Set 1

Question 1

chirrup .v.

Answer 1

to make a short high sound or sounds

Chemda’s cellphone chirruped an incongruously high song.

Question 2

cantopop

Answer 2

contraction of “Cantonese popular music”

Question 3

rattle

Answer 3

to (cause something to) make a noise like a series of knocks

rattling the phone, she cursed the reception

Question 4

rake sth up

Answer 4

to talk again about a past event or experience that should be forgotten, because it annoys or upsets someone else

You are intruder. Raking up the past.

Question 5

jamb

Answer 5

the vertical part of a door or window frame

Jake leaned against the door jamb

Question 6

pungent

Answer 6

A pungent smell or taste is very strong, sometimes unpleasantly strong

the smell of decay was obscure but pungent

Question 7

drool

Answer 7

to allow saliva (= liquid in the mouth) to flow out of your mouth

Question 8

pout

Answer 8

to push the lower lip forward to show you are annoyed, or to push both lips forward in a sexually attractive way

Question 9

bridle

Answer 9

to show sudden anger;
to put a bridle on a horse or similar animal
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bridling, she obeyed

Question 10

risible

Answer 10

not effective or useful

Question 11

chuck

Answer 11

to throw something carelessly;
to end a romantic relationship with someone
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She felt like a teenager disappointed in love. She had been chucked.

Question 12

topple

Answer 12

to (cause to) lose balance and fall down

many of the stones had been toppled

Question 13

vault

Answer 13

to jump over something by first putting your hands on it or by using a pole

American jeep vaulted a crack in the sunbaked muddy track

Question 14

stencil

Answer 14

a piece of card, plastic, metal, etc. into which shapes have been cut, used to draw or paint patterns onto a surface

Question 15

conundrum

Answer 15

a problem that is difficult to deal with;

a question that is a trick, often involving a humorous use of words that have two meanings

Question 16

wheelbarrow

Answer 16

a large, open container for moving things in, which has a wheel at the front and two handles at the back, used especially in the garden

Question 17

marvel

Answer 17

to show or experience great surprise or admiration

Jake marvelled that he had forgotten about them

Question 18

clammy

Answer 18

sticky and slightly wet in an unpleasant way

1. The jungle was shivering. Feverish and clammy.
2. …like she was entering a neglected orphanage full of clammy and demanding hands

Question 19

churn

Answer 19

to move something, especially a liquid, with great force;
to mix milk until it becomes butter;
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They were churning mud now

Question 20

dilapidated

Answer 20

old and in poor condition

with a kind of airstrip and dilapidation of buildings

Question 21

garrulous

Answer 21

having the habit of talking a lot, especially about things that are not important

precocious and garrulous and selfish, like so many only children

Question 22

brisk

Answer 22

quick, energetic, and active

brisk French efficiency

Question 23

gargle

Answer 23

to move a liquid around in your throat without swallowing, especially to clean it or stop it feeling painful

Question 24

chirr

Answer 24

(of an insect) make a prolonged low trilling sound

the motor engine chirred

Question 25

rev

Answer 25

to increase the operating speed of an engine while the vehicle is not moving, usually to warm it to the correct temperature

Pang revved the engine

Question 26

rafter

Answer 26

any of the large, sloping pieces of wood that support a roof

Question 27

come again?

Answer 27

used to ask someone to repeat something that you have not heard or understood

Question 28

rooster

Answer 28

a cock noun

Question 29

shrewd

Answer 29

Having or showing sharp powers of judgement

she is a shrewd and educated woman

Question 30

gawp

Answer 30

Stare openly in a stupid or rude manner

we don’t want her to be gawped at in Phnom Penh

Question 31

derail

Answer 31

Cause (a train or tram) to leave its tracks accidentally

Khmer Rouge loyalists are keen to derail Chemda’s investigation

Question 32

foist

Answer 32

Impose an unwelcome or unnecessary person or thing on

they were prepared to foist her on some man they hardly knew

Question 33

bland

Answer 33

Lacking strong features or characteristics and therefore uninteresting

it was so bland and non French

Question 34

insipid

Answer 34

Lacking flavour; weak or tasteless

Question 35

shunt

Answer 35

Push or pull (a train or part of a train) from the main line to a siding or from one line of rails to another

shunting emotions aside

Question 36

linger

Answer 36

.v. stay in a place longer than necessary

She let her eyes linger on him suggestively

Was there any reason to linger?

Question 37

platoon

Answer 37

.n. a subdivision of a company of soldiers; a group of people acting together

In recent days the little patoon had dwindled

Question 38

drag

Answer 38

.n. the action of pulling smth forcefully or with difficulty;
.n. a person or thing that impedes progress of development
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The vision of a winter in London, teaching yawning eighteen-year-olds, was a drag

Question 39

oleaginous

Answer 39

.adj. rich in, covered with, or producing oil; exaggeratedly and distastefully complimentary

She would nonchalantly say to the oleaginous team leader

Question 40

beam and glisten

Answer 40

.v. shine brightly; smile radiantly

her boss would beam and glisten and congratulate her

Question 41

wilful

Answer 41

.adj. deliberate, intentional; stubborn

her wilful ambition had been justified

Question 42

trove

Answer 42

.n. a collection of objects; = treasure-trove. anything like a treasure that one finds

this marvelous cache, this trove of bones, this was her find

Question 43

wallop

Answer 43

.v. to beat soundly, to strike hard
.n. a hard blow, the ability to effect a forceful impression
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she was going to give it up without giving it every wallop of energy

Question 44

inure

Answer 44

.v. to accustom to hardship, difficulty, pain, etc.

Two years working as a photographer in Southeast Asia … had inured him to the contrast and oddness of tropical east Asia

Question 45

ravishing

Answer 45

.adj. extremely beautiful or attractive

Here was an ugly concrete town in a ravishing ancient valley

Question 46

ravish

Answer 46

.v. to fill with strong emotion; rape

Question 47

dwindle

Answer 47

.v. to become smaller

the work wasn’t coming in any quicker, in fact it was dwindling

Question 48

modicum

Answer 48

.n. a moderate amount

with a modicum of luck

Question 49

moron

Answer 49

.n. a person who is stupid or lacking in good judgment

a moron with a Nokia could do a decent Frank Capra

Question 50

demotic

Answer 50

.adj. of or pertaining to the ordinary, everyday, current form of a language; of or pertaining to the common people

Photography had always been the most demotic of arts

Question 51

comfy

Answer 51

short for comfortable

he could accept boring, commercial, uncreative but comfy assignment

Question 52

non-squat

Answer 52

the hotels were decent, toilets non-squat

Question 53

languid

Answer 53

.adj. lacking in vigor or vitality;
lacking in spirit or interest
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wondering down the languid, sunsetting, wood-and-concrete mainstreet of Vang Vieng, Jake paused

Question 54

quiverful

Answer 54

as much as quiver will hold

a quiverful of shots of the riverine landscape