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Dictionary > Dune > Flashcards

Dune Flashcards

0
Q

Petulant

A

“She was feeling her age this morning, more than a little petulant”

Childishly sulky or bad tempered.

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1
Q

contralto

A

“Paul’s mother answered in her soft contralto”

The lowest female singing voice.

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2
Q

Bravura

A

“there was a man who appreciated the power of bravura”

Great technical skill shown in a performance or activity.

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3
Q

Enjoin

A

“I enjoin you to practice the meditation of peace”

Instruct or urge (someone) to do something.

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4
Q

Impetus

A

“spinning under the impetus of a fat hand”

The force or energy with which a body moves.

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5
Q

dispensation

A

“Your uncle will have dispensation of that fief.”

A political, social or religious system prevailing at a time.

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6
Q

Federated

A

“the Federated Great Houses of the Landsraad”

States formed into a single unit.

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7
Q

conflagration

A

“all we can hope for now is to prevent this from erupting into general conflagration, to salvage what we can of the key bloodlines.”

An extensive fire that destroys land or property.

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8
Q

fatuous

A

“fatuous old witch”

Silly and pointless

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9
Q

Platitudes

A

“her mouth full of platitudes.”

A remark or comment often of a moral content that has been overused such that it loses all meaning.

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10
Q

Woolgathering

A

“Where were you woolgathering that time?”

Indulgence in aimless thoughts.

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11
Q

Devilry

A

“he liked Gurney Halleck best, knew the man’s moods and deviltry”

Reckless mischief.

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12
Q

Intoned

A

“What a dolt my father sends me for weaponry,” Paul intoned”

Say with little rise or fall in pitch or tone.

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13
Q

Doltish

A

“This doltish Gurney Halleck has forgotten the first lesson for a fighting man armed and shielded.”

Stupid; idiotic.

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14
Q

Chagrined

A

“Paul stepped back, chagrined”

Annoyance or distress at having failed or being humiliated.

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15
Q

Whap

A

“I should whap your backside for such carelessness”

Hit hard

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16
Q

Salve

A

“I salve my own conscience.”

An oil used to promote healing of skin.

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17
Q

surcease

A

“I give him the surcease of religion before betraying him.”

Ending, cessation.

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18
Q

cupidity

A

“I must catch his mind as well as his cupidity.”

Greed for money or possessions.

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19
Q

prosaic

A

“the most prosaic and the most exotic”

Commonplace; unromantic.

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20
Q

esprit

A

“the esprit of shared suffering.”

The quality of being lively, vivacious or witty.

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21
Q

anachronism

A

“This giant anachronism of a room reminded her of the Sisters’ Hall”

I think belonging to a period other than that in which it exists.

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22
Q

restive

A

She’s getting restive.

Unable to remain still, silent or submissive, especially because of boredom or dissatisfaction.

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23
Q

happenstance

A

“endless queues of happenstance meeting at this nexus.”

Coincidence.

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24
Q

oblate

A

“The night’s first moon, an oblate silver coin”

Of a spheroid flattened at the poles.

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25
Q

galling

A

“The delay was galling”

Causing annoyance or resentment.

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26
Q

balk

A

“men who won’t balk at a little knife work.”

Hesitate.

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27
Q

tithe

A

“Tell them I’ll ignore their operations as long as they give me a ducal tithe”

One tenth of annual produce.

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28
Q

heretofore

A

“extra fighting men heretofore required in their operations”

Before now.

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29
Q

rheumy

A

“the rheumy shine of the brown eyes”

Especially of eyes, watery.

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30
Q

rueful

A

a rueful grin

Expressing sorrow or regret.

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31
Q

opalescence

A

“the night grew a faggot of luminous gray, then seashell opalescence”

Showing many small point of shifting colour against pale or dark ground.

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32
Q

cozened

A

“I’ve been completely cozened”

Trick or deceive.

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33
Q

candour

A

“the air of “reserved candour”

Frankness.

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34
Q

somnolent

A

“An unmarked ornithopter squatted nearby. humming softly on standby like a somnolent insect”

Sleepy; drowsy.

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35
Q

pertinent

A

“Paul’s question had been direct and pertinent.”

Relevant or applicable.

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36
Q

curtly

A

“Kynes spoke curtly: “They’re His Majesty’s property”

Rudely brief.

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37
Q

Sardonic

A

Grimly mocking or cynical.

