The Old Man and the Sea

Ernest Hemingway

Adolpho Luque pitcher

for the Reds and Giants and a native of Havana, Cuba.

agua mala (Spanish) jellyfish; Portuguese man-of-war.

albacore a tuna with unusually long pectoral fins, important as a

game and food fish in all warm seas.

barracuda any of a family of fierce, pikelike tropical fish: some

species are edible.

big blue runner any of various edible jack fishes of warm seas,
as a bluish species and a striped bluish species.

bonito any of a genus of marine game and food scombroid fishes.

brisa (Spanish) breeze.

calambre (Spanish) cramp (muscular).

Canary Islands group of islands in the Atlantic, off northwest

Africa, forming a region of Spain.

carapace the horny, protective covering over all or part of the

back of certain animals, as the upper shell of the turtle,
armadillo, crab, etc.

Casablanca seaport in northwest Morocco, on the Atlantic.

Cienfuegos seaport on the south coast of Cuba.

dentuso (Spanish) big-toothed; (in Cuba) a particularly voracious

and frightening species of shark with rows of large, sharp teeth;
here, a descriptive term for the mako shark.
Dick Sisler famous baseball player and coach on numerous
baseball teams, including the Cardinals, the Reds, and the
Yankees.

dolphin a game fish with colors that brighten and change when
the fish is taken out of the water.

dorado (Spanish) gilding or gilt (literally); here a descriptive term

for the golden dolphin.

El Campeón (Spanish) The Champion.

flying fish a warm-sea fish with winglike pectoral fins that

enable it to glide through the air.

gaff a large, strong hook on a pole, or a barbed spear, used in

landing large fish.

galanos (Spanish) mottled ones (literally); here a descriptive term

for the shovel-nosed sharks.

gelatinous like gelatin or jelly; having the consistency of gelatin

or jelly; viscous.

Gran Ligas (Spanish) the two main leagues of professional

baseball clubs in the U.S., the National League and the American
League: also the Major Leagues.

green turtle, hawk-bill, loggerhead turtles.

Guanabacoa one of the oldest European settlements in Cuba;

now part of the urban conglomerate of present-day Havana.

Joe DiMaggio famous baseball player who played for the

Yankees and is widely regarded as the best all-around player in
baseball history.

John J. McGraw manager of the Giants from 1902 to 1932.

juegos (Spanish) games.

la mar, el mar sea (Spanish feminine noun, Spanish masculine

noun).
Leo Durocher manager of the Brooklyn Dodgers from 1939 to
1946 and 1948.

man-of-war bird a large, tropical bird with extremely long wings

and tail and a hooked beak.

marlin any of several large, slender, deep-sea billfishes.

masthead the top part of a ship's mast.

Mike Gonzalez catcher for the Cardinals (1916-1918, 1924) and

a native of Cuba.

Mosquito Coast region on the Caribbean coast of Honduras and

Nicaragua.

oakum loose, stringy hemp fiber gotten by taking apart old ropes
and treated with tar, used as a caulking material.

plankton the usually microscopic animal and plant life found

floating or drifting in the ocean or in bodies of fresh water, used
as food by nearly all aquatic animals.

Portuguese man-of-war a large, warm-sea jellyfish that floats on

the water and has long, dangling tentacles with powerful stinging
cells.

Que va (Spanish) No way.

rapier a slender, two-edged sword with a large, cupped hilt.

Rigel a supergiant, multiple star, usually the brightest star in the

constellation Orion.

Sargasso weed floating brown algae found in tropical seas and

having a main stem with flattened outgrowths like leaves, and
branches with berry-like air sacs.

scythe a tool with a long, single-edged blade set at an angle on a

long, curved handle, used in cutting long grass, grain, and so on,
by hand.

shovel-nosed having a broad, flattened nose, head, or bill.

 spring leaf curved plate that supports the vehicle above the
suspension components and allows vertical suspension
movement: also leaf spring; here the words are probaby
presented in reverse order as they would be in Spanish.

tiburon (Spanish) shark.

Tigres (Spanish) reference to the Detroit Tigers.

un espuela de hueso a bone spur.

Virgin of Cobre reference to the statue of Our Lady of La Caridad

de Cobre (Our Lady of Charity at Cobre), the most venerated in
all of Cuba.

yellow jack an edible, gold-and-silver marine jack fish found

near Florida and the West Indies.

skiff

a small boat propelled by oars or by sails or by a motor

He was an old man who fished alone in a skiff in the Gulf Stream and he
had gone eighty-four days now without taking a fish.

gaff

an iron hook with a handle; used for landing large fish

It made the boy sad to see the old man come in each day with his skiff
empty and he always went down to help him carry either the coiled
lines or the gaff and harpoon and the sail that was furled around the
mast.

gaunt

very thin especially from disease or hunger or cold

The old man was thin and gaunt with deep wrinkles in the back of his
neck.

benevolent
 intending or showing kindness

The brown blotches of the benevolent skin cancer the sun brings from its
reflection on the tropic sea were on his cheeks.

erosion

the process of wearing or grinding something down

They were as old as erosions in a fishless desert.

humility

a lack of arrogance or false pride

“Thank you,” the old man said. He was too simple to wonder when he had
attained humility.

stern

the rear part of a ship

The box with the baits was under the stern of the skiff along with the club
that was used to subdue the big fish when they were brought alongside.

subdue

put down by force or intimidation

The box with the baits was under the stern of the skiff along with the club
that was used to subdue the big fish when they were brought
alongside.

