A Feast for Crows: Chapters 7–15

by George R.R. Martin
Following their victory in the "War of the Five Kings," the Lannisters consolidate their power on the Iron Throne. Although the war in the Seven Kingdoms has wound down, new conflicts arise in its bitter aftermath.

Here are links to our lists for the novel: Prologue–Chapter 6, Chapters 7–15, Chapters 16–25, Chapters 26–34, Chapters 35–45
40 words 19 learners

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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. vacuous
    devoid of intelligence
    But was it a threatening smile full of unspoken knowledge, or just some vacuous twitch of an old man’s wrinkled lips?
  2. bier
    a stand to support a corpse or a coffin prior to burial
    Under the Great Sept’s lofty dome of glass and gold and crystal, Lord Tywin Lannister’s body rested upon a stepped marble bier.
  3. inter
    place in a grave or tomb
    He might at least have waited till Father's bones were interred beneath the Rock.
  4. vapid
    lacking significance or liveliness or spirit or zest
    To the right of the bier knelt the Tyrells: the Lord of Highgarden, his hideous mother and vapid wife, his son Garlan and his daughter Margaery.
  5. wanton
    indulgent in immoral or improper behavior
    Who is the most fearful, the most wanton, the hungriest for favor?
  6. ponderous
    labored and dull
    “Lord Tywin was a great man, an extraordinary man,” he declared ponderously after he had kissed both her cheeks.
  7. hector
    talk to or treat someone in a bossy or bullying way
    It would seem that Lord Tywin did not share his plans with our regent, I can’t imagine why. Still, there ’tis, no use hectoring Her Grace.
  8. gainsay
    take exception to
    “Your council chambers will smell sweeter with Lord Gyles, though I daresay that coughing would drive me to distraction. We all adore dear old uncle Garth, but the man is flatulent, that cannot be gainsaid. I do abhor foul smells.”
  9. goodly
    large in size, amount, or degree
    Lord Tyrell would doubtless dispatch a goodly number of knights to see his mother safely home, and the fewer Tyrell swords in the city, the more soundly the queen would sleep.
  10. discretion
    knowing how to avoid embarrassment or distress
    “Your Grace may trust in my discretion. Any man who rides with a sellsword company learns to hold his tongue, else he does not keep it long.”
  11. adulterate
    make impure by adding a foreign or inferior substance
    “It may be as Your Grace suggests, though in most cases adulterating a poison only lessens its potency. It may be that the cause is...less natural, let us say. A spell, I think.”
  12. broach
    bring up a topic for discussion
    Mace should have known better than to broach such matters in public, but even so, you were unwise to shame him in front of half the court.
  13. querulous
    habitually complaining
    It had given him an air of wisdom, and concealed all manner of unsavory things: the loose skin dangling beneath the old man’s jaw, the small querulous mouth and missing teeth, warts and wrinkles and age spots too numerous to count.
  14. abreast
    alongside each other, facing in the same direction
    Through the Mother’s Doors marched white septas from their cloister, seven abreast and singing softly, while the silent sisters came single file down the Stranger’s Steps.
  15. puerile
    displaying or suggesting a lack of maturity
    Pray tell, why am I having supper with that grasping fool and his puerile wife?
  16. parapet
    fortification consisting of a low wall
    As dawn broke, guardsmen appeared on the parapets.
  17. carrion
    the dead and rotting body of an animal; unfit for human food
    The looters come with the carrion crows after every battle.
  18. trappings
    ornaments; embellishments to or characteristic signs of
    She saw red and green apples, a shield that bore the three thunderbolts of Leygood, horse trappings patterned with the ants of Ambrose.
  19. tonsure
    the shaved crown of a monk's or priest's head
    Brienne could see the crown of his scalp where he had shaved it. Many holy brothers wore such tonsures.
  20. chastisement
    verbal punishment
    Yet somehow she had found the courage to tell Ser Humfrey that she would accept chastisement only from a man who could outfight her.
  21. liege
    a feudal lord entitled to allegiance and service
    He was High Steward of the Vale as well, Jon Arryn’s trusted liege man, and Lady Lysa’s.
  22. indisposed
    somewhat ill or prone to illness
    She had not slept a whole night through since Lysa Arryn’s death. “Couldn’t you tell Lord Nestor that l am...indisposed, or...”
  23. staunch
    firm and dependable especially in loyalty
    “You did,” said Petyr, “and Lord Robert sleeps more easily knowing that you are always there, a staunch friend at the foot of his mountain.”
  24. shoal
    a large group of fish
    Botley’s standard hung in the hall, a shoal of silver fish upon a pale green field, though Asha had not seen his Swiftfin amongst the other longships.
  25. supplicant
    one praying humbly for something
    He would listen to each case as it was laid before him, pronounce his judgment...and read a bit whilst his captain-of-guards went to bring in the next supplicant.
  26. vassal
    a person who owes allegiance and service to a feudal lord
    The Kennings and the Myres, once bitter foes, had long ago been beaten down to vassals.
  27. fealty
    the loyalty that one owes to a country, sovereign, or lord
    When my father denied his claim to the Seastone Chair, the Crow’s Eye drowned him and made my uncles swear him fealty.
  28. travesty
    a distorted, debased, or absurd imitation of something
    You forced me into this travesty of a wedding, my lord, and I shall not soon forget it.
  29. balk
    refuse to proceed or comply
    “It was the cloak my lord father used when he wed my lady mother,” she explained to the Tyrells, but the Queen of Thorns had balked her in that as well. “That old thing?” the crone had said.
  30. redolent
    having a strong pleasant odor
    She could still remember the smell of it, redolent with queer eastern spices, and the softness of Maggy’s gums as she sucked the blood from Cersei’s finger.
  31. crenellate
    supply with regular gaps through which weapons can be fired
    When Cersei looked up she saw the tower’s crenellated battlements gnawing at a hunter’s moon, and wondered for a moment how many Hands of how many kings had made their home there over the past three centuries.
  32. tractable
    easily managed
    Some claimed he acted from ambition, for Prince Aegon was more tractable than his willful older sister.
  33. foment
    try to stir up
    They were speaking treason, fomenting war.
  34. demur
    politely refuse or take exception to
    Arianne demurred. “So my father wishes us to believe, but I have friends who tell me otherwise. My brother has crossed the narrow sea in secret, posing as a common merchant. Why?”
  35. contingent
    a gathering of persons representative of some larger group
    Far from home, alone, and penniless, the boy had attached himself to a fat hedge knight named Ser Lorimer the Belly, who was part of Lord Lefford’s contingent, charged with protecting the baggage train.
  36. disdain
    lack of respect accompanied by a feeling of intense dislike
    She could not have said which she found most hurtful, the pretty girls with their waspish tongues and brittle laughter or the cold-eyed ladies who hid their disdain behind a mask of courtesy.
  37. stripling
    a person who is older than 12 but younger than 20
    A stripling in a roughspun cloak and soiled jerkin was being heard when they came up.
  38. jackanapes
    someone who is unimportant but cheeky and presumptuous
    Littlefinger holds the Eyrie now...though not for long. The lords of the Vale are not the sort to bend their knees to some upjumped jackanapes whose only skill is counting coppers.
  39. bracing
    refreshing or invigorating
    It was cold when the wind was blowing, but there was something bracing about the salt smell in the air.
  40. derisive
    expressing contempt or ridicule
    Dareon plucked at his lute with one finger, sending up a derisive note. “I’d heard that wildlings were braver than that.”
Created on Fri Aug 26 14:52:24 EDT 2022 (updated Fri Sep 09 09:29:59 EDT 2022)

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