"The Wide Window" by Lemony Snicket, Chapters 1–3

Anna
In this third book of A Series of Unfortunate Events, the Baudelaire orphans are sent to live with Aunt Josephine and continue to find ways to keep themselves and their inheritance out of Count Olaf's hands.

Here are links to our lists for the novel: Chapters 1–3, Chapters 4–8, Chapters 9–13
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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. disembark
    exit from a ship, vehicle, or aircraft
    After all, the three children had just disembarked from the Fickle Ferry, which had driven them across Lake Lachrymose to live with their Aunt Josephine, and in most cases such a situation would lead to thrillingly good times.
  2. scarcely
    almost not
    It is a terrible thing, their misfortune, so terrible that I can scarcely bring myself to write about it.
  3. affair
    a matter or concern
    Mr. Poe was a banker who had been placed in charge of handling the affairs of the Baudelaire orphans after their parents died.
  4. fickle
    liable to sudden unpredictable change
    At this particular moment she was thinking of how she could improve the engine of the Fickle Ferry so it wouldn’t belch smoke into the gray sky.
  5. voracious
    excessively greedy and grasping
    Klaus was a voracious reader, and when he had learned about his allergy at a birthday party when he was eight, he had immediately read all his parents’ books about allergies.
  6. accustomed
    in the habit of or adapted to
    Mr. Poe always seemed to have a cold and the Baudelaire orphans were accustomed to receiving information from him between bouts of hacking and wheezing.
  7. bout
    a period of illness
    Mr. Poe always seemed to have a cold and the Baudelaire orphans were accustomed to receiving information from him between bouts of hacking and wheezing.
  8. lachrymose
    showing sorrow
    “She’s frightened of anything to do with Lake Lachrymose,” Mr. Poe said, “but she didn’t say why. Perhaps it has to do with her husband’s death..."
  9. dowager
    a widow holding property received from her deceased husband
    Your Aunt Josephine—she’s not really your aunt, of course; she’s your second cousin’s sister-in-law, but asked that you call her Aunt Josephine—your Aunt Josephine lost her husband recently, and it may be possible that he drowned or died in a boat accident. It didn’t seem polite to ask how she became a dowager.
  10. renovation
    the act of improving by renewing and restoring
    There was a clothing store called Look! It Fits!, which appeared to be undergoing renovations.
  11. grating
    a barrier made of parallel or crossed bars
    But mostly, there were many stores and shops that were all closed up, with boards or metal gratings over the windows and doors.
  12. bustle
    move or cause to move energetically or busily
    The taxi had turned one last corner and arrived at the scraggly top of a tall, tall hill, and the children could see the town far, far below them, the cobblestone road curling around the buildings like a tiny gray snake, and the small square of Damocles Dock with specks of people bustling around it.
  13. contradict
    be in opposition to
    The Baudelaires thought of grammar—all those rules about how to write and speak the English language—the way they thought of banana bread: fine, but nothing to make a fuss about. Still, it seemed rude to contradict Aunt Josephine.
  14. apparent
    clearly revealed to the mind or the senses or judgment
    At the other end of the room was a large closet for everyone’s clothes, a small window for looking out, and a medium-sized pile of tin cans for no apparent purpose.
  15. despise
    look down on with disdain or disgust
    Sunny smiled at Aunt Josephine, showing all four of her sharp teeth, but her older siblings knew that Sunny despised rattles and the irritating sounds they made when you shook them.
  16. revolting
    highly offensive; arousing aversion or disgust
    It wasn’t fair that the evil and revolting Count Olaf was pursuing them wherever they went, caring for nothing but their fortune.
  17. idiomatic
    relating to the natural expressions of native speakers
    “Normally, of course,” Aunt Josephine said, ‘“soup’s on’ is an idiomatic expression that has nothing to do with soup. It simply means that dinner is ready. In this case, however, I’ve actually made soup.”
  18. dismay
    the feeling of despair in the face of obstacles
    “I never cook anything hot because I’m afraid of turning the stove on. It might burst into flames. I’ve made chilled cucumber soup for dinner.”
    The Baudelaires looked at one another and tried to hide their dismay.
  19. delicacy
    something considered choice to eat
    As you probably know, chilled cucumber soup is a delicacy that is best enjoyed on a very hot day.
  20. bat mitzvah
    a traditional coming-of-age ritual for Jewish girls
    But on a cold day, in a drafty room, chilled cucumber soup is about as welcome as a swarm of wasps at a bat mitzvah.
  21. concoction
    any foodstuff made by combining different ingredients
    In dead silence, the three children sat down at the table with their Aunt Josephine and did their best to force down the cold, slimy concoction.
  22. encyclopedia
    a reference work containing articles on various topics
    There was an encyclopedia of nouns placed in a series of simple wooden bookshelves, curved to fit the wall.
  23. manual
    a small handbook
    And there were cabinets made of glass, with adjective manuals placed inside them as if they were for sale in a store instead of in someone’s house.
  24. merely
    and nothing more
    From floor to ceiling, the wall was a window, just one enormous curved pane of glass, and beyond the glass was a spectacular view of Lake Lachrymose. When the children stepped forward to take a closer look, they felt as if they were flying high above the dark lake instead of merely looking out on it.
  25. leech
    carnivorous or bloodsucking aquatic or terrestrial worm
    "...If you don’t wait an hour after eating, the Lachrymose Leeches will smell food on you, and attack.”
    “Leeches?” Violet asked.
    “Leeches,” Klaus explained, “are a bit like worms. They are blind and live in bodies of water, and in order to feed, they attach themselves to you and suck your blood.”
  26. surreptitiously
    in a secretive manner
    The three Baudelaire youngsters looked at one another surreptitiously, a word which here means “while Aunt Josephine wasn’t looking.”
  27. rational
    consistent with or based on or using reason
    There are two kinds of fears: rational and irrational—or, in simpler terms, fears that make sense and fears that don’t.
  28. meringue
    sweet dessert or topping made of beaten egg whites and sugar
    But if they were afraid of lemon meringue pie, this would be an irrational fear, because lemon meringue pie is delicious and has never hurt a soul.
  29. befall
    become of; happen to
    The Baudelaires’ fear was that misfortune would soon befall them.
  30. catastrophe
    an event resulting in great loss and misfortune
    But on the other hand, the Baudelaires had experienced so many terrible things that it seemed rational to think that another catastrophe was just around the corner.
  31. prospect
    the possibility of future success
    Violet groaned inwardly, a phrase which here means “said nothing but felt disappointed at the prospect of another chilly dinner,” but she smiled at Aunt Josephine and headed down an aisle of the market in search of cucumbers.
  32. wistfully
    in a pensively sad manner
    She looked wistfully at all the delicious food on the shelves that required turning on the stove in order to prepare it.
  33. transparent
    easily understood or seen through
    When someone is in disguise, and the disguise is not very good, one can describe it as a transparent disguise. This does not mean that the person is wearing plastic wrap or glass or anything else transparent. It merely means that people can see through his disguise—that is, the disguise doesn’t fool them for a minute.
  34. futility
    uselessness as a consequence of having no practical result
    Violet tried one more time, knowing it would probably be futile, a word which here means “filled with futility.”
  35. sham
    a person who makes deceitful pretenses
    They knew that Captain Sham’s story about the puttanesca sauce was as phony as his name, but they couldn’t prove it.
Created on Sat Dec 24 16:00:03 EST 2022 (updated Sat Jan 07 13:24:54 EST 2023)

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