A Game of Thrones: Chapters 37–48

by George R.R. Martin
Lord Ned Stark is summoned to serve as an advisor to the King of Westeros, setting in motion a sweeping saga of courtly intrigue, military battle, and fire-breathing dragons.

Here are links to our lists for the novel: Prologue–Chapter 12, Chapters 13–24, Chapters 25–36, Chapters 37–48, Chapters 49–60, Chapters 61–72

Here are links to our lists for other volumes in A Song of Ice and Fire by George R.R. Martin: A Clash of Kings, A Storm of Swords, A Dance with Dragons
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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. tremulous
    quivering as from weakness or fear
    His anxiety faded, and a tremulous smile crept across his face.
  2. solemn
    dignified and somber in manner or character
    He laid his hand on the pommel of his sword then, and went on in the solemn voice of Robb the Lord.
  3. wretched
    morally reprehensible
    The wretched boy had started it, looking down on him from a throne of carved weirwood beneath the moon-and-falcon banners of House Arryn.
    To Tyrion, the six-year-old who's looking down on him and wanting to throw him off the mountain is morally reprehensible. But the boy also makes a wretched Lord of the Vale, not only because of his age, but because he's "characterized by physical misery" that's partly due to his weak health and partly due to his overprotective mother. In his Aunt Catelyn's eyes, the wretched boy is "deserving pity" because of where he lives and how he's growing up with no other children around him.
  4. austere
    of a stern or strict bearing or demeanor
    The High Hall of the Arryns was long and austere, with a forbidding coldness to its walls of blue-veined white marble, but the faces around him had been colder by far.
    As seen in the chosen definition and example sentence, "austere" and "forbidding" are synonymously used to describe the hall. "Forbidding" is also a fitting adjective for Lady Arryn, who's "harshly uninviting" (she was mad when her sister showed up with Tyrion) and whose fearfulness makes her "command against" many things that her now-dead husband had wanted (she will not allow her son to be fostered anywhere).
  5. impregnable
    incapable of being attacked or tampered with
    "The Eyrie is impregnable," Lysa Arryn declared calmly.
    This could describe both Lady Arryn and her home. The impregnable Eyrie is a fitting name, because it's located high on a mountain (like an eagle's nest, which can also be spelled "aerie"). Lady Arryn is impregnable because she's "incapable of being overcome, challenged, or refuted" and because she's young enough to be "capable of conceiving" yet she only pretends to be open to remarriage (both these meanings make "impregnable" a contranym).
  6. impugn
    attack as false or wrong
    If Cersei kept her wits about her, she would insist the king sit in Judgment of Tyrion himself. Even Ned Stark could scarcely object to that, not without impugning the honor of the king.
  7. desultory
    marked by lack of definite plan, purpose, or enthusiasm
    Mord's strap licked out, but it was a halfhearted, desultory swing, slow and contemptuous.
  8. malicious
    having the nature of threatening evil
    "I have not always treated my servants with kindness. I have gambled. I have even cheated, I blush to admit. I have said many cruel and malicious things about the noble lords and ladies of the court."
    Compare with "malignance" in the list for Chapters 49-60--both have the Latin root "malus" which means "bad" and they describe a character's tendency to threaten evil or to cause and see suffering (which is true for Thorne). But here, Tyrion is supposedly confessing (he doesn't believe the things he'd listed are punishable crimes) in order to defend himself against the serious charges of conspiracy and attempted murder.
  9. blunder
    an embarrassing mistake
    For a long moment he wondered if it had all been a colossal blunder.
  10. chasten
    correct by punishment or discipline
    Three of my men were butchered before my eyes, because Jaime Lannister wished to chasten me.
  11. jape
    a humorous remark intended to provoke laughter
    "What a jape the gods have made of us two," she said. "By all rights, you ought to be in skirts and me in mail."
  12. inconstant
    likely to change often without apparent reason
