The Amber Spyglass: Chapters 24-31

by Philip Pullman
When the third book of Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy begins, Lyra has been kidnapped, and both Will and the evil forces of the Consistorial Court are searching for her. Lyra and Will must fight against a power-hungry archangel as they learn more about the mysterious substance called Dust.

Here are links to our lists for The Amber Spyglass: Chapters 1-8, Chapters 9-16, Chapters 17-23, Chapters 24-31, Chapters 32-38

Here are links to our lists for works by Philip Pullman: The Golden Compass, The Subtle Knife, The Amber Spyglass
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words only definitions & notes
  1. cloister
    a courtyard with covered walks
    The College was a distinctive shape among the other ancient buildings of Geneva, and she soon found the spire, the dark hollow of the cloisters, the square tower where the President of the Consistorial Court of Discipline had his lodging.
  2. flay
    strip the skin off
    “Take your hands off me,” she said calmly to the guard, “and show me some courtesy, or I shall have you flayed.
  3. abject
    showing humiliation or submissiveness
    Nothing had been offered, and she knew how insulting it was to treat him like a servant, but his manner was so abject that he deserved it.
  4. tinder
    material that burns easily and is used for starting a fire
    My daughter is now twelve years old. Very soon she will approach the cusp of adolescence, and then it will be too late for any of us to prevent the catastrophe; nature and opportunity will come together like spark and tinder.
  5. demented
    affected with madness or insanity
    Later, in the time of Daniel, he was aged—he was the Ancient of Days. Where is he now? Is he still alive, at some inconceivable age, decrepit and demented, unable to think or act or speak and unable to die, a rotten hulk?
  6. distinct
    not alike; different in nature or quality
    We place the hair in the resonating chamber. You understand, each individual is unique, and the arrangement of genetic particles quite distinct...Well, as soon as it’s analyzed, the information is coded in a series of anbaric pulses and transferred to the aiming device. That locates the origin of the material, the hair, wherever she may be.
  7. detonate
    cause to burst with a violent release of energy
    “So when it’s detonated, the child will be destroyed, wherever she is?”
  8. colossal
    so great in size or force or extent as to elicit awe
    The power needed is enormous. The anbaric power. Just as an atomic bomb needs a high explosive to force the uranium together and set off the chain reaction, this device needs a colossal current to release the much greater power of the severance process.
  9. accomplice
    a person who joins with another in carrying out some plan
    “You have an accomplice,” he said. “Someone has attacked a guest of the College. Who is it? Who came here with you? Where is he?”
  10. gorge
    a deep ravine, usually with a river running through it
    It was a wild region, a bleak and battered wilderness, and no one would have built anything there at all had it not been for the promise of driving great anbaric generators with the power of the thousands of tons of water that roared through the gorge.
  11. transformer
    an electrical device changing one voltage to another
    Besides, the cables, the pylons, the transformers were too close: to be swept in among them, with a zeppelin full of inflammable gas, would be instantly fatal.
  12. mesh
    an open fabric woven together at regular intervals
    Several times during the flight his little shadowy form had passed along behind the metal mesh, clearly visible to anyone who might have looked, if only they had turned their heads; but in order to hear what was happening, he had to come to a place where they could see him.
  13. technician
    someone who is trained in a specific process
    There were men passing through in both directions: crew members, technicians, priests.
  14. manacle
    confine or restrain with or as if with handcuffs
    She was wearing a heavy sheepskin coat, uncomfortably hot in the heated cabin, but with her hands manacled she couldn’t take it off.
  15. solicitous
    full of anxiety and concern
    The golden monkey tucked Mrs. Coulter’s silk collar inside solicitously, for all the world like a fastidious couturier attending to his favorite model, while all the time making sure that Lord Roke was completely hidden in the folds of the coat.
  16. impervious
    not admitting of passage or capable of being affected
    Lord Roke was impervious to her charm, but interested in its effect on others.
  17. acrid
    strong and sharp, as a taste or smell
    And then everything was happening at once, too quickly: there was a burst of gunfire, and a cloud of acrid smoke billowed across the slope, though she saw no flames.
  18. exultation
    a feeling of extreme joy
    The monkey was unscrewing the clasp, and the President, his face a mask of grim exultation, was twisting wires together.
  19. welter
    a confused multitude of things
    Lord Asriel moved the craft unhurriedly away, and they watched as the blazing zeppelin fell slowly, slowly down on top of the whole scene—bomb, cable, soldiers, and all—and everything began to tumble in a welter of smoke and flames down the mountainside, gathering speed and incinerating the resinous trees as it went, until it plunged into the white waters of the cataract, which whirled it all away into the dark.
  20. sardonic
    disdainfully or ironically humorous
    In the faint, faint light she made out the lean form and the sardonic smile of the Texan aeronaut, and her hand reached forward of its own accord, in vain.
  21. teeter
    move unsteadily, with a rocking motion
    The children and their companions were clinging to what was not even a ledge—just some lucky hand- and footholds—on the edge of that abyss, and there was no way out except forward, along the slope, among the shattered rocks and the teetering boulders, which, it seemed, the slightest touch would send hurtling down below.
  22. abyss