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38
Q

archipelagos

A

“white linen shone around the burnished reflections of the Atreides silver, which had been placed in precise arrangements along the great table—little archipelagos of service waiting beside crystal glasses”

Excerpt From: Herbert, Frank. “Dune.” Ace, 2005-08-01T21:00:00+00:00. iBooks.
This material may be protected by copyright.

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39
Q

reproof

A

“she had done this to taunt him subtly, a reproof against his recent pose of coldness”

An expression of blame or disappointment.

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40
Q

epaulets

A

“dark brown uniform with epaulets of the Imperial Civil Servant”

An ornament or shoulder piece on an item of clothing.

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41
Q

coquetry

A

“listening to a low-voiced coquetry”

Flirtatious behaviour.

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42
Q

infraction

A

“this is the kind of infraction I was instructed to ignore.”

A violation of a law or agreement.

43
Q

inflection

A

“You will find it fairly simple to determine the root languages of your subjects, of course, both through voice inflection and speech pattern.”

Change in the form of a word to express meaning.

44
Q

play the foil

A

“he decided to play the foil, draw the exchange out.”

Dramatical device whereby the user takes on the extreme opposite character of another.

45
Q

riposte

A

“Jessica noted the brittle riposte quality”

A quick, clever reply to an insult or criticism.

46
Q

epicanthic

A

“a touch of epicanthic fold to the eyes.”

Denoting a fold of skin from the upper eyelid covering the inner angle of the eye.

47
Q

rictus

A

“When our time ends on its rictus smile, we’ll pass the lure of fortune.”

A fixed grimace or grin.

48
Q

peremptory

A

“Her command had been regal, peremptory”

Insisting on immediate attention or obedience, especially in a brusquely imperious way.

49
Q

abeyance

A

“but he held final decision in abeyance”

A state of temporary disuse or suspension.

50
Q

jowls

A

“A smile creased his mouth, pulled at the lines of his jowls.”

Fleshy or drooping cheeks.

51
Q

prescient

A

“he focused his prescient awareness”

Having a knowledge of the future.

52
Q

demur

A

“Get him away from them. Say I wish to question him.”
“If they demur?”

Raise objections or show reluctance.

53
Q

vestige

A

“Not the slightest vestige of pity or mercy must you show them”

A small fragment.

54
Q

brackish

A

“It tasted brackish, and she remembered the waters of Caladan”

(Of water) slightly salty.

55
Q

Axiom

A

“Axiom: the best place to conserve your water is in your body”

A statement that is largely regarded as true.

56
Q

pathos

A

“Jessica closed her eyes, found herself moved close to tears by the pathos in her son’s voice”

Emotively sad, evoking pity.

57
Q

rivulets

A

“kicking off the sand rivulets”

A small stream of water or another liquid

58
Q

sufferance

A

“We live on sufferance down here”

Absence of objection rather than genuine approval.

59
Q

pogrom

A

“a pogrom—that isn’t like the Harkonnens”

Organise massacre of a particular ethnic group

60
Q

mote

A

“He was a mote caught in the glare of the noon sun”

A speck.

61
Q

qanat

A

“a long qanat flowing with water”

Underground tunnel for water.

62
Q

sirocco

A

“We must create a true sirocco—a moist wind”

A hot wind, often dusty or rainy

63
Q

imprecation

A

“There came a whispered imprecation”

A spoken curse.

64
Q

feluccas

A

“ghostly feluccas, their robes flitting through the shadows”

A small boat propelled by oars, used on the Nile

65
Q

aquiline

A

“the aquiline Atreides profile”

Of a person’s nose hooked or curved like an Eagles beak.

66
Q

surfeit

A

“He’s full-fleshed and with a surfeit of water”

An excessive amount of something.

67
Q

Sidling

A

“Jamis began sidling to the right”

Walk in a furtive, unobstructive or timid, especially sideways.

68
Q

caches

A

“We have thousands of such caches”

A collection of items of the same time, stored in a hidden place

69
Q

promontory

A

“It was like a promontory above the surf.”

A point of high land that juts out over a body of water.

70
Q

betimes

A

“He liked music betimes, Jamis did.”

Before the usual or expected time.

71
Q

furtive

A

“the furtive scurrying of the people”

Attempting to avoid notice.

72
Q

incongruous

A

“His dark hair was dressed in close ringlets that seemed incongruously gay above sullen eyes”

Out of place.

