Bea and the New Deal Horse: Chapters 1–3

by L.M. Elliott
Abandoned by her father during the Great Depression, thirteen-year-old Beatrice Davis works out a deal with the owner of a Virginia farm that would allow her and her younger sister a chance at a new home.

Here are links to our lists for the novel: Chapters 1–3, Chapters 4–8, Chapters 9–13, Chapters 14–21, Chapters 22–30
40 words 17 learners

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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. billowing
    characterized by great swelling waves or surges
    I woke up in a billowing pile of fresh-cut hay, wrapped in its miraculous smells—of buttercups, of those miniature fuzzy wild daisies, of grasshoppers.
  2. vagabond
    wandering aimlessly without ties to a place or community
    I was growing more accustomed to our vagabond life—well, trying to be. We’d bedded down in so many barns now, just for the night, leaving before their owners got up in the morning, on our way to wherever Daddy thought he could find work.
  3. understatement
    something said in a restrained way for ironic contrast
    But a man who’d spent his adult life in three-piece suits and bow ties overseeing bank accounts for Richmond’s old society didn’t easily transition to being a handyman or tobacco picker. To say Daddy didn’t know his way around a hammer or a hoe is what Mama would have called the understatement of the century.
  4. yokel
    a person who is not intelligent or interested in culture
    Stuff made from God knows what in some yokel’s back woodshed.
  5. nicker
    a soft sound made by a horse
    Below, the horses shuffled and snorted, waking up as well, giving little expectant nickers, watchful for their breakfast.
  6. croon
    sing softly
    “Enjoy, children,” a male voice crooned to the horses.
  7. clamber
    climb awkwardly, as if by scrambling
    But the journey had been an exhausting one—clambering into a freight car just outside Norfolk.
  8. chassis
    the skeleton of a motor vehicle
    Dropped off on the side of a dirt road by a man who gave us a lift in what he called his Hoover-cart—a car stripped down to its chassis because he couldn’t afford gas, pulled by a pair of thoroughbreds obviously unused to the task.
  9. percolate
    spread gradually
    Sometimes he even retched, spontaneous with opening his eyes, as if poison had been percolating in him all through the night and had just reached the boiling point.
  10. monogram
    mark, print, or embroider with one’s initials or other letters
    Then I spotted one of his monogrammed handkerchiefs, knotted tight into a little bundle, to hold and protect something.
  11. foreclose
    take away the right of mortgagors to redeem their mortgage
    “Pop couldn’t make our mortgage. Bank foreclosed.”
  12. assume
    take to be the case or to be true
    I assumed he was feeling guilty about what the bank had done. I knew he’d had to foreclose on houses himself before his bank folded.
  13. paddock
    a pen for horses
    The man who’d fed the horses was surely on his way back to let them out soon. He was probably just filling their paddock troughs with water.
  14. trough
    a container from which cattle or horses feed
    The man who’d fed the horses was surely on his way back to let them out soon. He was probably just filling their paddock troughs with water.
  15. whinny
    the characteristic sounds made by a horse
    They started that lovely whickering horses make when they’re curious about something that’s just appeared. My heart skipped a little, remembering Dandy Boy’s greeting—his happy whinny—when he spotted me.
  16. paltry
    contemptibly small in amount or size
    Not many horses are that affectionate. Sleek, muscular creatures made to gallop free, fast as winds—many just tolerate us paltry humans and what we ask of them.
  17. aloof
    distant, cold, or detached in manner
    Others can be outright aloof. So when a horse truly loves his rider, lights up when he spots her, delights in what she asks and the jumps they take together, lends his strength and speed to her so she feels like she’s flying—that kind of partnership? Well, gosh. It’s beyond magical.
  18. bay
    a horse of a reddish-brown color with a dark tail and mane
    “Hey, fellas,” I crooned low as I passed two bright-eyed, almost identical bays side by side, then a roan, an onyx and very round mare, and two dappled-grays.
