The Detective's Assistant: Chapters 1–6

by Kate Hannigan
Recently orphaned, eleven-year-old Nell Warne is reluctantly taken in by her Aunt Kate, who is the first-ever female detective employed by the legendary Pinkerton Detective Agency. Nell becomes her aunt's assistant, joining her in several clandestine detective missions, risking her life, and even saving the life of Abraham Lincoln.

Here are links to our lists for the book: Chapters 1–6, Chapters 7–12, Chapters 13–18, Chapters 19–30, Chapters 31–Epilogue
15 words 109 learners

Learn words with Flashcards and other activities

Definition First
Print Flashcards

Other learning activities

Answer a few questions about each word. Use this to prep for your next quiz! Compete with other teams in real time to see who answers the most questions correctly! Test your spelling acumen. Read the definition, listen to the word and try spelling it!

Teaching tools

Create and assign quizzes to your students to test their vocabulary. Assign learning activities including Practice, Vocabulary Jams and Spelling Bees to your students, and monitor their progress in real-time.

Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. gangly
    tall, thin, and awkward
    “Take in this gangly urchin you claim is one of my kin? One look tells me the child hasn’t made the acquaintance of a bar of lye in a good many years, not to mention been in the same two-mile vicinity of a comb.”
  2. waif
    a homeless child especially one forsaken or orphaned
    “You are the waif’s last relation in the world. Without you, the child is destined to a most piteous life in the orphan asylum.”
  3. dowdy
    lacking in stylishness or taste
    So pinched and prim like she was, I could tell she was on a fast road to becoming a dowdy old matron.
  4. peevishness
    a cranky, irritable, or petulant feeling or disposition
    “Is that what they’re calling it?”
    “There’s no ‘they’ calling it anything,” I corrected, a little peevishness coloring the edges of my voice now, too.
  5. scrounge
    collect or look around for
    I had peeked in yesterday, when she was off scrounging up my sad supper.
  6. filch
    make off with belongings of others
    It might seem like a shelter from the storm, but it really was another asylum packed with a bunch of mangy orphans ready to filch my last possessions while I slept.
  7. hooligan
    a rowdy, violent, and typically youthful troublemaker
    A long-armed street thug was reaching his hands into every coat, bag, and pocket he could find as the folks in the crowd, distracted as they were by the two sparring hooligans, stood there unaware.
  8. ill-gotten
    obtained illegally or by improper means
    He had his own bag, a deep thing of stained black fabric, into which he was tossing all his ill-gotten loot.
  9. jowl
    a looseness of the flesh of the lower cheek and jaw
    Studying our landlady’s heavy jowls and sausage-like fingers, I suddenly saw how I could help.
  10. witless
    lacking sense or understanding or judgment
    “She looks as witless as a chicken,” the landlady said, “but your niece is as clever as a fox, Mrs. Warne.”
  11. peckish
    easily irritated or annoyed
    “Of course I did,” I snapped, not meaning to adopt my aunt’s peckish ways.
  12. unsavory
    not pleasing in odor or taste
    Once I’d surrendered all the unsavory old clothes to Aunt Kitty, I turned to a neat pile of fresh garments stacked on her bed.
  13. chemise
    a loose-fitting dress hanging straight from the shoulders
    Next I pulled on a cotton chemise with pretty white ribbons, thankful for its lack of sleeves.
  14. newfangled
    needlessly modern, different, or innovative
    “I need help with this corset,” I shouted into the big room. “I’ve seen something like it before, but I’ve never worn such a fancy, newfangled thing. I’m afraid it might strangle me.”
  15. cogent
    powerfully persuasive
    “As a close observer and cogent reasoner, he has few equals and perhaps no superior in the world,” the reporter wrote.
Created on Wed Nov 19 20:30:40 EST 2025 (updated Tue Dec 30 16:40:15 EST 2025)

Sign up now (it’s free!)

Whether you’re a teacher or a learner, Vocabulary.com can put you or your class on the path to systematic vocabulary improvement.