The Borrowers: Chapters 5–8

by Mary Norton
This classic tale tells the story of the Clock family, a group of tiny people who live under the floorboards of a grandfather clock, and survive by sneakily "borrowing" food and small items from the humans who live in the house.

Here are links to our lists for the novel: Chapters 1–4, Chapters 5–8, Chapters 9–13, Chapters 14–17, Chapters 18–20
30 words 33 learners

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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. chiffon
    a sheer fabric of silk or rayon
    Pod had built Arrietty’s bedroom out of two cigar boxes, and on the ceiling lovely painted ladies dressed in swirls of chiffon blew long trumpets against a background of blue sky; below there were feathery palm trees and small white houses set about a square.
  2. glamorous
    having an air of allure, romance and excitement
    It was a glamorous scene, above all by candlelight, but tonight Arrietty had stared without seeing.
  3. alight
    shining brightly as if on fire or aflame
    “Oh,” said Arrietty, her face alight, “to be out of doors...to lie in the sun...to run in the grass...to swing on twigs like the birds do...to suck honey...”
  4. foolhardy
    marked by defiant disregard for danger or consequences
    Oh,” said Homily and looked thoughtful, “I never heard that. All the same,” she exclaimed, “it was stupid and foolhardy. There’s no way down except by the bell-pull...."
  5. falter
    speak haltingly
    “What’s the good,” asked Pod, “of things behind glass?”
    “Couldn’t you break it?” suggested Arrietty. “Just a corner, just a little tap, just a...” Her voice faltered as she saw the shocked amazement on her father’s face.
  6. dregs
    sediment that has settled at the bottom of a liquid
    He’s always lived steady, your father has, and not only the jars, but the decanters too, were kept in the morning room and they say those Overmantel men would suck up the dregs in the glasses through those quill pipe-cleaners they keep there on the mantelpiece.
  7. bailiff
    officer of the court employed to execute writs and processes
    I don’t know whether it’s true but they do say that those Overmantel men used to have a party every Tuesday after the bailiff had been to talk business in the morning room.
  8. parquet
    a floor made of a patterned wood inlay
    “Oh, you should have heard her say ‘Parquet’—that’s the stuff the drawing-room floor’s made of—‘Parkay...Parr-r-kay,’ she’d say. Oh, it was lovely. Come to think of it, your Aunt Lupy was the most stuck-up of them all...”
  9. contrite
    feeling or expressing pain or sorrow
    “Arrietty’s shivering,” said Pod. “We didn’t get the little maid up to talk about Aunt Lupy.”
    “Nor we did,” cried Homily, suddenly contrite.
  10. dismayed
    struck with fear, dread, or consternation
    “Or to keep you in?” suggested Pod.
    “To keep me in?” repeated Arrietty, dismayed.
  11. venture
    put forward, of a guess, in spite of possible refutation
    “Couldn’t we emigrate?” she ventured at last, very softly.
  12. glum
    moody and sorrowful
    Pod sat staring glumly at the floor; Arrietty shivered a little and hugged herself more tightly into the knitted quilt and Homily drew a long, slow breath.
  13. ecstatic
    feeling great rapture or delight
    Arrietty turned quite pink; she clasped her hands together. “Oh—” she began in an ecstatic voice, but Pod cut in quickly: “Now, Homily, we got to think. You can’t just say things like that without thinking it out proper. I been ‘seen,’ remember. This is no kind of time for taking a child upstairs.”
  14. hankering
    a yearning for something or to do something
    “And it’ll give her a bit of interest like and stop her hankering.”
  15. conviction
    an unshakable belief in something without need for proof
    She heard their voices rising and falling in the next room: Homily’s went on and on, measured and confident—there was, Arrietty felt, a kind of conviction behind it; it was the winning voice.
  16. tremulous
    quivering as from weakness or fear
    And she heard Homily whisper “Hush!” and there were tremulous footfalls on the floor above and the sudden clash of pans.
  17. plait
    make by braiding or interlacing
    “Look at this brush!” cried Homily. It was a fiber brush with a plaited, fiber back.
  18. cinder
    a fragment of incombustible matter left after a fire
    But it was not a satisfactory arrangement: even when the fire was out, often there was hot ash and cinders under the stove and once, as he emerged, a great brush came at him wielded by Mrs. Driver; and he slithered back, on top of Homily, singed, shaken, and coughing dust.
  19. wield
    handle effectively
    But it was not a satisfactory arrangement: even when the fire was out, often there was hot ash and cinders under the stove and once, as he emerged, a great brush came at him wielded by Mrs. Driver; and he slithered back, on top of Homily, singed, shaken, and coughing dust.
  20. singe
    become superficially burned
    But it was not a satisfactory arrangement: even when the fire was out, often there was hot ash and cinders under the stove and once, as he emerged, a great brush came at him wielded by Mrs. Driver; and he slithered back, on top of Homily, singed, shaken, and coughing dust.
  21. inferno
    a very intense and uncontrolled fire
    Another time, for some reason, the fire had been in full blaze and Pod had arrived suddenly beneath a glowing inferno, dropping white-hot coals.
  22. sheath
    a protective covering, as for a knife or sword
    Hanging from his hands, he shifted his weight along the pin toward the curved sheath and, as he moved, the pin sprang open and he, in the same instant, jumped free.
  23. threshold
    the entrance for passing through a room or building
    Arrietty felt warm tears behind her eyelids and a sudden swelling pride: so this, at last, was The Clock! Their clock...after which her family was named! For two hundred years it had stood here, deep-voiced and patient, guarding their threshold, and measuring their time.
  24. lintel
    a horizontal beam over a door or window
    A sudden movement near the shadowed lintel of the front door and there was Pod again, bag in hand, beside the mat; it rose knee deep before him like a field of chestnut corn.
  25. hoarse
    deep and harsh sounding as if from shouting or illness
    “Here’s a bag,” said Pod in a hoarse whisper; “better get down to work.”
  26. methodical
    characterized by orderliness
    Pod worked swiftly and methodically, making small bundles, each of which he put immediately in the bag.
  27. nonplus
    be a mystery or bewildering to
    An ant came hurrying in a busy zigzag. She danced in front of it to tease it and put out her foot. It stared at her, nonplused, waving its antennae; then pettishly, as though put out, it swerved away.
  28. pettish
    easily irritated or annoyed
    An ant came hurrying in a busy zigzag. She danced in front of it to tease it and put out her foot. It stared at her, nonplused, waving its antennae; then pettishly, as though put out, it swerved away.
  29. gnarled
    old and twisted and covered in lines
    When at last she reached the foot of the tree, the bird took fright and flew away and she sat down suddenly on a gnarled leaf of primrose.
  30. furrow
    a slight depression in the smoothness of a surface
    “But nothing will play with you,” she thought and saw the cracks and furrows of the primrose leaves held crystal beads of dew.
Created on Mon Jan 17 20:58:34 EST 2022 (updated Mon Jan 31 10:05:09 EST 2022)

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