VOCABULARY LISTS : LITERATURE

"Tuck Everlasting," Vocabulary from the Prologue-Chapter 5

March 19, 2013 By Vocabulary.com (NY) Vocabulary.com Moderator
They say nothing lasts forever...well, except for the Tuck family. In "Tuck Everlasting,"a fantasy novel by Natalie Babbit, 11 year-old Winnie Foster is faced with many dilemmas, including whether eternal life is a blessing or a curse.

Learn these word lists for the novel: Prologue-Chapter 5, Chapters 6-9, Chapters 10-13, Chapters 14-17, Chapters 18-22, Chapters 23-Epilogue
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32 Words Assignments
definitions & notes only words
  1. dawn
    the first light of day
    It is curiously silent, too, with blank white dawns and glaring noons, and sunsets smeared with too much color.
  2. patience
    good-natured tolerance of delay or incompetence
    At noontime, Winnie Foster, whose family owned the Treegap wood, lost her patience at last and decided to think about running away.
  3. wander
    move or cause to move in a sinuous or circular course
    ...if they never wandered in among the trees, well, that was their affair.
  4. meadow
    a field where grass or alfalfa are grown to be made into hay
    ...and then cut sidewise across a meadow.
  5. abruptly
    quickly and without warning
    It became, instead, and rather abruptly, the property of people.
  6. property
    something owned
    It became, instead, and rather abruptly, the property of people.
  7. appearance
    outward or visible aspect of a person or thing
    On the left stood the first house, a square and solid cottage with a touch-me-not appearance...
  8. gallows
    an instrument from which a person is executed by hanging
    But the village doesn’t matter, except for the jailhouse and the gallows.
  9. disturb
    destroy the peace or tranquility of
    This, at least, is what the cows must have thought: “Let it keep its peace; we won’t disturb it.”
  10. accessible
    capable of being reached
    ...was therefore private property in spite of the fact that it lay outside the fence and was perfectly accessible.
  11. trespass
    enter unlawfully on someone's property
    Or does ownership consist only of a thin crust under which the friendly worms have never heard of trespassing?
  12. curious
    eager to investigate and learn or learn more
    But she had never been curious about it.
  13. conceal
    prevent from being seen or discovered
    ...they’d have noticed the little spring bubbling up among its roots in spite of the pebbles piled there to conceal it.
  14. disaster
    an act that has calamitous consequences
    And that would have been a disaster so immense...
  15. immense
    unusually great in size or amount or extent or scope
    And that would have been a disaster so immense...
  16. vanish
    decrease rapidly and disappear
    Tuck twitched and the smile vanished.
  17. cease
    put an end to a state or an activity
    She knew very well what she would see in it; her reflection had long since ceased to interest her.
  18. squat
    sit on one's heels
    ...Winnie Foster sat on the bristly grass just inside the fence and said to the large toad who was squatting a few yards away...
  19. cross
    annoyed and irritable
    She had come out to the fence, very cross...
  20. intrusion
    entrance by force or without permission or welcome
    The gnats were too frantic to notice these intrusions...
  21. thrust
    make a forceful forward movement
    “Look here, toad,” she said, thrusting her arms through the bars of the fence and plucking at the weeds on the other side.
  22. peer
    look searchingly
    She paused and peered anxiously at the toad to see how it would receive this staggering idea, but it showed no signs of interest.
  23. twilight
    the time of day immediately following sunset
    Indeed, he seemed almost to hang suspended there in the twilight.
  24. seize
    take hold of; grab
    And she seized Winnie’s hand and turned to go back into the cottage.
  25. eager
    having or showing keen interest or intense desire
    He had stiffened, and his voice was eager.
  26. coward
    a person who shows fear or timidity
    What if he should laugh at her secretly and think she was a coward?
  27. bold
    fearless and daring
    She did not allow herself to consider the idea that making a difference in the world might require a bolder venture.
  28. venture
    an undertaking with an uncertain outcome
    She did not allow herself to consider the idea that making a difference in the world might require a bolder venture.
  29. glorious
    having great beauty and splendor
    And he seemed so glorious to Winnie that she lost her heart at once.
  30. scarcely
    almost not
    As Winnie watched, scarcely breathing, he moved the pile carefully to one side, pebble by pebble.
  31. protest
    utter words of objection
    “I didn’t mean to watch you,” she protested as she stepped into the clearing.
  32. solemnly
    in a grave and sedate manner
    "I’m one hundred and four years old,” he told her solemnly.

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