Chapters 1-3 Flashcards
Lagoon
Book Sentence: “The boy with fair hair lowered himself down the last few feet of rock and began to pick his way toward the lagoon.”
Definition: An area of shallow water separated from the sea by low sandy dunes.
My Sentence: The lagoon was filled with trees, all of which were surrounding the water.
Clamber
Book Sentence: He was clambering heavily among the creepers and broken trunks when a bird, a vision of red and yellow, flashed upwards with a witch-like cry; and this cry was echoed by another.
Definition: To climb, using both feet and hands; climb with effort or difficultly.
My Sentence: He clambered all the way to the top of the hill by himself.
Vainly
Book sentence: “He took off his glasses and looked vainly for something with which to clean them.”
Definition: Excessively proud of or concerned about one’s own appearance, qualities, achievements, etc.
My Sentence: He was vainly surprised about what the little girl had to say about politics.
Quiver
Book Sentence: “The palms that still stood made a green roof, covered on the underside with a quivering tangle of reflections from the lagoon.”
Definition: To shake with a slight but rapid motion; vibrate tremulously; tremble.
My Sentence: Her feet seemed to quiver from the cold wind that was coming from the open window.
Decorous
Book sentence: “Suddenly Piggy was a-bubble with decorous excitement.”
Definition: characterized by dignified propriety in conduct, manners, appearance, character, etc.
My sentence: The house was full of decorous items as long as the eye could see.
Interpose
Book sentence: “Ralph spoke absently. The shell was interesting and pretty and a worthy plaything; but the vivid phantoms of his day-dream still interposed between him and Piggy, who in this context was an irrelevance.”
Definition: To place between; cause to intervene.
My Sentence: I turned the corner and two boys were arguing and I started in their direction to interpose in their conversation.
Strident
Book Sentence: “The note boomed again: and then at his firmer pressure, the note, fluking up an octave, became a strident blare more penetrating than before.”
Definition: making or having a harsh sound; grating; creaking.
My Sentence: She started to scream like a little pigeons coot that became as loud as the lions roar.
Scupper
Definition: A drain at the edge of a deck exposed to the weather, for allowing accumulated water to drain away into the sea or into the bilges.
My Sentence: We were driving down the street looking out of the windows at scuppers.
Speculate
Book Sentence: “Their heads clustered above the trunks in the green shade; heads brown, fair, black, chestnut, sandy, mouse-colored; heads muttering, whispering, heads full of eyes that watched Ralph and speculated.”
Definition: To engage in thought or reflection; meditate.
My Sentence: I lay on the grass speculating at the clouds.
Clamor
Book Sentence: “The conch was silent, a gleaming tusk; Ralph’s face was dark with breathlessness and the air over the island was full of bird-clamor and echoes ringing.”
Definition: a loud uproar, as from a crowd of people.
My sentence: All the people gathered together at the city hall.
Pallor
Book sentence: “Now that the pallor of his faint was over, he was a skinny, vivid little boy, with a glance coming up from under a hut of straight hair that hung down, black and coarse.”
Definition: unusual or extreme paleness, as from fear, ill health, or death; wanness.
My sentence: I entered the room and his body was laying their his skin pallor.
Indignation
Book sentence: “Piggy stood and the rose of indignation faded slowly from his cheeks.”
Definition: strong displeasure at something considered unjust, offensive, insulting, or base; righteous anger.
My Sentence: He stood up at the sight of seeing him and his face was filled with indignation.
Jumble
Book sentence: “There was a jumble of the usual squareness, with one great block sitting out in the lagoon.”
Definition: to mix in a confused mass; put or throw together without order.
My sentence: When I opened the cabinet a giant pack of jumbled papers came crashing down to the floor.
Grating
Book Sentence: “This one, against which Jack leaned, moved with a grating sound when they pushed.”
Definition: a fixed frame of bars or the like covering an opening to exclude persons, animals, coarse material, or objects while admitting light, air, or fine material.
My sentence: The door opened with a grating sound as slid open.
Warped
Book Sentence: “He stood now, warped out of the perpendicular by the fierce light of publicity, and he bored into the coarse grass with one toe.”
Definition: to bend or twist out of shape, especially from a straight or flat form, as timbers or flooring.
My Sentence: He stood there in the sunlight his body seeming to be warped.