relic

something of sentimental value

On the brown walls of the flattened, overlapping leaves of the sturdy

fibered guano there was a picture in color of the Sacred Heart of Jesus
and another of the Virgin of Cobre. These were relics of his wife.

fiction
 a deliberately false or improbable account

There was no cast net and the boy remembered when they had sold it. But
they went through this fiction every day.

bodega

small shop selling groceries, especially in a Hispanic area

“Perico gave it to me at the bodega,” he explained.

resolution

the trait of being firm in purpose or belief

“I may not be as strong as I think,” the old man said. “But I know many
tricks and I have resolution.”

thole

a holder attached to the gunwale of a boat that holds the oar in place and
acts as a fulcrum for rowing

He fitted the rope lashings of the oars onto the thole pins and, leaning
forward against the thrust of the blades in the water, he began to row
out of the harbour in the dark.

phosphorescence

a fluorescence that persists after radiation has ceased

He saw the phosphorescence of the Gulf weed in the water as he

rowed over the part of the ocean that the fishermen called the great
well because there was a sudden deep of seven hundred fathoms where
all sorts of fish congregated because of the swirl the current made
against the steep walls of the floor of the ocean.

fathom

a linear unit of measurement for water depth

He saw the phosphorescence of the Gulf weed in the water as he rowed
over the part of the ocean that the fishermen called the great well
because there was a sudden deep of seven hundred fathoms where all
sorts of fish congregated because of the swirl the current made against
the steep walls of the floor of the ocean.

ineffectual

producing no result

He watched the flying fish burst out again and again and
the ineffectual movements of the bird.

plankton

aggregate of small organisms that float or drift in water

As he looked down into it he saw the red sifting of the plankton in the
dark water and the strange light the sun made now.

iridescent

varying in color when seen in different lights

But the bird was almost out of sight now and nothing showed on the
surface of the water but some patches of yellow, sun-bleached Sargasso
weed and the purple, formalized, iridescent, gelatinous bladder of a
Portuguese man-of-war floating dose beside the boat.

filament

a threadlike structure

From where he swung lightly against his oars he looked down into the
water and saw the tiny fish that were coloured like the
trailing filaments and swam between them and under the small shade
the bubble made as it drifted.

carapace

hard outer covering or case of certain organisms

The turtles saw them, approached them from the front, then shut their
eyes so they were completely carapaced and ate them filaments and all.

contempt

lack of respect accompanied by a feeling of intense dislike

He loved green turtles and hawk-bills with their elegance and speed and
their great value and he had a friendly contempt for the huge, stupid
loggerheads, yellow in their armour-plating, strange in their love-
making, and happily eating the Portuguese men-of-war with their eyes
shut.

mysticism

obscure or irrational thought

He had no mysticism about turtles although he had gone in turtle boats

for many years.

grippe

an acute, febrile, highly contagious viral disease

He also drank a cup of shark liver oil each day from the big drum in the
shack where many of the fishermen kept their gear. It was there for all
fishermen who wanted it. Most fishermen hated the taste. But it was no
worse than getting up at the hours that they rose and it was very good
against all colds and grippes and it was good for the eyes.

myriad

a large indefinite number

The myriad flecks of the plankton were annulled now by the high sun and
it was only the great deep prisms in the blue water that the old man
saw now with his lines going straight down into the water that was a
mile deep.

annul

cancel officially
The myriad flecks of the plankton were annulled now by the high sun
and it was only the great deeprisms in the blue water that the old man
saw now with his lines going straight down into the water that was a
mile deep.

imperceptible

impossible or difficult to sense

As it went down, slipping lightly through the old man’s fingers, he still
could feel the great weight, though the pressure of his thumb and finger
were almost imperceptible.

intolerable

incapable of being put up with

The position actually was only somewhat less intolerable; but he

thought of it as almost comfortable.

rapier

a straight sword with a narrow blade and two edges

When the old man had gaffed her and clubbed her, holding the rapier bill
with its sandpaper edge and dubbing her across the top of her head
until her colour turned to a colour almost like the backing of mirrors,
and then, with the boy’s aid, hoisted her aboard, the male fish had
stayed by the side of the boat.

longitudinally

in the direction of the length

He put one knee on the fish and cut strips of dark red
meat longitudinally from the back of the head to the tail.

carcass

the dead body of an animal

When he had cut six strips he spread them out on the wood of the bow,
wiped his knife on his trousers, and lifted the carcass of the bonito by
the tail and dropped it overboard.

improvise

perform without preparation

But he seems calm, he thought, and following his plan. But what is his
plan, he thought. And what is mine? Mine I must improvise to his
because of his great size.

sustenance

a source of materials to nourish the body

My hand is only cut a little and the cramp is gone from the other. My legs
are all right. Also now I have gained on him in the question
of sustenance.

interminable

tiresomely long; seemingly without end

He took all his pain and what was left of his strength and his long gone
pride and he put it against the fish’s agony and the fish came over onto
his side and swam gently on his side, his bill almost touching the
planking of the skiff and started to pass the boat, long, deep, wide,
silver and barred with purple and interminable in the water.

astern

at, near, or toward the stern of a ship or airplane

The shark closed fast astern and when he hit the fish the old man saw
his mouth open and his strange eyes and the clicking chop of the teeth
as he drove forward in the meat just above the tail.

malignancy

quality of being disposed to evil; intense ill will

He hit it with his blood mushed hands driving a good harpoon with all
his strength. He hit it without hope but with resolution and
complete malignancy.