    The shy girl she had known at Riverrun had grown into a woman who was by turns proud, fearful, cruel, dreamy, reckless, timid, stubborn, vain, and, above all, inconstant.
  13. plaintive
    expressing sorrow
    "When are they going to fight?" he asked plaintively.
    Although the definition of the adjective connects to sorrow, the noun "plaint" also means "complaint" and that is closer to the tone of six-year-old Robert Arryn, who is fidgeting impatiently. When the fight finally gets going, this is his reaction: "They're not fighting good, Mother," the Lord of the Eyrie complained. "I want them to fight."
  14. cursory
    hasty and without attention to detail; not thorough
    It was to him that Bronn turned with a cursory salute.
    Compare with the synonymous "perfunctory" in the list for the Prologue-Chapter 12--both the perfunctory nod and cursory salute were given only as formalities by people who don't respect formality to people they don't respect. The haste which each gesture was given is due to different reasons: Tyrion was rushing away from the fearsome Hound to see his brother, and Bronn is about to start a fight for both his and Tyrion's lives.
  15. linger
    be about
    Try it, as you like . . . and forgive me if I do not linger to bury you.
  16. abyss
    a bottomless gulf or pit
    This time he was the gaoler, not the prisoner, big, with a strap in his hand, and he was hitting his father, driving him back, toward the abyss ...
  17. stanch
    stop the flow of a liquid
    The sole question that remained was how best to stanch the wound.
  18. unwary
    not alert to danger or deception
    The Iron Throne was full of traps for the unwary.
  19. adjudicate
    bring to an end; settle conclusively
    But the septa could not have known that today's court would be anything but the usual tedious business of hearing petitions, settling disputes between rival holdfasts, and adjudicating the placement of boundary stones.
  20. goad
    stab or urge on as if with a pointed stick
    And that may be precisely what Lord Tywin wants, Ned thought to himself, to bleed off strength from Riverrun, goad the boy into scattering his swords.
  21. denounce
    accuse or condemn openly as disgraceful
    I denounce him, and attaint him, and strip him of all rank and titles, of all lands and incomes and holdings, and do sentence him to death.
    "Denounce" and "attaint" are synonymous verbs. Because Ned is making this announcement as the Hand of the King, "attaint" also has the legal force of cancelling Gregor Clegane's civil rights.
  22. construe
    make sense of; assign a meaning to
    He is the King's Justice, after all. Sending other men to do his office . . . some might construe that as a grave insult.
  23. sorrow
    an emotion of great sadness associated with loss
    "Life is not a song, sweetling. You may learn that one day to your sorrow."
  24. onerous
    burdensome or difficult to endure
    "The milk of the poppy, for when the pain grows too onerous."
  25. fester
    generate pus
    Shattered legs may heal in time, but some betrayals fester and poison the soul.
  26. rankle
    make resentful or angry
    Littlefinger had concealed Catelyn and helped Ned in his inquiries, yet his haste to save his own skin when Jaime and his swords had come out of the rain still rankled.
  27. afflict
    cause physical pain or suffering in
    Despite the tender mother's stomach that had afflicted her these past two moons, Dany had dined on bowls of half-clotted blood to accustom herself to the taste, and Irri made her chew strips of dried horseflesh until her jaws were aching.
  28. conspicuous
    obvious to the eye or mind
    Even across the length of the crowded hall, Viserys should have been conspicuous with his pale skin, silvery hair, and beggar's rags, but she did not see him anywhere.
  29. prowess
    a superior skill learned by study and practice
    It was a place of respect, if not high honor; the Dothraki esteemed the knight's prowess with a sword.
  30. brusque
    rudely abrupt or blunt in speech or manner
    She did not know if she had enough words, yet when she was done Khal Drogo spoke a few brusque sentences in Dothraki, and she knew he understood.
Created on Tue Dec 10 15:11:11 EST 2013 (updated Mon Oct 01 17:01:14 EDT 2018)

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