Dactyl Hill Squad: Chapters 7–11

by Daniel José Older
In this historical fantasy novel set during the Civil War, orphan Magdalys Roca attempts to rescue her friends from a slave trader — with the help of some domesticated dinosaurs.

Here are links to our lists for the novel: Chapters 1–3, Chapters 4–6, Chapters 7–11, Chapters 12–18, Chapters 19–28, Chapters 29–39

Here is a link to our lists for Shadowshaper by Daniel José Older.
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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. cow
    subdue or overcome by affecting with fear or awe
    Both raptors shrieked and landed suddenly, their heads cowed; a low, rattling growl filled the air as they glanced back and forth.
  2. headlong
    with the upper or anterior part of the body foremost
    The raptors backstepped so quickly, one rider fell headlong onto the cobblestones and then scrambled up and bolted.
  3. musket
    a muzzle-loading shoulder gun with a long barrel
    The yells of fighting and sharp crackle of smashing glass blended with dinosaur growls and occasional musket shots in a rising tide of terror that seemed to seep from the streets all around them.
  4. reprimand
    an act or expression of criticism and censure
    The Colored Orphan Asylum had never really felt like home to Magdalys. Those long cold hallways echoed with footsteps and sobs; the matrons, their faces usually tight, mouths full of reprimands and clunkily adjusted names.
  5. deploy
    place troops or weapons in battle formation
    Surely the National Guard would be deployed, with riots this bad.
  6. maraud
    raid and rove in search of plunder
    But most of them were probably down in Pennsylvania, where the Confederates were said to be making a desperate stab into Union territory, marauding through the farmlands and capturing free blacks to send south to slavery.
  7. discernible
    perceptible by the senses or intellect
    They served no discernible purpose in society, Dr. Barlow Sloan insisted somewhat caustically in the Dinoguide, except to get in the way and occasionally be household pets.
  8. caustic
    harsh or corrosive in tone
    They served no discernible purpose in society, Dr. Barlow Sloan insisted somewhat caustically in the Dinoguide, except to get in the way and occasionally be household pets.
  9. wrangle
    herd or round up
    “Uh, Mag-D?” Two Step whispered. “Since you seem to be able to wrangle this brachy pretty well, could you tell her to, like...hurry?”
  10. smolder
    burn slowly and without a flame
    And then Amaya strode past her, past Mr. Calloway, and directly into the smoldering ruins of the orphanage.
  11. feral
    wild and menacing
    The whole area was coated in black soot and it looked like a pack of feral ceratopses had barged through, but at least the walls were still standing.
  12. brisk
    quick and energetic
    “Our stories are our lives, Mag. Even if they’re incomplete and written by strangers. They’re all we’ve got of who we are, where we come from.” She turned and briskly walked around a corner.
  13. ledger
    an accounting journal as a physical object
    The hefty ledger books waited on a huge wooden bookshelf that took up the far wall of the dim room.
  14. convulse
    move or stir about violently
    Outside, the city still convulsed with rioting and looting.
  15. wield
    handle effectively
    “Girls!” Cymbeline yelled, rounding the corner, shotgun at the ready. Marietta was behind her, looking up and down the hallway, wielding a charred table leg in both hands like a bat.
  16. scrabble
    grope, scratch, or feel searchingly
    Magdalys flinched at the bang, then grabbed hold of the stirrup and scrabbled up.
  17. settlement
    a community of people smaller than a town
    A handful of blocks north lay the huge wilderness that an early black settlement had been cleared out of to make room for the Dumping Grounds.
  18. sprawl
    the disorganized spread of development beyond city limits
    The Stinkpit, a rugged sprawl of collapsing tenement buildings adjacent to the Claw, probably wasn’t any safer.
  19. slink
    move or walk stealthily
    The dino began slinking along Fifth Avenue, snout close to the ground.
  20. elaborate
    marked by complexity and richness of detail
    Behind them, three, no, four ankylosaurs skittered out onto the street ahead of the raptor. Thick horns curved like an elaborate headdress around their lumpy faces and rows of short spikes ran across their sand-colored bodies.
  21. skirmish
    a minor short-term fight
    Dr. Barlow Sloan described ankylosaurs as irritable but reliable steeds, excellent for skirmishes or short-distance travel, less so for sustained battle or overnight trips.
  22. forage
    collect or look around for, as food
    “Got ’im!” Mapper yelled. Beside him, Two Step foraged through the saddlebags for more fire equipment they could use as projectiles.
  23. projectile
    a weapon that is forcibly propelled toward a target
    “Got ’im!” Mapper yelled. Beside him, Two Step foraged through the saddlebags for more fire equipment they could use as projectiles.
  24. wary
    marked by keen caution and watchful prudence
    Cymbeline cast a wary eye toward where Riker and his raptor lurked along through the shadows of Forty-First Street.
  25. muzzle
    the open circular discharging end of a gun
    “Not too much powder,” Cymbeline said without looking down. “You need most of it to pour down the muzzle.”
  26. ricochet
    spring back; spring away from an impact
    A sharp ping sounded: the ball ricocheting off the armored back of one of those ankys.
  27. trill
    the articulation of a consonant with a flutter of the tongue
    The brachy stirred beneath them. His worried trill sounded through Magdalys’s mind.
  28. writhing
    moving in a twisting or snake-like or wormlike fashion
    In the dusty cloud behind them, Riker scrambled to his feet, clutching his wounded shoulder. His eyes met with Magdalys’s as he pulled out a pistol and stood over the writhing raptor.
  29. steeple
    a tall tower that forms the superstructure of a building
    Brooklyn was a dark mass on the other side, speckled with a few flickering lanterns along the shore. Further back, steeples rose above gaslit streets.
  30. fray
    a noisy fight
    They’d passed a huge battalion of policemen, looking worn-out, some badly injured, but nightsticks drawn and clearly marching back into the fray.
  31. conspicuous
    obvious to the eye or mind
    The huge dinosaur couldn’t cross the river with them—it would be too conspicuous to ride around Brooklyn—and there was no way to go back into that nightmare.
  32. superficial
    of, affecting, or being on or near the surface
    The gunshot looked pretty superficial, from what she could tell. The bleeding had stopped and the wound wasn’t deep.
  33. telltale
    disclosing unintentionally
    But there was no ferry to be found. Not even the telltale torches on the far shore to at least let them know it was on its way back.
  34. divulge
    make known to the public information previously kept secret
    If Amaya wanted to tell her, she would. Clearly she’d kept her own secrets for this long, why would she start divulging now?
  35. province
    the territory in an administrative district of a nation
    And that was it. Neither alive nor dead, free nor enslaved. Just names on a piece of paper and some province of Cuba Magdalys had never heard of.
Created on Tue May 07 09:25:31 EDT 2019 (updated Tue May 07 13:34:30 EDT 2019)

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