73
Q

crass

A

“the Emperor’s errand boy gets across whatever message he carries without ever being so crass as to speak it right out.”

Showing no intelligence or sensitivity.

74
Q

guidon

A

“their guidon pennants whipping in a breeze”

A pennant that narrows to a point or fork at its free end.

75
Q

moue

A

“A sad little moue contorted his mouth”

A pouting expression used to express annoyance or distaste.

76
Q

Languid

A

“Languidly, controlling his rage with difficulty, the Baron waved his hand”

Showing a disinclination toward effort.

77
Q

effluvia

A

“unwashed bodies, distillate esthers of reclaimed wastes, everywhere the sour effluvia of humanity”

An unpleasant or harmful odour or discharge.

78
Q

sussurant

A

“A sussurant response arose from the crowd”

A low continuous indistinct sound.

79
Q

quintessence

A

“He knew what would happen if he drank this spice drug with its quintessence of the substance that brought the change”

The most perfect example of a quality or class.

80
Q

Garrotte

A

Garrotte the slavemaster

Kill someone by strangulation; especially using a length of wire.

81
Q

accretion

A

“We both know the figure for storm accretion”

Growth by accumulation of additional layers.

82
Q

popinjay

A

This Imperial popinjay

A vain or conceited person, especially one who dresses extravagantly.

83
Q

curettement

A

“Would you prefer to have the Emperor come in here and perform a curettement”

surgery to remove tissue or growths from a bodily cavity by scraping with a curette

84
Q

gourd

A

“scrape out Giedi Prime like a hollow gourd”

A fleshy, typically large fruit, with hard skin and soft centre.

85
Q

palanquin

A

“riding a Reverend Mother’s palanquin”

A covered litter for one person.

86
Q

razzia

A

“I was on razzia”

A hostile raid for the purpose of conquer, slaves and plunder. Carried out by moors in North Africa.

87
Q

precipice

A

“a precipice does not show itself to the man in a blind rush”

A very steep rock face.

88
Q

adroitness

A

“It annoyed Gurney, the cunning and adroitness in battle of these natives”

Cleverness or skill.

89
Q

cavort

A

“He suppressed a sudden urge to cavort there, to turn the worm, to show off his mastery”

Jump or dance around excitedly.

90
Q

contrive

A

“I must contrive it that Paul learns the truth”

Create by deliberate use of skill or artifice.

91
Q

tableau

A

“It was like a tableau, but with the added dimension of warren smell”

A group of models representing a scene from history.

92
Q

investiture

A

“he called up the words of investiture as he had heard his own father use”

The action of formally giving a person honours or rank.

93
Q

forlorn

A

“Jessica, spoke in a forlorn, pleading note”

Pitifully sad or abandoned.
(Of an endeavour) unlikely to succeed.

94
Q

tumescent

A

“where rows of tumescent white shapes flowed over and under and around the lights”

Swollen or becoming swollen; especially in response to sexual arousal.

95
Q

unshriven

A

“Harkonnen souls we’ll dispatch unshriven”

Not having confessed ones sins to a priest.

96
Q

derision

A

“his tone of derision did not escape the Baron”

Contemptuous ridicule or mockery.

97
Q

purblind

A

“you rattle on like a purblind fool”

Having impaired or defective vision.

98
Q

hauteur

A

“Paul’s attention came at last to a tall blonde woman, green-eyed, a face of patrician beauty, classic in its hauteur”

Disdainful pride.

99
Q

ennui

A

“I might do this thing out of pure spite… or out of ennui”

A feeling of listlessness arising from lack of occupation or excitement.

100
Q

soporific

A

“a trace of soporific”

Tending to induce drowsiness or sleep.

101
Q

entrisseur

A

“He dodged a sword thrust from one of the others, slit the man’s throat with a neat entrisseur”

Excerpt From: Herbert, Frank. “Dune.” Ace, 2005-08-01T21:00:00+00:00. iBooks.
This material may be protected by copyright.

102
Q

ribald

A

“The name arose from a ribald joke”

Referring to sexual matters in an amusingly rude or irreverent manner.

103
Q

recanted

A

“Fifty-three recanted within the year”

Say that one no longer holds an opinion or belief.

104
Q

dalliance

A

“His reign is noted chiefly for the Arrakis Revolt, blamed by many historians on Shaddam IV’s dalliance with Court functions and the pomp of office”

A casual romantic or sexual relationship.

Dictionary (3 decks)

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