    a bottomless gulf or pit
    And behind them, as the dust cleared, more and more of the ghosts were gazing in horror at the abyss.
  23. staunch
    firm and dependable especially in loyalty
    From time to time the living ones looked back and saw the infinite line of the dead winding out of the crack they’d come through: mothers pressing their infants’ faces to their breasts, aged fathers clambering slowly, little children clutching the skirts of the person in front, young boys and girls of Roger’s age keeping staunch and careful, so many of them...
  24. savior
    a person who rescues you from harm or danger
    Closest at hand were Will’s father and Lee Scoresby, and how they longed to hold her, too; and Tialys and Salmakia spoke to No-Name, praising her, calling her the savior of them all, generous one, blessing her kindness.
  25. ravaged
    having been robbed and destroyed by force and violence
    As soon as Lyra could move, she reached out trembling for the harpy and put her arms around her neck, kissing and kissing her ravaged face.
  26. lull
    make calm or still
    In the dense green of the canopy, with the rich blue of the sky between the leaves; with a breeze keeping her skin cool, and the faint scent of the flowers delighting her whenever she sensed it; with the rustle of the leaves, the song of the hundreds of birds, and the distant murmur of the waves on the seashore, all her senses were lulled and nurtured, and if she could have stopped thinking, she would have been entirely lapped in bliss.
  27. mesmerize
    induce hypnosis in
    The drift was mesmerizing. How easy it would be to fall into a trance, and let her mind drift away with the floating particles...
  28. promontory
    a natural elevation
    Father Gomez was about a hundred yards from the edge of the water, on a low grassy promontory, and he had plenty of time to put down his rucksack, take out the rifle, load, aim, and fire.
  29. apocryphal
    being of questionable authenticity
    He’s concealed himself well, this Metatron. They speak of him in the apocryphal scriptures: he was a man once, a man called Enoch, the son of Jared—six generations away from Adam. And now he rules the Kingdom.
  30. vapor
    a visible suspension in the air of particles of a substance
    The cloud was swirling on the southern flank of the mountain, and long tattered banners of vapor streamed out in the powerful winds.
  31. condolence
    an expression of sympathy with another's grief
    Oh, one more thing: please ask Madame Oxentiel to come to the tower as soon as it’s convenient. I must give her my condolences.
  32. laborious
    characterized by effort to the point of exhaustion
    Now she had to do it laboriously, and her grip was failing, and she mustn’t fail because otherwise everything would fail...
  33. dislodge
    remove or force from a position previously occupied
    They heard each other’s harsh breathing, they heard their footfalls, they heard the little stones their steps dislodged.
  34. disoriented
    having lost your bearings
    Because both had been soldiers, experienced in battle, they weren’t so disoriented by the noise.
  35. tawny
    having the color of tanned leather
    His dæmon was a long-legged tawny cat spotted with black, and she drew back her teeth and prepared to spring.
  36. brandish
    exhibit aggressively
    Will made his way through the middle of it, brandishing the knife, remembering how the Specters had fled from it before.
  37. queasy
    causing or able to cause nausea
    The sky ahead was huge with storm: all the whiteness had gone from the thunderheads, and they rolled and swirled with sulphur yellow, sea green, smoke gray, oil black, a queasy churning miles high and as wide as the horizon.
  38. colonnade
    a structure composed of arches supported by columns
    The Clouded Mountain affected her in a similar way: it was less like a rock than like a force field, manipulating space itself to enfold and stretch and layer it into galleries and terraces, chambers and colonnades and watchtowers of air and light and vapor.
  39. litter
    conveyance consisting of a chair or bed carried by bearers
    The voices were singing a psalm and coming closer, and then she saw a procession of angels carrying a litter.
  40. decrepitude
    a state of deterioration due to old age or long use
    He wasn’t easy to see, because the litter was enclosed all around with crystal that glittered and threw back the enveloping light of the Mountain, but she had the impression of terrifying decrepitude, of a face sunken in wrinkles, of trembling hands, and of a mumbling mouth and rheumy eyes.
  41. vertiginous
    having or causing a whirling sensation; liable to falling
    There was no floor; the sides sloped vertiginously down toward the edge of a great pit hundreds of feet below, and darker than darkness itself, and into the pit streamed the endless Dust fall, pouring ceaselessly down.
  42. scimitar
    a curved saber used in Eastern countries
    They carried weapons, though: tridents, nets, and scimitars.
  43. pummel
    strike, usually with the fist
    The angel’s arms were free, though, and with fists, palms, elbows, knuckles, forearms, he battered Lord Asriel’s head and body: great pummeling blows that forced the breath from his lungs and rebounded from his ribs, that cracked against his skull and shook his senses.
  44. compulsive
    having obsessive habits or irresistible urges
    The old one was uttering a wordless groaning whimper that went on and on, and grinding his teeth, and compulsively plucking at himself with his free hand; but as Lyra reached in, too, to help him out, he tried to smile, and to bow, and his ancient eyes deep in their wrinkles blinked at her with innocent wonder.
  45. nettle
    plant having stinging hairs that cause skin irritation
    She hurled herself into the dark, sobbing and shaking, and Will tore down branches and ivy and slashed at brambles and nettles, while all around them the ghost-voices rose in a clamor of encouragement and warning.
Created on Thu Sep 07 13:32:07 EDT 2017 (updated Wed Sep 27 09:33:32 EDT 2017)

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