The London Eye Mystery: Chapters 31–41

by Siobhan Dowd
Ted and Kat watch their cousin Salim board the London Eye, a famous Ferris wheel. When the ride ends, Salim is nowhere to be found — but Ted and Kat are determined to solve the mystery.

Here are links to our lists for the novel: Chapters 1–10, Chapters 11–19, Chapters 20–30, Chapters 31–41
35 words 104 learners

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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. cheeky
    offensively bold
    She spluttered, dropped the lot, hugged us, cuffed Kat round the ear and screeched, ‘You disobedient, lying, cheeky chit
  2. octave
    a musical interval of eight tones
    Her voice went up an octave and she crooned, ‘God only knows what the neighbours think.
  3. plummet
    drop sharply
    The temperature in the hallway seemed to plummet to minus thirty degrees.
  4. synopsis
    a sketchy summary of the main points of an argument
    The general synopsis at eighteen hundred issued by the Met Office: Fitzroy, mainly northerly, four or five, becoming variable, thundery showers ...
  5. stratum
    one of several parallel layers of material
    High strata cloud, fresh southwesterly, but air pressure falling.
  6. enlightenment
    the beatitude that transcends the cycle of reincarnation
    Buddhists believe that if you empty out your head, that’s when you find enlightenment.
  7. void
    an empty area or space
    I shut my eyes and imagined a vast, silent void.
  8. aurora
    bands of light caused by charged solar particles
    It was like the Aurora Borealis burning in my brain.
  9. rubbish
    worthless material that is to be disposed of
    And the things the storm moves - leaves, roof tiles, rubbish.
  10. decipher
    make out the meaning of
    He stood in the hallway, looking ahead with no expression on his face that I could decipher.
  11. distress
    psychological suffering
    ‘Maybe - if the choice is between Salim being kidnapped by some evil person - or his hiding somewhere, unaware of how much distress he’s causing you - then, yes, I do think - that is, I—’
  12. humid
    containing or characterized by a great deal of water vapor
    Her hands shook and her lips chattered together as if she’d just come in from a snowstorm although it was warm and humid outside, about eighteen degrees.
  13. spontaneous
    happening or arising without apparent external cause
    Theories five and seven (spontaneous combustion and the time warp) Kat had dismissed out of hand.
  14. accomplice
    a person who joins with another in carrying out some plan
    The girl in the pink fluffy jacket was Salim’s accomplice.
  15. alibi
    proof that someone accused of a crime could not have done it
    The police reported on Salim’s friends’ alibis the day he disappeared.
  16. assume
    take to be the case or to be true
    When the girl had got off the motorbike at the scooter show freestyle jumps, everybody had assumed she was a man, until she’d taken off her helmet and loosed her long hair. Maybe Kat and I had done the reverse: assumed the person in the pink fluffy jacket was a woman, just because she had long hair.
  17. surname
    the name used to identify the members of a family
    Detective Inspector Pearce had mentioned Marcus’s surname to us only once, but once was enough.
  18. abduct
    take away to an undisclosed location against their will
    Salim hadn’t been abducted.
  19. refuse
    show unwillingness towards
    Mum brought Marcus a drink of lemonade and led him to another chair, but he refused to sit down or take the drink.
  20. dread
    be afraid or scared of
    I said at least he'd get to fly the London Eye, which was something we'd always dreaded of doing together.
  21. drone
    talk in a monotonous voice
    People rushed by, dashing for trains. Announcements droned on.
  22. livid
    furiously angry
    If I'd admitted to having been with Salim the day before, she'd have been livid.
  23. muffle
    deaden (a sound or noise), especially by wrapping
    ‘I want to go home now,’ came his voice, muffled.
  24. squall
    sudden violent winds, often accompanied by precipitation
    Squalls of hard raindrops drummed against the window.
  25. reconciliation
    the reestablishment of cordial relations
    Voices, tears, reconciliations: I remember them as waves of words, going back and forth, running over my head, around, past, through me.
  26. luminous
    softly bright or radiant
    The dome of St Paul’s was a luminous curve straight ahead.
  27. hoarse
    deep and harsh sounding as if from shouting or illness
    In a hoarse, shaky voice, Salim told us what had happened.
  28. dank
    unpleasantly cool and humid
    He slept on the abandoned mattress despite its dank smell.
  29. recede
    pull back or move away or backward
    My head went off to the side as I watched him recede and he looked back one last time before disappearing round the corner.
  30. vacate
    leave behind empty; move out of
    Meanwhile Dad had been checking each floor was vacated, the last tenants all gone.
  31. deny
    declare untrue; contradict
    At first he denied having left his post.
  32. moderate
    being within reasonable or average limits
    It stayed fair with moderate winds for the duration of their flight.
  33. mode
    a particular functioning condition or arrangement
    It tells the time, but it also has an excellent compass and different modes.
  34. barometer
    an instrument that measures atmospheric pressure
    When you press a button, it becomes a mini barometer, showing the air pressure.
  35. awol
    absent without leave
    Hair Flair was where she’d gone for a consultation when she’d gone AWOL from school that day.
Created on Mon Nov 03 20:53:12 EST 2014 (updated Tue Sep 04 16:37:05 EDT 2018)

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