Kings of B'More: List 4

by R. Eric Thomas
When sixteen-year-old Harrison Meredith finds out that his best friend Linus Munro is moving away, he plans a surprise day of adventures.

This list covers pages 235–322 of the 2022 Kokila edition.

Here are links to our lists for the novel: List 1, List 2, List 3, List 4, List 5
40 words 15 learners

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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. ruefully
    in a manner expressing pain or sorrow
    "That's a wonderful way of thinking about it. I—" he stopped and chuckled ruefully.
  2. disparate
    including markedly dissimilar elements
    He was suddenly aware of his body, how the disparate parts of it would give him away. The body tells the truth.
  3. peevish
    easily irritated or annoyed
    "But I never gave you back your Titanic book."
    "Yes, I have been stewing about that for months," Mr. Mirepoix said peevishly.
  4. vigorously
    in an energetic manner
    Phil grabbed his hand, doused it with a water bottle, and began vigorously pressing the temporary tattoo on it.
  5. vaudeville
    a genre of variety show with songs, comic acts, etc.
    Linus's school days must have been like a vaudeville show.
  6. gingerly
    in a manner marked by extreme care or delicacy
    Phil took Harrison's hand again and gingerly removed the backing from the tattoo.
  7. smattering
    a small number or amount
    The rainbow tat had a smattering of sparkles in it.
  8. bigot
    a prejudiced person who is intolerant of differing opinions
    It's very odd to me, the bigots who talk about how evil this lifestyle is. This? A food truck and a booth selling paper fans? We're just people.
  9. haggle
    wrangle, as over a price or terms of an agreement
    "Are you dazzled, or are you just living?"
    "Are those my only choices?"
    "I don't have time to haggle."
  10. wherewithal
    the necessary means (especially financial means)
    Who had the wherewithal to declare themselves dazzled?
  11. haphazardly
    without care; in a slapdash manner
    A white guy, maybe college-aged, with shaggy brown hair that fell into his face haphazardly like he'd come to a stop after a sprint, was waving at him and smiling.
  12. ebb
    fall away or decline
    Whatever magic Dizzy possessed was threatening to ebb away.
  13. notwithstanding
    despite anything to the contrary
    Clemson is kind of a small town, and, like, I'm not really a partier, present appearances notwithstanding.
  14. inflection
    the modification of pitch, tone, or volume when speaking
    "Can you believe this." She spoke with the kind of matter-of-fact inflection that leads one to believe that she could, in fact, believe this.
  15. skewed
    favoring one person or side over another
    These Quatches had a really skewed understanding of how well-known their name was.
  16. procure
    get by special effort
    Somehow she had procured a silver wig.
  17. acquit
    pronounce not guilty of criminal charges
    "I met them at jury duty," she said. "Can you believe it. By the way, we acquitted."
  18. shaft
    a column of light
    "The other thing about the wardrobe, though," she said, finally, "is that there was this shaft of light that came in through the slit in the door and usually hit your face and it was amazing to watch..."
  19. implore
    beg or request earnestly and urgently
    "Try it on!" Linus implored.
  20. accentuate
    stress or single out as important
    It looked like they'd put some colored temporary dye in to accentuate some of the lines, and Harrison was immediately obsessed with the look.
  21. solemnly
    in a serious and dignified manner
    Fab and Mazz froze with the garments they had in their hands. Phil removed her sun hat solemnly.
  22. ire
    anger; irritability
    "Do you think she's going to tell?" Linus asked Harrison, who was still cowering in the section marked "dadcore." He had found the source of all his ire.
  23. raucous
    disturbing the public peace; loud and rough
    The place was jumping. People on the dance floor, people on the decks, kids and adults and families and teens in each of the pools. And everywhere, the raucous white noise of delighted squeals and splashes and distant music.
  24. impromptu
    with little or no preparation or forethought
    Mazz lay on the blanket, flipping through Linus's poetry book and giving impromptu readings aloud.
  25. caper
    a crime (especially a robbery)
    "And also, I'm not technically supposed to be here."
    "Ooh, are you doing a caper?"
  26. facilitate
    increase the likelihood of
    Were they interested in smooching each other? It was exactly what Harrison had hoped to facilitate, and he knew in his mind that this was a good thing.
  27. intermittent
    stopping and starting at irregular intervals
    The group had migrated to the largest pool, standing off to the side a bit to avoid the intermittent splashes from people coming down the slide.
  28. incredulously
    in a disbelieving manner
    "Are you against public pools?" Mazz asked incredulously.
  29. lark
    any carefree episode
    Harrison hated these moments, rare though they were, when Linus swerved into darkness, seemingly on a lark.
  30. extraneous
    not essential
    Or rather, Harrison had suddenly felt out of place, extraneous, in the way.
  31. rhapsody
    the expression of excessive emotion, enthusiasm, or pleasure
    He wondered whether he might be sitting poolside with some teenage grandchild of his at some point in the future, waxing rhapsodic about butternut squash and sage.
  32. contour
    any spatial attributes, especially as defined by outline
    He didn't know if he was moving any faster, but the way that the water skimmed the contours of his body was new and electrifying. He felt the waves race from the tips of his fingers along his arms, his sides, his legs, kicking madly.
  33. unyielding
    resistant to physical force or pressure
    He thought of how unyielding the water had seemed the time he'd almost drowned, how it was like the water had arms that held him and a will of its own.
  34. singe
    burn superficially or lightly
    He thought of the smell of chlorine that singed his nose at school.
  35. nosh
    snack or eat lightly
    She said she 'needed to nosh' and then she could come back down.
  36. per se
    with respect to its inherent nature
    Harrison knew that she did not like lying to parents, not her parents and certainly not someone else's parents, but he silently prayed that she'd decide that it wasn't lying, per se, in a manner speaking, if you looked at it in a certain light.
  37. makeshift
    done or made using whatever is available
    They approached the gate and took in the house behind the makeshift Pride tent.
  38. whimsical
    indulging in or influenced by the imagination
    There was a checkerboard of windows across the face of the building, all frosted over in white with silhouettes of pine trees. The silhouettes looked like sketches, hasty and jagged and whimsical.
  39. clarity
    the quality of being coherent and easily understood
    "I hate to interject, but I have to admit I'm a little confused about what Ferris Day is. I never really got clarity around what you're doing."
  40. bravado
    a swaggering show of courage
    "I'm going to knock on this door now, then," said Harrison, his bravado only slightly flagging.
Created on Tue Apr 04 15:34:08 EDT 2023 (updated Thu Apr 06 10:07:04 EDT 2023)

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