speakeasy
A secret meeting place to buy liquor during the time in which Prohibition outlawed the sale of alcohol.
conservatory
A school for music.
flask
A portable container for secretly hiding liquor.
hearse
Vehicle that carries a coffin.
embalm
To preserve a corpse in order to retard the rate of decomposition.
syncopation
An unexpected accent or stress of a rhythm.
cahoots
conspiring; secretly working together toward a common goal.
contortionist
Someone who can bend their body into abnormal positions.
shyster
A crooked lawyer.
scram
An urgent and short-tempered admonition to someone else to get lost.
yacht
A large and expensive privately-owned boat used for pleasure cruises.
jazz
Musical genre created in America characterized by extensive use of horn sections and improvisational playing.
The Four-Hundred
Term for the highest level of the social elite in New York City.
Prohibition
Constitutional amendment outlawing the sale of alcohol in the 1920s.
virtuoso
Prodigy; genius; extremely advanced and unusually prodigious skill at doing something, usually conveying a sense of the artistic.
annul
To cancel, terminate or invalidate (as in, a marriage)
goose it up
To make something more exciting or impressive.
beau
Old-fashioned term for a romantic admirer; boyfriend.
vulcanize
To rubberize something by treating it at high temperature.
ulcer
open sore, often caused by stress.