  19. dappled
    having spots or patches of color
    “Hey, fellas,” I crooned low as I passed two bright-eyed, almost identical bays side by side, then a roan, an onyx and very round mare, and two dappled-grays.
  20. assess
    estimate the nature, quality, ability or significance of
    As I passed, he turned to assess me for just a moment before returning his severe gaze back to the outside world.
  21. disdain
    lack of respect accompanied by a feeling of intense dislike
    His disdain for me—or was it a defensive what-do-you-want?—sent a strange shiver through me.
  22. bridle
    headgear for a horse
    Dozens of saddles and bridles hung on the walls.
  23. spur
    a prod on a rider's heel used to urge a horse onward
    Tack boxes I knew would be full of bootjacks, spurs, brushes, currycombs, and hoof picks lined the floor.
  24. lacquer
    coat with varnish
    Everything was lacquered with more than the usual amount of stable dust.
  25. haughty
    having or showing arrogant superiority
    I’d spook that haughty chestnut if I opened the door and bolted.
  26. slapstick
    characterized by humorous horseplay and physical action
    My only hope was that he wouldn’t come into the feed room. Or if he did, to cower behind the door as it opened—like some ridiculous slapstick Laurel and Hardy moving picture.
  27. dampen
    smother or suppress
    Please stay quiet, Viv, for once in your life. I clapped my hands to my mouth as if silencing me would dampen her.
  28. halter
    rope or canvas headgear for a horse, with a rope for leading
    I heard the sound of a heavy stall door rolling back along its rails. The rattle of a halter being taken off its hook and slipped over a horse’s head, the click of a lead line being attached to its ring.
  29. flank
    be located at the sides of something or somebody
    Vivian and I didn’t move a hair while the stable hand made the trip in and out twice more, horses flanking him.
  30. lather
    agitation resulting from active worry
    “Let’s be peaceable this morning. No reason to be getting into a lather. You about busted my hand yesterday pulling on me.”
  31. reverberate
    be reflected as heat, sound, or light or shock waves
    The horse let fly a real kick to the stall’s wall that made it reverberate.
  32. volatile
    liable to lead to sudden change or violence
    That horse was trouble. And staying hidden in the hayloft was clearly going to be a circus trick to pull off, especially with that volatile chestnut around.
  33. snooty
    overly conceited or arrogant
    What if she was some unforgiving, snooty old rich lady?
  34. premonition
    an early warning about a future event
    I wore the last dress Mama had sewn for me, big so I had room to grow as if she’d had a premonition about getting sick and leaving us—a flowered cotton in a tight pattern of rosebuds, with a sweet Peter Pan collar.
  35. embellishment
    elaboration of an interpretation with decorative detail
    Grateful for her assumption, I picked it up and played on it—like a pair of fiddlers toss a melody back and forth, each adding little embellishments or modulating the key—the same song, but expanded, enriched.
  36. modulate
    change the key of, in music
    Grateful for her assumption, I picked it up and played on it—like a pair of fiddlers toss a melody back and forth, each adding little embellishments or modulating the key—the same song, but expanded, enriched.
  37. compensate
    make amends for
    I knew the song—all about love compensating for bad luck and life sorrows.
  38. traipse
    walk or tramp about
    “Ooh, look at all the clover in the grass!” Viv exclaimed as we traipsed through its delicate white blossoms.
  39. meticulously
    in a manner marked by extreme care of details
    Once upon a long time ago, someone had laid out meticulously symmetrical lines of bushes.
  40. enclave
    an enclosed territory that is culturally distinct
    Now grown tall, the dirt paths between them led to little secret enclaves, decorated with statues of nymphs, flowerbeds of peonies, lilies, and iris, falling all over one another in crowds of colors—red, orange, and blue.
Created on Wed Jul 31 14:51:59 EDT 2024 (updated Thu Aug 01 09:42:37 EDT 2024)

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