Huck
It is an adjective meaning moderate or average in size, amount, or rank; OR and adverb meaning fairly or moderately.
What is Middling?
This is the name of Washington Irving's comic historian alter ego (first and last OR just last)
Diedrich Knickerbocker
It is an adjective meaning depressing, dreary; (of a person or a mood) gloomy.
What is Dismal?
It is a noun meaning the protective care of God or of nature as a spiritual power.
What is Providence?
It is an adjective meaning resulting from or showing sincere and intense conviction.
What is Earnest?
It is a verb meaning to talk unproductively and at length.
What is Palaver?
It is an adjective meaning able to be endured; fairly good; mediocre.
What is Tolerable?
It is an adjective meaning self-assertive or bold in a rude, noisy, or overbearing way.
What is Brash?
It is an adjective meaning guilty of or involving betrayal or deception; OR (of ground, water, conditions, etc.) hazardous because of presenting hidden or unpredictable dangers.
What is Treacherous?
It is a vern meaning to turn (a ship) on its side for cleaning, caulking, or repair; OR to move swiftly and in an uncontrolled way in a specified direction.
What is Careen?
It is a verb meaning to create or bring about (an object or a situation) by deliberate use of skill and artifice; or to manage to do something foolish or create an undesirable situation.
What is Contrive?
It is a verb meaning to form a theory or conjecture about a subject without firm evidence; OR to invest in stocks, property, or other ventures in the hope of gain but with the risk of loss.
What is Speculate?
It is a noun meaning a swamp; OR a situation characterized by lack of progress or activity.
What is Slough?
It is an informal, dialect noun meaning a troublesome wild animal; a troublesome and mischievous person, especially a child.
What is a Varmint?
It is an adjective meaning bad-tempered and combative; stubborn
What is Ornery?
A verb meaning to roll oneself about in a lazy, relaxed, or ungainly manner; or to indulge oneself immoderately (used with “- in”).
What is Wallow?
It is a noun meaning a short treatise in pamphlet form, typically on a religious subject.
What is a Tract?
It is a noun meaning abstinence from alcoholic drink; the quality of moderation or self-restraint.
What is Temperance?
It is a noun meaning food or provisions.
What is Victuals?
It is an informal noun meaning shrewd or spirited initiative and resourcefulness.
What is Gumption?
It is an adverb meaning side by side and facing the same way; alongside or even with something.
What is Abreast?
It is an adjective meaning pitifully sad and abandoned or lonely.
What is Forlorn?
It is an adjective meaning overly theatrical or melodramatic in character or style.
What is Histrionic?
It is a verb meaning to lose or lack vitality; to grow weak or feeble; to suffer from being forced to remain in an unpleasant place or situation.
What is Languish?
It is an adjective meaning feeling or expressing remorse or penitence; affected by guilt.
What is Contrite?