Becoming Muhammad Ali: Rounds 1–3

by Kwame Alexander, James Patterson
This fictionalized biography, written in a combination of prose verse, imagines the early life of Cassius Clay, better known as Muhammad Ali.

Here are links to our lists for the book: Rounds 1–3, Rounds 4–6, Round 7–Final Round
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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. rotary
    describing or moving in a circle
    The Clay family phone was dusky black with a rotary dial, and it sat on a wooden table in the neat-as-a-pin living room of the little house on Grand Avenue in Louisville, Kentucky.
  2. bout
    a period of indeterminate length marked by some condition
    Cassius had already won plenty of bouts all over Kentucky. But the Chicago Golden Gloves was the big time.
  3. grits
    coarsely ground corn that is boiled
    The smell of roast chicken and sweet potato pie and cheese grits mixed with the smell of paint and turpentine.
  4. bound
    governed by fate
    Cassius always told her he was bound to be the greatest—with a capital G—and she believed it with all her heart.
  5. rank
    very offensive in smell or taste
    The bell rang
    in Chicago Stadium
    and I could barely see
    the lightweight rush me
    through the rank cigar smoke
    that filled the arena.
  6. rugged
    very difficult; severely testing stamina or resolution
    Back and forth,
    left and right,

    rough
    and rugged, till

    he cornered me
    with two lucky shots
  7. unanimous
    in complete agreement
    ...the final bell rang
    and the judges
    unanimously called out
    my name
    for the win.
  8. weary
    physically and mentally fatigued
    I was a little weary
    from hanging out
    the night before
    but that didn’t shake
    my confidence
    when I stepped
    into the ring
  9. pugilist
    someone who fights with fists for sport
    The sixteen-year-old pugilist
    from Louisville
    with his quick feet
    and a loud mouth
    showed promise
    in his first two fights
    but got outboxed
    by the older,
    more seasoned,
    hard-punching
    Kent Green.
  10. seasoned
    rendered competent through trial and experience
    The sixteen-year-old pugilist
    from Louisville
    with his quick feet
    and a loud mouth
    showed promise
    in his first two fights
    but got outboxed
    by the older,
    more seasoned,
    hard-punching
    Kent Green.
  11. tenacious
    stubbornly unyielding
    ’Cause Cassius is courageous,
    tenacious,
    and one day
    he’ll be
    the greatest.
  12. congregation
    group that habitually attends a particular place of worship
    I was the congregation.
    His couch, my pew.
  13. sermon
    an address of a religious nature
    But my granddaddy’s sermons always ended

    the same way:
    Know who you are, Cassius.
    And whose you are.
    Know where you going

    and where you from.
    Amen. Amen. Amen.
  14. ward
    block forming a division of a hospital shared by patients
    She says I hurt so much
    that I cried
    and hollered
    most of the night
    and into the next day,
    which got the other
    babies in the ward
    screaming too
  15. foreshadow
    indicate by signs
    ...I was just dreaming
    aloud, foreshadowing
    my fate,
    trying to voice
    my future
    as a Golden Gloves
    champion.
  16. brawn
    the trait of possessing muscular strength
    He’s six feet
    of bronze
    and brawn
  17. plantation
    an estate where cash crops are grown on a large scale
    In fact, he freed all his slaves on the Clay plantation, including your great-granddaddy, my father.
  18. casket
    box in which a corpse is buried or cremated
    I tell Rudy
    about how Tom the Slave
    escaped to freedom
    by hiding in a casket
    on a ship
  19. pulpit
    a platform raised to give prominence to the person on it
    ...he came
    in the house, slow
    like a preacher
    walking to the pulpit
    to deliver a funeral eulogy.
  20. eulogy
    a formal expression of praise for someone who has died
    ...he came
    in the house, slow
    like a preacher
    walking to the pulpit
    to deliver a funeral eulogy.
Created on Mon Nov 09 09:57:49 EST 2020 (updated Tue Nov 10 10:29:47 EST 2020)

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