Packard the name brand of a family-oriented automobile produced by Packard Motor, Inc., which was founded in 1900 and merged with Studebaker Corporation in 1954. In Chapter 1, Macon Dead drives a green Dodge sedan on Sunday afternoon outings.
Pall Mal a brand of cigarettes.
peck basket A peck equals eight quarts of any dry material; the peck basket that Ruth drops could hold a maximum of eight quarts of red velvet rose petals.
perspiration shields pads, probably made from cotton, that women wore underneath their armpits so that their sweat would not soil their clothes.
Philly Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
phosphorous a poisonous chemical that is highly reactive. Milkman avoids Guitar's eyes because he knows he will see a venomous, agitated look in them.
pistil the seed-bearing sex organ of a flower.
placidly calmly, or complacently and without emotion.
placket a slit in a piece of clothing, such as a dress or skirt.
Planter's a brand of peanut products, including peanut butter.
polio poliomyelitis, an infectious viral disease that affects children and adults. Polio causes inflammation of the spinal cord and brainstem and can lead to paralysis and the deterioration of muscles.
poot slang for "lousy" or "inferior." Pilate says that Macon could not cook worth "poot" — he was a lousy cook.
pot of mustards "Mustards" refers to mustard greens, leafy plants whose leaves are rinsed and cooked much like spinach.
potbellied stove popular in the 1930s, a cast-iron stove having a round chamber — a "pot belly" — in which wood or coal is burned.
pregnant-woman bow Traditionally, pregnant women attached decorative bows to their clothes at the stomach to announce that they were pregnant.
President Roosevelt Franklin Delano Roosevelt (1882–1945), the thirty-second president of the United States (1933–45), was crippled by polio.
Prince Charming here, meaning the perfect man. In Walt Disney's film-length cartoon Snow White and the 7 Dwarves (1937), Prince Charming kisses the sleeping Snow White and releases her from an evil witch's enchantment.
print peignoir a loose-fitting dressing gown. Michael-Mary's has a print design, probably very bright, showy, and somewhat ostentatious, or gaudy.
pussy willow a deciduous North American shrub having clusters of large, silvery, fuzzy flowers.
Quakers the Society of Friends, a religious denomination. Quakers were instrumental in helping runaway slaves reach freedom in the North.
quarry an excavation pit from which ore is mined.
Queen Mary a luxury British steamship, launched in 1934 and retired in 1967.
racial-uplift groups During the early 1900s, white liberals and black nationalists founded several organizations dedicated to "uplifting the race." These pioneering groups included the Niagara Movement, forerunner of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP); the National Urban League; and the Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA).
Radiathor an experimental drug used to test the effects of atomic radiation on humans. The term alludes to the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki during World War II.
reaper meaning the Grim Reaper, traditionally a symbol of death.
Red Cap a brand name of beer.
Red Cap a brand of beer. Interestingly, "Red Cap" is also a term originally used to describe black railroad porters and attendants, who could be identified by their red caps.
relief check here, a government-issued check made payable to low-income individuals and families.
"Remember them soldiers in 1918?" The men in Hospital Tommy's barbershop recall the atrocious behavior toward black soldiers who fought in World War I. After suffering discrimination in the military, they returned to the United States to face extreme hostility for daring to think that their military service had earned them the right to equal treatment in society. The hostilities led to the lynching of hundreds of African Americans, many of them soldiers still dressed in their uniforms, and culminated in the violent "Red Summer" of 1919, during which race riots erupted around the country, especially in such major cities as Detroit and Chicago.
rennet dessert a cheeselike dessert in which rennet, a dried extract made from the stomach lining of a small animal, usually a calf, is the major ingredient.
rheumy mucous-covered; filmy.
rhododendron a common shrub or small tree found in North America, Europe, and Asia that prefers cool temperatures and acidic soil. They have white, pink, or purple flowers and tough leaves.
ridge here, a chain of hills.
"Right on time." Pilate's words allude to the African-American proverb, "He [Jesus] may not come when you call Him, but He's always right on time."
a root worker a fortune teller, or spell caster, using various root concoctions.
Rothschild '29 and Beaujolais two expensive wines, symbolic of aristocracy and elitism.
rummy slang for a drunkard.
rutabaga Also called a Swede turnip, it is a vegetable whose edible root is purplish with yellow flesh.
