The Ear, the Eye and the Arm: Chapters 11–20

by Nancy Farmer
In the year 2194, three daring children are on the run in Zimbabwe—but three detectives are hot on their trail.

Here are links to our lists for the novel: Chapters 1–10, Chapters 11–20, Chapters 21–30, Chapters 31–40

Here is a link to our lists for The House of the Scorpion by Nancy Farmer.
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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. hunch
    an impression that something might be the case
    “You’re the one who gets hunches,” said Ear sullenly, “I wasn’t the one who tangled with the Blue Monkey.”
  2. wallow
    roll around
    “I might have known we’d wind up here. You could have taken me to an art gallery, but no. We have to wallow in this pigsty. I suppose this is where you sell your brain poison.”
  3. cordon
    a series of sentinels or posts enclosing some place or thing
    “Cordon off the Cow’s Guts! We found the She Elephant!”
  4. wary
    marked by keen caution and watchful prudence
    He came warily into the beer hall but relaxed when he saw it was nearly empty.
  5. bemused
    perplexed by many conflicting situations or statements
    Mr. Thirsty stood there with a bemused smile as the detective unlocked the door.
  6. grotto
    a small cave, usually with attractive features
    It lay at the bottom of a grotto, like a bubble in the earth.
  7. luster
    the property of something that shines with reflected light
    It had an unusual luster, so he worked it loose.
  8. smelt
    extract by heating, as a metal
    He saw the unknown ancestor standing in a forest clearing, smelting red ore in a beehive oven.
  9. despair
    abandon hope; lose heart
    Tendai looked up at the blue sky and despaired.
  10. senile
    mentally or physically infirm with age
    Don’t think I’m senile. That’s the mistake everyone makes. They think old Granny’s wandering in her wits, but she hears a thing or two.
  11. malicious
    having the nature of threatening evil
    The old woman rocked back and forth with malicious glee.
  12. unbearable
    incapable of being put up with
    On they ran but stopped to rest when the pace became unbearable.
  13. stifle
    smother or suppress
    Tendai stifled a snort of laughter.
  14. brandish
    move or swing back and forth
    She staggered down the street, brandishing an ax.
  15. neglect
    give little or no attention to
    “It’s very foolish to neglect the ancestral spirits,” said the gatekeeper.
  16. dappled
    having spots or patches of color
    With a sigh of pure happiness, Tendai lay back on the flat rock and let the dappled sunlight play over his face.
  17. sparse
    not dense or plentiful
    The lights below grew sparser, and presently they came to a great dark gash in the city.
  18. conspicuous
    obvious to the eye or mind
    The detectives felt as conspicuous as one of Matsika’s police cars with its siren blaring, but to normal people they would have passed like shadows in the gloom.
  19. embolden
    give encouragement to
    Some of them, emboldened by the dark, actually spilled across the cement walk.
  20. etiquette
    rules governing socially acceptable behavior
    Their rules of etiquette were strict and inflexible.
  21. recount
    narrate or give a detailed account of
    “We would be honored,” said Garikayi, breaking in on Tendai’s thoughts, “if our visitor from afar would recount something from his people.”
  22. hubbub
    loud confused noise from many sources
    A hubbub of voices drowned out Tendai’s objections.
  23. lament
    a cry of sorrow and grief
    No matter how often Mother tried to reassure him, he came back to the same lament.
  24. rueful
    feeling or expressing pain or sorrow
    Well, thought Mother with a rueful smile, at least Amadeus looked like his old self then.
  25. despicable
    morally reprehensible
    “I’m the awfulest, most despicable creature that ever existed. I ought to be fed to the crocodiles at the zoo.”
  26. rummage
    search haphazardly
    So Ear rummaged around until he found a bottle sent over by Mr. Thirsty.
  27. flit
    move along rapidly and lightly; skim or dart
    And with that, the Mellower flitted out the door to the waiting limo.
  28. reckless
    marked by defiant disregard for danger or consequences
    Tendai put his hand over Rita’s mouth because her anger was making her reckless.
  29. gruesome
    shockingly repellent; inspiring horror
    “Speaking of witches,” another boy said, and proceeded to tell a gruesome story about someone who wrapped herself in other people’s skins.
  30. ignorant
    uneducated in general; lacking knowledge or sophistication
    Not only were they ignorant about what lay outside, they weren’t even curious.
  31. tepid
    feeling or showing little interest or enthusiasm
    You listened to the monotonous chewing of cattle, the tepid rustle of water as it fingered its way through the reeds.
  32. smithereens
    a collection of small fragments considered as a whole
    Suddenly, Head Buster spun around and kicked one of the mounds to smithereens.
  33. goad
    give heart or courage to
    Banga and Hodza and the others yelled themselves hoarse, trying to goad him into battle.
  34. banter
    light teasing repartee
    This time there were no riddles but much lighthearted banter about bulls.
  35. confer
    have a meeting in order to talk something over
    The boys were sent out while their elders stayed to confer.
  36. obscure
    make unclear or less visible
    At the moment the Starlight Room was obscured by a small cloud.
  37. silhouette
    represent by a drawing of the outline of an object
    A family of giraffes was silhouetted against a bank of picture windows.
  38. vulnerable
    capable of being wounded or hurt
    He had forgotten he was vulnerable to Eye’s fear.
  39. hostility
    a state of deep-seated ill-will
    Arm felt a wave of hostility so intense, he almost fainted.
  40. brutish
    resembling a beast; showing lack of human sensibility
    They were brutish, with too much money and power, but Arm had met characters like that before.
Created on Thu Feb 20 20:48:00 EST 2014 (updated Thu Aug 16 14:43:21 EDT 2018)

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