comparatively

" The minister grew comparatively calm".

Bantam Classic
Pg.136

i think comparison is the root word but im not quite sure how it fitsin twith the quote.

askance

"where, asked he, with a look askance at them".

Bantam Classic
Pg.119

i have no idea what this word means.

scrutinized

" Thus Roger Chillingworth scrutinized his patient carefully".

Bantam Classic
Pg.112

from the context i think it means to examine.

garb

" But it was a remarkable attribute of this garb, and indeed of the childs whole
appearance".

Bantam Classic
Pg.93

im pretty sure it means garment.

striven

" I have striven with my young brother here, under whose preaching of the word
you have been privelaged to sit".

Bantam Classic
Pg.61

i think striven is taken from the word strive. putting effort into something.

bade

Hester bade little Pearl run down to the margin of
the water.

Bantam Classic
Pg. 152

i beleive this means to ask or suggest.

blighted

"Hester gazed after him a little while, looking with a half-fantastic curiosity
to see whether the tender grass of early spring would not be blighted beneath
him and show the wavering track of his footsteps..."

Bantam Classic
pg.170

I think this means destroyed or crushed.

hillock

"The leaves might bestrew him, and the soil gradually accumulate and form a little hillock over his frame, no matter whether there were life in it or no."

Bantam Classic

pg.170

I am assuming that because it sounds like "hill" this word is similar to it.
Maybe it is a mound of dirt or some kind of formation like that

.

deletorious

"Or might it suffice him that every wholesome growth should be converted into something deletorious and malignant at his touch?"

Bantam Classic
pg. 158

I believe that this means destroyed or ruined.

vicissitude

"So great a vicissitude in his life could not at once be received as
real."

Bantam Classic

pg.192

I believe this is a vision or something to hope for, a goal.

bedizen

"Prithee, young one, who art thou, and what has ailed thy mother to bedizen thee
in this strange fashion?"

Bantam Classic
Ch. 8 Pg. 100

I think this word means to dress because the context before this quote describes Pearl's dress.

appelation

"Under the appelation of Roger Chillingworth, the reader will remember, was
hidden another name, which its former wearer had resolved should never more be
spoken."

Bantam Classic
Ch. 9 Pg. 107

I believe appelation is another word for pseudonym or pen name.

edifice

"Before this ugly edifice, and between it and the wheel-track of the street, was
a grassy plot..."

Bantam Classic
Ch. 1 Pg. 45

I think edifice means a building, or maybe prison because the first chapter was describing the prison.

Austerity

"it might be partly owing to the studied austerity of her dress, and partly to
the lack of demonstration in her manners."

Bantam Classic
Pg. 148

i think that it means to stand out

Sagacious

".. it truly seemed that this sagacious, experienced, benevolent old physician,
with his concord of paternal and reverntial love for the young pastor, was the
very man of all mankind to be constantly within reach of his voice."

Bantam Classic
Pg. 114

Im thinking this has something to do with years of practice.

Placidity

" her only really comfort was when the child lay in the placidity of sleep."

Bantam Classic
Pg. 85

Im gonna guess that placidity has to do with a peacful state of mind perhaps.

Convulsion

"it now writhed in convulsions of pain, and was a frocible type, in its little
frame.."

Bantam Classic
P67

im not really sure but im gonna guess that it has to do with some kind of serious pain.

adduced

"Indeed hath he, answered the magistrate, and hath adduced such arguments that we will even leave the matter as it now stands."

Bantam Classic
ch. 8 p. 105

I think this word means to bring up in a conversation. Dictionary.com says it means to cite as an example or means of proof in an argument.

conjectured

"As the light drew nearer, he beheld, within its illuminated circle, his brother clergyman, the Reverend Mr. Wilson; who as Mr. Dimmesdale now conjectured, had been praying at the bedside of some dying man. "

Bantam Classic
ch. 12 pg 136

I think this word means come up with an answer. Dictionary.com said it is the formation or expression of an opinion or theory without evidence for proof.

placidity

"Her only real comfort was when the child lay in the placidity of sleep."

Bantam Classic
ch 6 pg 85

Dictionary.com said it means to be calm or peaceful. It can also mean quiet or undisturbed.