Momo Arashima Steals the Sword of the Wind: List 1

by Misa Sugiura
This first book of the series introduces a twelve-year-old Californian who dreads the seventh-grade social scene, until the discovery that she is the daughter of a Shintō goddess who needs her help to fight demons on the Japanese Island of Mysteries.

This list covers "Happy Birthday to Me"–"She's a Goddess, So She Can't Die...Right?"

Here are links to our lists for the novel: List 1, List 2, List 3, List 4, List 5
40 words 105 learners

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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. stiletto
    a shoe with a very thin, very high heel
    Hovering several feet in the air above the house, wearing a ragged black ball gown, black stiletto heels, and too much makeup, was a shikome—one of the death hags who serve Izanami the Destroyer, Queen of Death.
  2. sidle
    move unobtrusively or furtively
    The girls took a break from whispering so they could sidle up to the boys, and within seconds it was a giggling, guffawing comedy extravaganza.
  3. guffaw
    laugh boisterously
    The girls took a break from whispering so they could sidle up to the boys, and within seconds it was a giggling, guffawing comedy extravaganza.
  4. practically
    almost; nearly
    The whole back of the bus practically exploded with laughter.
  5. ostracize
    avoid speaking to or dealing with
    Then she lowered her voice and leaned forward, as if by doing this she’d created a magical cone of silence, and said, “Her peers are starting to ostracize her. You really need to address this before she loses all of her friends,” before walking us out the door.
  6. bilk
    cheat somebody out of what is due, especially money
    Channeling the energy of the universe to heal a bad back might seem more like a way to bilk money out of rich white ladies than a real thing, but as always, Mom insisted it was real, and, hey—it kept us from starving.
  7. taper
    give a point to
    I opened it to find a straw rope of some kind, made of two thinner ropes twisted together. It was as thick as my wrist in the middle, and tapered as thin as shoelaces at the ends.
  8. rabid
    infected by an acute viral disease of the nervous system
    And I...I heard on the news that there is a fox in the neighborhood. A...a rabid fox.
  9. extravagant
    characterized by richness and abundance
    And anyway, we could never afford something this extravagant. Maybe they were from that Niko guy. Maybe he was a rich cousin or something.
  10. spree
    a brief indulgence of your impulses
    But somehow, the idea of a shopping spree at the mall pushed everything else out of my head.
  11. minion
    a servile or fawning dependent
    I went to store after store and bought myself outfits just like the kind that Kiki and Ryleigh and their minions wore.
  12. stifle
    smother or suppress
    Someone stifled a giggle.
  13. pleasantry
    an agreeable or amusing remark
    “Yes, yes, hello, it’s me,” he said impatiently, twitching his ears. “But this is no time for pleasantries. Run!”
  14. garish
    tastelessly showy
    Her cheeks were sunken and gray under twin spots of garish pink.
  15. abject
    most unfortunate or miserable
    I was at a flat-out sprint, but I had to weave my way through a crowd of people who could clearly see the monster behind me—they were pointing and shouting at the tops of their lungs—but for some reason were not fleeing in abject terror.
  16. atrium
    the central area in a building, open to the sky
    We sprinted across an atrium and out a set of glass doors, where he ripped the bag from my hand.
  17. dither
    make a fuss; be agitated
    “It’s a long story, I don’t want to talk about it, and it’s rude of you to argue. More importantly, we are—and I cannot emphasize this enough—ABOUT TO DIE unless either of you aggravating adolescents has any more food for our pursuer, in which case our deaths might be ever-so-slightly delayed and possibly even avoided. So stop dithering about driver’s licenses and shape-shifting, and tell me what you’ve got!”
  18. lurch
    move abruptly
    “Good. Toss them out the window when I tell you,” Niko instructed us, and we screeched backward, slammed into a white Mercedes, then lurched forward and stopped so hard, my head hit the headrest in front of me.
  19. barge
    push one's way
    “You’re going to kill us!” said Danny, who looked like he deeply regretted his choice to trust a talking fox to drive a car. Serves you right for barging in, I thought.
  20. careen
    move at high speed and in an uncontrolled way
    The shikome slid off the hood and a truck veered away from us as we careened around the corner and nearly hit a telephone pole.
  21. scrabble
    grope, scratch, or feel searchingly
    But when I looked back, the shikome was on her hands and knees in the street, scrabbling at the gummies and Bubble Yum with her bony fingers and shoving it all into her mouth as cars screeched and banged to a halt around her.
  22. urchin
    a poor and often mischievous city child
    “We are very much alive and very much on the earth, thanks to my quick thinking and excellent driving skills,” Niko said snootily. “Not that I expect a thank-you from you ungrateful urchins.”
  23. figment
    a contrived or fantastic idea
    “Superstition? Not real? How dare you! If that’s not real, then what am I? A figment of your imagination?”
  24. assume
    take to be the case or to be true
    That was almost as strange as the fact that he could talk to Niko—assuming this was all real and I wasn’t dreaming.
  25. shrewd
    marked by practical hardheaded intelligence
    He gave Danny a shrewd, appraising look.
  26. appraise
    estimate the nature, quality, ability or significance of
    He gave Danny a shrewd, appraising look. “Very well. You may join us.”
  27. conundrum
    a difficult problem
    “I told you, I don’t know,” said Niko impatiently. “Perhaps. But if you haven’t already noticed, we have more pressing problems to solve than the conundrum of your capabilities.”
  28. aback
    by surprise
    Danny looked a little taken aback, and I almost laughed. Kids like him—especially boys—always expected to be at the center of everything.
  29. muster
    summon up, call forth, or bring together
    “And I know what Ne-no-kuni is,” I said in the fiercest non-scream I could muster.
  30. crestfallen
    brought low in spirit
    “No. Definitely not.” Niko snorted.
    Danny looked crestfallen.
  31. charisma
    personal attractiveness that enables you to influence others
    Unlike Danny, who was handsome, athletic, smart, and had charisma practically pouring out his ears, nothing about me was godlike.
  32. waft
    be driven or carried along, as by the air
    The odor of rotting meat wafted toward us.
  33. bound
    move forward by leaping
    Niko came bounding through the torii, snarling ferociously.
  34. flank
    be located at the sides of something or somebody
    He was flanked by two enormous creatures with faces like bulldogs and manes like lions—Alfie and Meggie, our koma-inu statues come to life!
  35. in vain
    without a successful result or effect
    I twisted frantically, trying in vain to squirm out of her iron grip, and as Danny's hand slipped out of mine, I looked toward the house.
  36. defile
    make dirty or spotty
    Your mother’s life force is bound to the Island of Mysteries—she and the island are one. Once the oni emerged and began defiling it, that made her fall ill.
  37. intone
    recite musically; recite as a chant or a psalm
    “Lord of the Seas, Master of Storms, and Ruler of Ne-no-kuni,” Niko intoned.
  38. preposterous
    inviting ridicule
    “A preposterous proposal. Downright dangerous.”
  39. grudge
    a resentment strong enough to justify retaliation
    The kami can hold grudges for centuries, Momo.
  40. wistful
    showing pensive sadness
    I looked at her, frail and wistful in her nightgown, and tried to wrap my head around everything.
Created on Sat May 18 10:15:47 EDT 2024 (updated Sat May 18 11:54:21 EDT 2024)

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