Dragonwings: Chapters 1–6

by Laurence Yep
In the early 1900s, a young boy leaves China to join his father in San Francisco, where they work to build a flying machine.

Here are links to our lists for the novel: Chapters 1–6, Chapters 7–12
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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. dowry
    money brought by a woman to her husband at marriage
    As he said, his two unmarried daughters were so ugly that they needed big dowries.
  2. protrude
    swell outwards
    He had a round face, with broad cheeks and a weak chin that made his thick lips seem to protrude even more.
  3. prosperity
    the condition of having good fortune
    There were other, more conventional pious sayings up on the walls. Ones like: "Peace and prosperity upon this store."
  4. raiment
    especially fine or decorative clothing
    “Why, the Emperor himself would be proud to clothe his son in such fine raiment.”
  5. queue
    a braid of hair at the back of the head
    “Well, the Emperor’s son will just have to go naked,” Hand Clap shouted and they laughed and hooted at that, for there was no love lost for the present Emperor, who was a Manchu, a son of the foreigners who had conquered the Middle Kingdom and who long ago made us wear queues as a sign that we had been beaten by them.
  6. insolent
    marked by casual disrespect
    He worked during the day in an offhand, insolent manner, but there was a strangeness to his eyes whenever you spoke to him.
  7. poultice
    a medical dressing spread on a cloth and applied to the skin
    Finally I pressed a poultice of certain herbs over the whole wound, using a trowel-like instrument to plaster it on.
  8. exuberance
    joyful enthusiasm
    In his exuberance, he swelled up to his former gigantic size.
  9. malleable
    capable of being shaped or bent
    The throne itself was of pure, unalloyed gold, and since pure, unalloyed gold is almost as malleable as clay, a crew of dragon goldsmiths was kept busy all the time repairing the throne where the Lord might have dented it.
  10. slough
    a stagnant swamp
    The fox went a-walking
    Down by the sloughs
  11. surly
    unfriendly and inclined toward anger or irritation
    Or probably it was simply the change in the demon's attitude from being surly to being friendly that encouraged Father.
  12. mealymouthed
    hesitant to state facts or opinions simply and directly
    “Don’t give me your simpering, mealymouthed answers.
  13. prudent
    marked by sound judgment
    Father thought it more prudent if I did the shopping in the Tang's people town for a while.
  14. stark
    severely simple
    Their doorways gaped like mouths and their windows gleamed like eyes, so that each one of them looked like the stark, empty face of a multi-eyed demon.
  15. benevolent
    intending or showing kindness
    It was a shame that the demoness had not gotten to know the true dragons of the sea, who were wise and benevolent.
Created on Tue May 14 18:47:08 EDT 2013 (updated Tue Jul 29 10:48:07 EDT 2025)

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