Dactyl Hill Squad: Chapters 29–39

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. caliber
    a degree or grade of excellence or worth
    This was a whole other caliber of monster, Magdalys realized.
  2. rambunctious
    noisy and lacking in restraint or discipline
    “The Spine Islands that way,” Redd said as they hurtled on a rambunctious charge into the harbor.
  3. imposing
    impressive in appearance
    Behind them, New York City seemed to rise out of the sea, but it didn’t look so tall and imposing from out here, more like a toy set.
  4. artillery
    large but transportable armament
    More gunfire erupted, and then the deeper blasts of artillery shells.
  5. smithereens
    a collection of small fragments considered as a whole
    She was pretty sure destroying the whole boat was exactly what Missy wanted to do, and under any other circumstances Magdalys would have happily let her smash an escaping slave ship to smithereens.
  6. obliterate
    do away with completely, without leaving a trace
    More gunshots rang out as they reared up toward the Ocarrion, but they were too late: Missy’s gigantic jaws came crashing down on the artillery unit at the far end, obliterating it and shredding a huge chunk of the hull.
  7. hull
    the frame or body of a ship
    More gunshots rang out as they reared up toward the Ocarrion, but they were too late: Missy’s gigantic jaws came crashing down on the artillery unit at the far end, obliterating it and shredding a huge chunk of the hull.
  8. intermittently
    in a manner of stopping and starting at irregular intervals
    A group of slavers was huddled at one end, as far from where Missy had struck as they could get, and they were firing intermittently with carbines and stabbing out with sabers when anyone got close.
  9. potshot
    the discharge of a weapon at an easy or casual target
    David Ballantine, Louis Napoleon, and a group of other Vigilance Committee agents had set up a barricade with some shipping crates at the steam chimney and were taking potshots over the top.
  10. melee
    a noisy riotous fight
    The blast sent tiny explosions bursting through her bones; when the smoke cleared she had no idea if she’d hit anyone or not, couldn’t make out the man who’d been coming at her in the melee.
  11. bayonet
    a knife fixed to the end of a rifle and used as a weapon
    She had a dagger, and a fierce bayonet extended from the end of Amaya’s rifle, but Magdalys wasn’t sure what she’d do if it came to hand-to-hand combat.
  12. scabbard
    a sheath for a sword or dagger or bayonet
    Then someone whooshed past with a shliiiiiing of steel releasing from a scabbard and Magdalys heard yelling.
  13. cleave
    make by cutting into
    He cleaved a path straight through the cluster of slavers, shoving and slicing as men fell screaming to either side until finally the last few survivors threw down their weapons and raised their hands, crying for mercy.
  14. grudgingly
    in a reluctant manner
    She nodded again, grudgingly. He was right, and she knew it.
  15. mortar
    a vessel in which substances can be ground with a pestle
    A heavy boom percussed the sky. Mortar fire. The sea exploded a few feet away from the Ocarrion.
  16. evasive
    avoiding or escaping from difficulty or danger
    “They’re firing on us!” someone yelled. “Hoist the sails and prepare for evasive maneuvers!”
  17. fitful
    occurring in spells and often abruptly
    The Ocarrion’s steam engine suddenly roared to life with a fitful chug-a-lug.
  18. clobber
    strike violently and repeatedly
    They blew past two of the plesios, Missy clobbering one with her tail and broadsiding the other, sending it and its riders collapsing into the water.
  19. slog
    walk heavily and firmly, as when weary, or through mud
    They’d been slogging along dim backstreets for what felt like forever because Magdalys didn’t want to risk being spotted by Riker’s men on the commuter brachys.
  20. hooligan
    a rowdy, violent, and typically youthful troublemaker
    David put me and a bunch of the kids in the escape boat with these two hooligans and off we went, real quiet like.
  21. earnestly
    in a sincere and serious manner
    Redd shook his head earnestly. “Poor thing was near starving and ol’ boy was spending his money on drink. I really did everyone a favor, to be honest.”
  22. explicit
    precisely and clearly expressed or readily observable
    Mapper had rendered it in explicit detail, as only he could.
  23. turret
    a self-contained weapons platform housing guns
    He’d even approximated the artillery reach from each of the gun turrets on the towers and signified with dotted lines how he guessed the different inner chambers would be laid out.
  24. intricacy
    the quality of having elaborately complex detail
    “Yeah, but...” Redd gestured at the intricacy of Mapper’s sketch.
  25. rampart
    an embankment built around a space for defensive purposes
    “And they have shotguns,” Magdalys added, remembering the way those double-barrels had glistened in the sun as the knuckleskulls strutted clunkily along the fortress rampart.
  26. motley
    consisting of a haphazard assortment of different kinds
    Magdalys looked over the motley crew that had gathered. “And against that, we got...”
    “A pirate,” Redd said. “A map wizard. A dinowrangler. An actor.”
  27. pyrotechnic
    of or relating to the craft of making fireworks
    “And a Haitian pyrotechnic specialist.”
  28. stint
    an unbroken period of time during which you do something
    The cells line the courtyard facing inward and they got little windows on the doors. I may not be Mapper but I remember that much from my little stint in there.
  29. gruff
    blunt and unfriendly or stern
    “Halt, you!” a gruff voice called out.
  30. parapet
    a low wall along the edge of a roof or balcony
    Circle the tower, Magdalys commanded, and their dactyl cut a wide arc and then spiraled toward the parapet.
  31. sonorous
    full and loud and deep
    There was a sonorous boom from below and something huge whizzed past just a few inches away.
  32. vigor
    forceful exertion
    The trike had barely slowed its roll, and now was bearing down on them with renewed vigor as more shooting erupted at the far side of the yard.
  33. canter
    a smooth three-beat gait
    On the parapet above, the knuckleskull-mounted prison guards were filing in at a lopsided canter.
  34. doff
    remove
    Tiny Shanks took the keys with a doff of his imaginary cap and then ran off.
  35. determination
    firmness of purpose
    Terrified though they were, these beasts had been trained. They were armored and battle-ready. Magdalys could feel that grim determination sharpen their focus as their shakiness fell away.
  36. galumph
    move around heavily and clumsily
    Her heart galumphed along with their roaring stomps, and their combined grit and determination pulsed through her.
  37. crusade
    a series of actions tending toward a particular end
    “Do you see what I’m saying, dear?” Riker taunted. “You’re not safe. Not even here, up north, in the beating heart of Lincoln’s anti-slavery crusade. You’re not safe and you never will be...."
  38. teeming
    abundantly filled with especially living things
    Up, up, up into the night they hurtled, into the sky until the Dactyl Hill Penitentiary was just a small, torchlit pit amidst the teeming city.
  39. contrite
    feeling or expressing pain or sorrow
    Then Sabeen, Amaya, Two Step (still shook, but definitely better than earlier), and Mapper (his head bandaged, but otherwise apparently okay) walked onto the roof. They all looked dead serious, contrite even.
  40. makeshift
    done or made using whatever is available
    He grabbed his sack, marched past Magdalys, and loaded his supplies onto the makeshift saddle they’d put together for Stella.
Created on Tue May 07 09:27:19 EDT 2019 (updated Tue May 07 13:35:12 EDT 2019)

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