The Cuckoo's Calling: List 2

by Robert Galbraith
In this mystery by Robert Galbraith (a pen name for J.K. Rowling), detective Cormoran Strike investigates the suspicious death of a supermodel. This list includes vocabulary from Part Two, Chapters 1-7.

Here are links to our lists for the novel: List 1, List 2, List 3, List 4, List 5, List 6
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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. ilk
    a kind of person
    Young women die, every day, in “tragic” (which is to say, unnatural) circumstances: in car crashes, from overdoses, and, occasionally, because they attempted to starve themselves into conformity with the body shape sported by Landry and her ilk.
  2. sanctimonious
    excessively or hypocritically pious
    “So far, so sanctimonious,” muttered Strike.
  3. advert
    a public promotion of some product or service
    What better advert could there be than that Lula Landry chose to meet her maker in Somé?
  4. antic
    a playful, attention-getting act done for fun and amusement
    What we actually miss, were we honest enough to admit it, are the entertaining antics of that paper-thin good-time girl, whose strip-cartoon existence of drug abuse, riotous living, fancy clothes and dangerous on-off boyfriend we can no longer enjoy.
  5. riotous
    unrestrained by convention or morality
    What we actually miss, were we honest enough to admit it, are the entertaining antics of that paper-thin good-time girl, whose strip-cartoon existence of drug abuse, riotous living, fancy clothes and dangerous on-off boyfriend we can no longer enjoy.
  6. imposing
    impressive in appearance
    Nevertheless, he cut an imposing figure in his expensive black overcoat, with his skeletal young wife on his arm.
  7. palpate
    examine (a body part) by tactual exploration
    The next showed Mr. Geoffrey Hook kissing his ginger-haired companion, hand palpating one large, canvas-covered buttock, outside Ealing Broadway Tube station.
  8. sycophantic
    attempting to win favor by flattery
    The interviewer brayed with sycophantic laughter.
  9. derisive
    expressing contempt or ridicule
    Somebody off-screen laughed derisively.
  10. acquit
    pronounce not guilty of criminal charges
    She was pleased, however, to acquit Strike of any flirtatious intent.
  11. implacable
    incapable of being appeased or pacified
    They saw what they wanted to see, blind to inconvenient, implacable truth.
  12. plumb
    examine thoroughly and in great depth
    That she had stirred up trouble in trying to plumb the secrets of her origins; that she had woken a demon that had reached out of the distant past, and killed her?
  13. enclave
    an enclosed territory that is culturally distinct
    Deeper and deeper into the enclave of the wealthy Strike and Robin walked, until they arrived at the corner of Kentigern Gardens.
  14. oligarch
    member of a small group that runs a country, business, etc.
    Sedate, traditional, stuffy, Kentigern Gardens was surely the natural domain of a different kind of rich: Russian and Arab oligarchs; corporate giants splitting their time between town and their country estates; wealthy spinsters, slowly decaying amidst their art collections.
  15. callous
    emotionally hardened
    "Thing is,” he scratched his chin, “that degree of premeditation doesn’t fit with such a slapdash murder.”
    Robin found the choice of adjective callous.
  16. vestige
    an indication that something has been present
    “It’s nothing,” he said, when Robin made a concerned noise; she had noticed the vestige of a limp, and wondered whether he had sprained an ankle.
  17. ruefully
    in a manner expressing pain or sorrow
    Strike asked himself ruefully whether he had really needed to hoist himself up on the wall at all.
  18. impugn
    attack as false or wrong
    Robin felt as though her own worth had been impugned.
  19. depravity
    moral perversion; impairment of virtue and moral principles
    He had only two clients; he seemed (as Matthew kept mentioning, as though sleeping in an office was a mark of terrible depravity) to be homeless; Robin saw, of course, that from Strike's point of view it made no sense to keep her on.
  20. lascivious
    driven by lust
    (Acting on Robin’s awkward description of the lascivious Mr. Crowdy downstairs, Strike had bought cheap cups and a box of their own tea bags.)
