Peter Pan: Chapters 12–14

Mackenzie S. (United States of America)
In this classic novel, Peter Pan brings three children — Wendy, Michael, and John — to Neverland and tries to outwit his nemesis, Captain Hook. Read the full text here.

Here are links to our lists for the novel: Chapters 1–3, Chapters 4–6, Chapters 7–11, Chapters 12–14, Chapters 15–17
15 words 28 learners

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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. malicious
    having the nature of threatening evil
  2. perspiration
    salty fluid secreted by sweat glands
  3. subterranean
    being or operating under the surface of the earth
  4. infuriated
    marked by extreme anger
  5. detestable
    offensive to the mind
  6. undulate
    move in a wavy pattern or with a rising and falling motion
    The men have in the meantime made a rude stockade on the summit of yonder undulating ground, at the foot of which a stream runs, for it is destruction to be too far from water.
  7. acquit
    behave in a certain manner
    They knew it; but as their father's sons they acquitted themselves.
  8. impertinent
    improperly forward or bold
    What stayed him was Peter's impertinent appearance as he slept. The open mouth, the drooping arm, the arched knee: they were such a personification of cockiness as, taken together, will never again, one may hope, be presented to eyes so sensitive to their offensiveness.
  9. pervade
    spread or diffuse through
    A light fall of snow had obliterated all footmarks; and a deathly silence pervaded the island, as if for a space Nature stood still in horror of the recent carnage.
  10. presentiment
    a feeling of evil to come
    There came to him a presentiment of his early dissolution [death].
  11. prudent
    marked by sound judgment
    Tootles hated the idea of signing under such a man, but an instinct told him that it would be prudent to lay the responsibility on an absent person; and though a somewhat silly boy, he knew that mothers alone are always willing to be the buffer.
  12. hankering
    a yearning for something or to do something
    “You, boy,” he said, addressing John, “you look as if you had a little pluck in you. Didst never want to be a pirate, my hearty?” Now John had sometimes experienced this hankering at maths. prep.; and he was struck by Hook's picking him out.
  13. grapple
    work hard to come to terms with or deal with something
    Thus it was offensive to him even now to board a ship in the same dress in which he grappled [attacked] her, and he still adhered in his walk to the school's distinguished slouch.
  14. adept
    having or showing knowledge and skill and aptitude
    ...happily he was an adept [expert].
  15. fitful
    occurring in spells and often abruptly
    It was not such a night as he would have chosen. He had hoped to fly, keeping not far from the ground so that nothing unwonted should escape his eyes; but in that fitful light to have flown low would have meant trailing his shadow through the trees, thus disturbing birds and acquainting a watchful foe that he was astir.
Created on Wed Sep 10 22:27:01 EDT 2025 (updated Thu Oct 02 14:53:28 EDT 2025)

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