The Beekeeper of Aleppo: List 2

by Christy Lefteri
When war destroys their life in Syria, Nuri Ibrahim tries to hold onto hope that he and his grieving wife will survive the dangerous journey to a new home.

This list covers Chapter 3–"Fire."

Here are links to our lists for the novel: List 1, List 2, List 3, List 4
35 words 9 learners

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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. shabby
    showing signs of wear and tear
    This whole place is strange, the shops standing shabby and proud—Go Go Pizza, Chili Tuk Tuk, Polskie Smaki, Pavel Indian, Moshimo.
  2. shingle
    coarse beach gravel of small waterworn stones and pebbles
    There is no sand on this beach, only pebbles and shingle, but along the promenade by the seafront there is a huge sandbox for children to play in.
  3. promenade
    a public area set aside as a pedestrian walk
    I sit for a while on the promenade by the sandbox and watch the sun move across the sky.
  4. lacquer
    coat with varnish
    There is a mahogany cabinet in the corner of the living room. It is lacquered with a sheen like water, and it is full of glasses for alcohol.
  5. sheen
    the visual property of something that shines
    There is a mahogany cabinet in the corner of the living room. It is lacquered with a sheen like water, and it is full of glasses for alcohol.
  6. elliptical
    rounded like an egg
    In the distance I could see the citadel on its elliptical mound, like the tip of a volcano.
  7. regime
    the governing authority of a political unit
    The driver got out, rough features, bearded, bald head, black T-shirt, army boots, army trousers, fanny pack, handgun at his waist. He was a replica of a regime fighter: he’d shaved his head, his beard too.
  8. meander
    move or cause to move in a winding or curving course
    We meandered through the ruins of the old city; the western neighborhoods were held by government forces, the rebels had the east.
  9. intact
    undamaged in any way
    The poster was intact, completely untouched.
  10. delicate
    easily broken or damaged or destroyed
    And then I could see my apiaries in the adjoining field, inside the hives, rows of honeycomb, each tray containing delicate golden hexagons.
  11. secrete
    generate and separate from cells or bodily fluids
    On top were the roofs, and from the holes in the sides the workers hummed, in and out, secreting wax from their glands, chewing it up and creating row after row of symmetrical polygons, five millimeters in diameter, as though they were laying down crystals.
  12. consistency
    the degree of density, firmness, or viscosity of a substance
    He would change and put on his protective gear and join me, checking the honeycombs, the consistency and smell and taste of the honey, dipping his finger in and tasting it.
  13. coax
    carefully manipulate, adjust, or bring to a desired state
    The bee is still alive. I located her in the garden perched on the same flower where I had left her. Once again, I coaxed her onto my hand and brought her into the living room with me, and now she is crawling up my arm.
  14. dappled
    having spots or patches of color
    I focus on Diomande’s reflection and on the dappled shadows of the trees behind it.
  15. bracken
    large coarse fern often several feet high
    It was still dark, and we were told by the smugglers to lie on our bellies and crawl on our hands and knees across the flat land of dusty soil and bracken.
  16. barley
    a plant grown for forage and grain
    Once in Turkey, we walked for what felt like a hundred miles through fields of wheat and barley.
  17. haggard
    very thin, especially from disease or hunger or cold
    The man looked haggard, dirty face, disheveled hair.
  18. disheveled
    in disarray; extremely disorderly
    The man looked haggard, dirty face, disheveled hair.
  19. unkempt
    not properly maintained or cared for
    And the street dogs too, unpredictable and unkempt, with their old scars and new wounds, from injuries or disease or accidents.
  20. rotary
    a road junction at which traffic streams circularly
    Like the dogs, I sat every day on the same bench and watched the yellow cabs circling the red poppies on the rotary.
  21. entrepreneur
    someone who organizes a business venture
    I watched how the refugee children learned to adjust, how they mastered the art of survival—these little entrepreneurs, the lucky ones.
  22. haggle
    wrangle, as over a price or terms of an agreement
    Spend your money wisely—the smugglers will try to get as much out of you as they can, but keep in mind that there is a longer journey ahead. You must learn to haggle.
  23. hostel
    inexpensive supervised lodging
    I spent one day in Austria in a military compound near the German border where they scanned us and took our fingerprints, and then we were deported to a German youth hostel in the mountains.
  24. gingerly
    in a manner marked by extreme care or delicacy
    I tie up her hair and wrap the hijab around her head, securing the hairpins where she wants me to, working carefully, gingerly.
  25. trinket
    a small cheap ornament, knickknack, or piece of jewelry
    Some have trinkets on their bedside cabinets, precious things from a past life, photographs on the dresser propped up without frames.
  26. dinghy
    a small boat of shallow draft
    The smuggler was standing with the man who had been appointed captain of the dinghy.
  27. buoyant
    tending to float on a liquid or rise in air or gas
    I watched as men leaped into the sea, the boat immediately buoyant once again.
  28. palpable
    able to be felt by tactile examination
    There is an expression on her face I recognize from years ago, and it makes my sadness feel like something palpable, like a pulse, but it makes me afraid too, afraid of fate and chance, and hurt and harm, of the randomness of pain, how life can take everything from you all at once.
  29. pulsate
    expand and contract rhythmically
    When I wake up it is dark, and the darkness pulsates.
  30. caliph
    the civil and religious leader of a Muslim state
    The story goes like this: a wise caliph sends his servants—I can’t remember exactly how many there were—on a quest to find the mysterious City of Brass in the far desert wastes, which no one has ever entered.
  31. pavilion
    a large and often sumptuous tent
    In its midst is a very big pavilion with a dome rising high in the air.
  32. devoid
    completely wanting or lacking
    Every king who ever ruled this place was so blind, in one way or another, that they left it full of riches and devoid of life.
  33. pheromone
    a chemical that influences physiology or behavior in animals
    Seeing the smoke rising into the morning sky, I remembered Mustafa smoking the colonies during harvesting season; we used the smoke to protect ourselves while we harvested the honey. That way the bees would not smell each other’s pheromones and would be less likely to sting in self-defense.
  34. bellows
    a mechanical device that blows a strong current of air
    You don’t want an open flame, because if it hits the bellows they can become like a flamethrower and burn the wings of the bees.
  35. imminent
    close in time; about to occur
    She and his unborn brother died during labor, and I think he lived forever on the edge of imminent catastrophe, and so he came to appreciate everything with the joy and terror of a child.
Created on Thu Apr 27 11:47:44 EDT 2023 (updated Thu Apr 27 19:33:15 EDT 2023)

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