  21. dither
    be undecided or uncertain
    “I suppose you see women like me all the time, don’t you? Wanting to know the worst. I dithered for ages and ages. But it’s best to know, isn’t it? Best to know. I thought Cormoran would be here. Is he out on another case?”
  22. divest
    remove clothes
    Mrs. Hook, divested of orange coat and purple beret, and wearing what looked like a flowery pottery smock over jeans, had thrown herself on Strike's chest and was punching it, all the while making a noise like a boiling kettle.
  23. profligate
    recklessly wasteful
    The prospect of Robin’s desk being empty next week was a gloomy one; he found her company pleasantly undemanding, and her efficiency refreshing; but it would surely be pathetic, not to mention profligate, to pay for companionship, as though he were some rich, sickly Victorian magnate?
  24. magnate
    a very wealthy or powerful businessperson
    The prospect of Robin’s desk being empty next week was a gloomy one; he found her company pleasantly undemanding, and her efficiency refreshing; but it would surely be pathetic, not to mention profligate, to pay for companionship, as though he were some rich, sickly Victorian magnate?
  25. rapacious
    excessively greedy and grasping
    Temporary Solutions were rapacious in their demand for commission; Robin was a luxury he could not afford.
  26. importune
    beg persistently and urgently
    Instinct was clawing at him like an importuning dog.
  27. disparage
    express a negative opinion of
    Joan had tried, with diminishing success through the years, not to disparage their mother in front of the children.
  28. lilt
    a jaunty rhythm in music or speech
    A faint Caribbean lilt lifted his London accent.
  29. precipitate
    bring about abruptly
    He could have stayed; they had been keen to keep him; but the loss of his calf and foot had merely precipitated a decision he had felt stealing towards him in the past couple of years.
  30. onerous
    burdensome or difficult to endure
    He knew that his personal tipping point was drawing nearer; that moment by which, unless he left, he would find it too onerous to go, to readjust to civilian life.
  31. laconic
    brief and to the point
    “Just in and out past the desk. She always said hullo and please and thank you...” said Wilson laconically.
  32. accord
    allow to have
    Strike’s pie and mash arrived, steaming hot. The two men accorded it a moment’s respectful silence as they contemplated the heaped plate.
  33. filch
    make off with belongings of others
    Wilson’s testimony, Strike thought, as he scribbled into one of the SIB notebooks he had filched on one of his last visits to Aldershot, was of an unusually high quality: concise, precise and observant.
  34. fete
    have a celebration in someone's honor
    Both by inclination and by training, because he owed himself respect quite as much as the client, he proceeded with the meticulousness for which, in the army, he had been both feted and detested.
  35. succinctly
    with concise and precise brevity; to the point
    “Inquest,” said Wilson succinctly.
  36. aquiline
    curved down like an eagle's beak
    A masterpiece produced by an indecipherable cocktail of races, Kolovas-Jones's skin was an olive-bronze, his cheekbones chiseled, his nose slightly aquiline, his black-lashed eyes a dark hazel, his straight hair slicked back off his face.
  37. moot
    open to argument or debate
    But Strike saw that the driver was not at all displeased that the idea had been mooted, that it had been thought plausible.
  38. virtuosity
    great technical skill, fluency, or style
    With unexpected virtuosity, he suddenly adopted a flat, drawling voice: “Are we gonna need him later; Lules? He'd better wait, yeah?" said Kolovas-Jones, crackling with temper.
  39. hauteur
    overbearing pride with a superior manner toward inferiors
    “How did that come about?” asked Strike.
    “Usual way,” said Kolovas-Jones, with a hint of hauteur. “Through my agent.”
  40. mundane
    found in the ordinary course of events
    “Terminal Five, yeah,” said Kolovas-Jones, apparently brought back to a sense of mundane reality, and glancing at his watch.
Created on Tue May 22 15:12:04 EDT 2018 (updated Thu May 24 09:20:04 EDT 2018)

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