth has stopped at an immature stage, leaving them behaving in ways younger than their actual age.
“You're not a moron. You're only a case of arrested development.”
- moronnounChapter 5 →
In early twentieth-century usage, a clinical term for a person of limited intellectual capacity; here used as a blunt insult meaning a stupid or foolish person.
“You're not a moron. You're only a case of arrested development.”
- slipoveradjectiveChapter 5 →
Describing a garment, especially a sweater, that has no buttons or zipper and is pulled on over the head. It was a fashionable, sporty style for women in the 1920s.
“She wore a slipover jersey sweater and a tweed skirt, and her hair was brushed back like a boy's.”
- tweedadjectiveChapter 5 →
Made of tweed, a rough, thick woollen fabric woven in a mixed pattern of colours, traditionally associated with the British countryside and upper-class casual dress.
“She wore a slipover jersey sweater and a tweed skirt, and her hair was brushed back like a boy's.”
- aficionadonounChapter 8 →
A person who is deeply and knowledgeably passionate about a particular pursuit — here, bullfighting. The word carries a sense of serious, almost sacred devotion rather than mere enthusiasm.
- bull-fightersnounChapter 8 →
Men who perform in a bullfight, facing and killing bulls in a formal ritual spectacle that is central to Spanish culture and the novel's themes of grace under pressure.
“He was the only person I ever met in the hotel business who cared about the bull-fighters as I did.”
- egg-nognounChapter 9 →
A rich, sweet drink made from eggs, milk or cream, sugar, and usually alcohol; here it appears as part of a dreamlike, sensory memory rather than a literal scene.
“We would be sitting in the car and the syrup and the egg-nog would come in through the window and we would feel it.”
- BasquesnounChapter 10 →
The indigenous people of the region straddling the border between northern Spain and southwestern France, known for a distinct language and culture. Jake admires them as straightforward and genuine.
“The Basques were very good people. They were the best people I had ever known.”
- botanounChapter 11 →
A traditional Spanish leather wine bag with a nozzle, designed so the drinker can squirt a stream of wine directly into the mouth without touching the spout.
- fiestanounChapter 13 →
A Spanish religious and civic festival involving days of street celebrations, processions, music, and bullfights. Here it refers specifically to the week-long Festival of San Fermín in Pamplona.
“The things that happened could only have happened during a fiesta. Everything became quite unreal finally.”
- unrealadjectiveChapter 13 →
Having a dreamlike, suspended quality in which normal rules and consequences seem not to apply. Jake uses it to describe how the fiesta creates a temporary world cut off from ordinary life.
“Everything became quite unreal finally and it seemed as though nothing could have any consequences.”
- consequencesnounChapter 13 →
The results or effects that follow from one's actions, especially harmful or lasting ones. The word signals that the fiesta creates a dangerous illusion of freedom from accountability.
“it seemed as though nothing could have any consequences.”
- conventnounChapter 1 →
A community of nuns living under religious rules, completely sheltered from the outside world. Here it is used as a metaphor for extreme inexperience and naivety about real life.
“it would be for a man of the same age to enter Wall Street direct from a French convent.”
- cheerfulnessnounChapter 1 →
A bright, easy-going happiness that is natural and unforced. Jake notes that Cohn's cheerfulness was never disciplined or knocked out of him, suggesting it is boyish and unrealistic.
“He had a nice, boyish sort of cheerfulness that had never been trained out of him.”
- miserableadjectiveChapter 4 →
Deeply unhappy and emotionally distressed, not merely uncomfortable. Brett uses it to describe her inner state of suffering, which runs beneath her outwardly free-spirited behaviour.
“Oh, darling, I've been so miserable.”
- tensionnounChapter 8 →
A strained, uneasy atmosphere between people who are in conflict or hiding strong feelings, felt by everyone present but not openly spoken about.
“There was much wine, an ignored tension, and a feeling of things coming that you could not prevent happening.”
The Sun Also RisesNovel by Ernest Hemingway