"The Sniper" by Liam O’Flaherty

During the Irish Civil War, two snipers engage in a battle of wits and weapons.
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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. beleaguer
    surround so as to force to give up
    Around the beleaguered Four Courts the heavy guns roared.
  2. spasmodic
    occurring in spells and often abruptly
    Here and there through the city, machine guns and rifles broke the silence of the night, spasmodically, like dogs barking on lone farms.
  3. sniper
    a marksman who shoots from a concealed place
    On a rooftop near O’Connell Bridge, a Republican sniper lay watching.
  4. ascetic
    practicing great self-denial
    His face was the face of a student, thin and ascetic, but his eyes had the cold gleam of the fanatic.
  5. fanatic
    a person motivated by irrational enthusiasm
    His face was the face of a student, thin and ascetic, but his eyes had the cold gleam of the fanatic.
  6. parapet
    a low wall along the edge of a roof or balcony
    Almost immediately, a bullet flattened itself against the parapet of the roof.
  7. turret
    a self-contained weapons platform housing guns
    She began to talk to the man in the turret of the car.
  8. lodge
    put, fix, force, or implant
    The bullet had lodged in the bone.
  9. paroxysm
    a sudden uncontrollable attack
    A paroxysm of pain swept through him.
  10. ruse
    a deceptive maneuver, especially to avoid capture
    His ruse had succeeded. The other sniper, seeing the cap and rifle fall, thought that he had killed his man.
  11. silhouette
    an outline of a solid object as cast by its shadow
    He was now standing before a row of chimney pots, looking across, with his head clearly silhouetted against the western sky.
  12. recoil
    a movement back from an impact
    He was almost deafened with the report and his arm shook with the recoil.
  13. reel
    walk as if unable to control one's movements
    He was reeling over the parapet in his death agony.
  14. remorse
    a feeling of deep regret, usually for some misdeed
    The lust of battle died in him. He became bitten by remorse.
  15. revolt
    fill with distaste or disgust
    Weakened by his wound and the long summer day of fasting and watching on the roof, he revolted from the sight of the shattered mass of his dead enemy.
  16. hail
    many objects thrown forcefully through the air
    A machine gun tore up the ground around him with a hail of bullets, but he escaped.
Created on Mon Jan 11 17:24:39 EST 2021 (updated Wed Jan 13 13:26:31 EST 2021)

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