Long Way Down: List 2

by Jason Reynolds
In this novel-in-verse, Will spends a sixty-second elevator ride weighing whether or not he should avenge his brother's death. Learn these words from Jason Reynolds's innovative and powerful exploration of gun violence.

This list covers "Two Large Hands"—"I Want Out."

Here are links to our lists for the book: List 1, List 2.

Here are links to our lists for other books by Jason Reynolds: When I Was the Greatest, The Boy in the Black Suit, All American Boys, Ghost, Patina, Sunny, Lu
25 words 3072 learners

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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. yoke
    link with or as with stable gear joining two draft animals
    TWO LARGE HANDS,

    the largest I’d ever seen,
    rushed through the cloud

    hard and fast,

    snatched fistfuls of my shirt,
    yoking me by the neck,
    holding me there until
    the elevator door closed.
  2. impress
    have a powerful and usually positive effect on
    GIRL: Jesse teaches
    BOY: Mickey everything he needs to know about
    GIRL: How to impress them.
  3. chap
    make or become cracked or sore, especially from cold
    Sadness
    split his face
    like cold breeze
    on chapped lip
    after attempting
    to smile.
  4. skeptical
    marked by or given to doubt
    Always
    always
    always

    be skeptical of a person
    who answers a question
    by asking a question.
  5. hack
    cough spasmodically
    Then I could
    finally
    painfully
    hack it up.
  6. ruthless
    without mercy or pity
    HE HELD THAT CORNER

    for a day,
    for a week, for a month,

    full-out
    pusher,
    money-making
    pretty boy,

    target
    for a ruthless
    young hustler
    whose name

    Mom can never
    remember.
  7. gouge
    force with the thumb
    Everybody
    ran ducked hid tucked
    themselves tight
    blew their own eardrums
    gouged their own eyes.
  8. cold-blooded
    without regret, sympathy, or human feeling
    Not sure
    what an iceman is,
    but it makes me think
    of bad dudes.

    Cold-blooded.
  9. muted
    softened in tone
    No sound in the
    elevator except
    hands popping
    together and
    the muted thud
    of pats on backs.
  10. shard
    a broken piece of a brittle artifact
    Like shards of my own heart
    shivving me on the inside,
    just like your mama told you.
  11. flunky
    an underling of unquestioning obedience
    Gee was just some young kid
    trying to be tough,
    trying to make
    a few friends,
    a few bucks,
    a flunky
    for the guy who
    killed Mark,

    he explained.
  12. precision
    the quality of being exact
    A man who moved with precision,
    patience, purpose,
    not no willy-nilly
    buck-bucking off
    at randoms
    at random.
  13. shrill
    utter a high-pitched cry
    I shrilled,
    in shock.
  14. apparently
    seemingly; as far as one can tell
    Like it was suddenly
    just the two of us,
    me and my dad,
    both of us apparently
    losing
    our minds.
  15. seep
    pass gradually or leak or as if through small openings
    A WARM SENSATION

    ran through the lower
    half of my body,
    seeping
    down my leg
    into my sneakers.
  16. heave
    rise and move up and down, as in waves
    AND LIKE OLD TIMES

    Uncle Mark
    came to his side
    like a brother,

    pulled the extra cig,
    the one tucked
    behind his ear,

    handed it to
    my father,
    chest heaving.
  17. cue
    a reminder for some action or speech
    Buck took his cue.
  18. reluctantly
    with a certain degree of unwillingness
    Only to people who
    know me
    know me,

    the guy said,
    reluctantly reaching
    for Buck’s hand.
  19. scoff
    laugh at with contempt and derision
    Buck scoffed,
    shaking his head.
  20. suburban
    relating to or characteristic of or situated in suburbs
    Then he became a big brother
    to Shawn
    and a robber to a bunch of
    suburban neighborhoods
    every morning
  21. scuffle
    disorderly fighting
    Shawn was telling me how he had
    gotten into a little scuffle, nothing
    major, with one of the dudes from
    the Dark Suns,

    Buck said.
  22. initiation
    a formal entry into an organization or position or office
    I WAS ASSIGNED

    my Dark Deed
    for initiation,

    Frick explained.
  23. flashy
    tastelessly showy
    Everybody knew
    Buck was always flossin',
    always flashy.
  24. allegiance
    the act of binding yourself to a course of action
    Tony talking
    was laying claim,
    loyalty,
    an allegiance to
    the asphalt around
    here, an attempt
    to grow taller
    get bigger
    one way or another.
  25. cog
    tooth on the rim of gear wheel
    AND THERE WAS A SOUND

    like whatever makes
    elevators work,

    cables and cogs,
    or whatever,

    grinding,
    rubbing metal on metal
Created on Thu Dec 14 13:41:53 EST 2023 (updated Thu Dec 14 13:49:33 EST 2023)

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