The Once and Future King: Part Three

by T.H. White
In this retelling of the Arthurian legend, a young boy is tutored by the wizard Merlin in preparation for his future as a great king of England.

Here are links to our lists for the novel: Part One, Part Two, Part Three, Part Four
15 words 111 learners

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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. parry
    impede the movement of
    Lance­lot parried the stroke with his bough, and the knight’s sword stuck in the wood.
  2. spate
    a large number or amount or extent
    A few seedy giants of the Strong Arm, who had been captured by the Orkney faction, turned up and said their homage, but the Lancelot contingent was a spate.
  3. deference
    courteous regard for people's feelings
    ...lack of experience as to when truth should be suppressed in deference to the middle-aged...
  4. nemesis
    a personal foe or rival that cannot be easily defeated
    Perhaps it was Lancelot’s love for Arthur that she feared. Or it may have been a fear of the whole position, of its instability and the nemesis inherent in it.
  5. inscrutable
    difficult or impossible to understand
    Brisen, stand­ing rigid, as she had stood to bear Sir Lancelot’s glare, looked at the closed door with an inscrutable expression.
  6. fetter
    a shackle for the ankles or feet
    They were iron fetters, and he had them on his ankles also.
  7. incognito
    without revealing one's identity
    It had been arranged that Lancelot was to live incognito—because, if it were allowed to get about that he was still living and lodged at Bliant Castle, there would only be a hue-and-cry for him from the court.
  8. taciturn
    habitually reserved and uncommunicative
    The defeated knights, jogging home with their bruises, missed the conviviality which usually happened on tournament evenings, wondered who the taciturn champion could be, and talked superstitiously among themselves.
  9. matricide
    a person who murders their mother
    They would have liked to ask why he was going to forgive his nephews, or to pro­test that it was impossible to pardon matricides without damaging the Round Table.
  10. bedizen
    decorate tastelessly
    It had swept away the rouge and bedizening silks which had moved his pity when he first came back.
  11. frippery
    something of little value or significance
    It came from the surly angers of Gawaine, the fripperies of Mordred, and the sarcasms of Agravaine.
  12. equivocal
    open to two or more interpretations
    Mordred said, in his equivocal musical voice, that he could understand a fishwife, but not a fish mistress.
  13. foible
    a minor weakness or peculiarity in someone's character
    Everybody knew of Gawaine’s foible.
  14. subterfuge
    something intended to misrepresent the nature of an activity
    This subterfuge would be assisted by the fact of his staying at Corbin castle, instead of at the actual place of the tournament.
  15. construe
    make sense of; assign a meaning to
    “You will be staying for good now,” said she, hardly as a question. It was in this way that she had construed his answer when they parted all that time ago.
Created on Thu Jul 28 11:59:10 EDT 2016 (updated Tue Aug 05 11:37:01 EDT 2025)

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