Word Entry # 2 - "The Thing in the Forest"

1. "With their suitcases, some of which were almost too big to carry, and their other impedimenta,  a doll, a toy car, a comic, they were like a disorderly dwarf regiment, stomping along the platform" (225). 

2. My guess: Using the context clues in the sentence, I would guess that the word "impedimenta" maybe means "personal items" or something like that. I think this because the author continues on by naming some items that children often have to play with. 

3. Definition: Baggage or other things that retard one's progress, as supplies carried by an army. (http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/impedimenta?s=t) 

4. Explanation: Now I understand the sentence a little bit better. The word "impedimenta" means items that stall the progress of the journey. So in the sentence, the author is using the word in reference to the large suitcases that were hurting the progress and adding that the toys that the children were carrying were also stalling their progress walking along the platform. Looking back now that I know the meaning of the word, the phrase "some of which were almost too big to carry" is the critical context clue in understanding the meaning of the word "impedimenta".