What Beauty There Is: Chapters 24–∞

by Cory Anderson
Idaho teenager Ava Bardem, daughter of a murderous thief, opposes her father by helping the sons of his imprisoned accomplice.

Here are links to our lists for the novel: Chapters 1–9, Chapters 10–19, Chapters 20–33, Chapters 32–25, Chapters 24–∞
40 words 6 learners

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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. scorn
    reject with contempt
    We went fishing that day. Jack scorned the sudden leaping in his chest and swung the candle out into the darkness.
  2. caper
    jump about playfully
    Shadows capered over the wood.
  3. sparse
    not dense or plentiful
    Jack held out the candle to the left and crouched by the bookcase. Sparse flickering, paper spines in disrepair.
  4. oppress
    come down on or keep down by unjust use of one's authority
    White Fang knew the law well: to oppress the weak and obey the strong.
  5. joist
    a beam used to support a floor or ceiling
    He looked up and scanned the timber joists, but there wasn’t an attic or a door.
  6. sepulcher
    a chamber that is used as a grave
    There was no briefcase here in this sepulcher of dust.
  7. shaft
    a long rod or pole, especially the body of a weapon
    With his throat stinging, Jack dug the sharp edge of the shovel into the dirt. Gripping the shaft.
  8. trough
    a narrow depression, as between waves
    They crashed through a stand of white birch and descended into a dark trough.
  9. lope
    run easily
    He turned and loped down the street, his bootprints red in the snow behind him.
  10. engulf
    flow over or cover completely
    He turned his face on the headrest and gazed at her. A separateness engulfing him. As if he looked at her through several feet of water.
  11. wane
    decrease in phase
    A new day was waning all about.
  12. treason
    an act of deliberate betrayal
    Every breath she took an act of treason.
  13. don
    put on clothes
    After he donned gloves he walked to the body lying by the truck and bent and brushed away the fine layer of snow.
  14. intact
    undamaged in any way
    The man had been shot in the chest and neck, but his face was mostly intact.
  15. carnage
    the savage and excessive killing of many people
    A trail of bootsteps led through the blood.
    “It’s Armageddon,’’ Midge said. “Out-and-out carnage is what it is.”
  16. hunker
    squat, hunch, or crouch down
    The dog was little. Hunkering by the television. Scared.
  17. reconciliation
    the reestablishment of cordial relations
    There was no chance of reconciliation. The things he’d said. She’d never forgive him.
  18. crag
    a steep rugged rock or cliff
    A wind had begun to disturb the top of the spires, and in the swell, it looked like the waking of some sleeping creature, rising up among the crags of forest and granite.
  19. strew
    be dispersed over
    He got out and stood looking east. The weathered black pines strewn over the landscape.
  20. throttle
    a valve that regulates the supply of fuel to the engine
    He pulled the cover away from the snowmobile and checked the throttle.
  21. straddle
    sit or stand astride of
    He straddled the seat and grasped the handlebar and turned the key.
  22. waft
    be driven or carried along, as by the air
    Snow stacked on the windshield. Powder shreds wafting down.
  23. presume
    take to be the case or to be true
    He glanced at an oilskin coat hanging on a hook behind the counter. The clerk’s own, Jack presumed.
  24. stark
    providing no shelter or sustenance
    Stands of thin needled trees on the slopes, and beyond, the stark alpine peaks stretching upward.
  25. labored
    requiring or showing effort
    Finally he stopped. Labored heaves of his breath. The air raw in his chest.
  26. notion
    a vague idea in which some confidence is placed
    He’d no notion of how far the cabin might be.
  27. flounder
    move clumsily or struggle to move, as in mud or water
    He was floundering on his feet. You have to keep going, he told himself. Hang on.
  28. gaunt
    very thin, especially from disease or hunger or cold
    It was a buck with its head up, looking at him. It was huge, gaunt as a trellis and laced with scars from endured battles.
  29. trellis
    latticework used to support climbing plants
    It was a buck with its head up, looking at him. It was huge, gaunt as a trellis and laced with scars from endured battles.
  30. slog
    walk heavily and firmly, as when weary, or through mud
    They started again. Slogging along. Following the snowmobile’s tracks. Before long, he was resting every few yards.
  31. balaclava
    a tight knit cap that covers the entire head and neck
    The law enforcement officer for Caribou-Targhee National Forest stepped down into the snow in worn Carhartt overalls, old eyes looking out of the black balaclava that he wore.
  32. warily
    in a manner marked by keen caution and watchful prudence
    Warily, he picked it up. Just a phone. Nothing more.
  33. impenetrable
    permitting little if any light to pass through
    An impenetrable dark. Cold as a tomb.
  34. spectral
    resembling or characteristic of a phantom
    His fingers touched the phone, and he pushed a button.
    Spectral light.
  35. disquieting
    causing mental discomfort
    Bardem spoke not a word, the more disquieting for it.
  36. furrow
    a long shallow trench in the ground
    I tear across the snow into a stand of dark trees and crash through branches and out onto open ground and cross into more woods on the other side. The deep furrows.
  37. careen
    move at high speed and in an uncontrolled way
    I turn and careen into the pines, into cover.
  38. gilt
    a coating of gold or of something that looks like gold
    He saw a police-issued coat, row of gilt buttons, a handgun, fur trapper hat.
  39. supplication
    a humble request for help from someone in authority
    Bardem limped forward and raised his hands in supplication.
  40. scour
    examine minutely
    Bardem had scoured the woods for her, but there was nothing.
Created on Thu Jun 13 09:46:08 EDT 2024 (updated Fri Jun 14 12:29:20 EDT 2024)

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