Disney meaning Walt Disney (1901-1966), the U.S. pioneer of animated film cartoons. The "hippo ballerinas" to which Kingsolver refers appear in the animated classic film Fantasia (1940).
doohickey something whose name is unknown.
ORV short for off-road vehicle; a camper known as a recreational vehicle (RV).
phlebotomist a person trained to draw blood from people for diagnosis or study, or to determine how to treat a disease.
nineteen-ought-seven 1907; ought is a colloquial word meaning zero.
the Derby refers to the Kentucky Derby horse race, run annually near Louisville, Kentucky, on the first Saturday in May.
Secretariat considered by many horse-racing fans the greatest racer ever; Secretariat won the coveted triple crown (the Kentucky Derby, the Preakness, and the Belmont Stakes) in 1973.
Seattle Slew a race horse that won the Triple Crown in 1977.
towhead a person with white or light-colored hair; tow is a coarse fiber used in the past to make gunnysacks.
