The Battle of the Labyrinth: Chapters 8–11

by Rick Riordan
In this fourth book of the Percy Jackson & the Olympians series, the fourteen-year-old demigod must contend with entering high school and preventing a monstrous army from invading Camp Half-Blood.

Here are links to our lists for the book: Chapters 1–3, Chapters 4–7, Chapters 8–11, Chapters 12–15, Chapters 17–20

Here are links to our lists for the Percy Jackson & the Olympians and The Heroes of Olympus series.
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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. stoke
    (of a fire) stir up or tend
    A forge burned red hot in the corner. The boy I’d seen in the last dream was stoking the bellows, except he was taller now, almost my age.
  2. swath
    a path or strip (also figurative)
    He was bent over a table, working on some kind of long metal patchwork—like a swath of chain mail.
  3. breach
    an opening, especially a gap in a dike or fortification
    The doors splintered and the head of a bronze battering ram emerged through the breach.
  4. debris
    the remains of something that has been destroyed
    Axes cleared the debris, and two armed guards entered the room, followed by the king with the golden crown and the spear-shaped beard.
  5. incredulous
    not disposed or willing to believe; unbelieving
    The king watched, incredulous, as the inventor and son shot into the sky on their bronze wings, carried by the updraft.
  6. plummet
    drop sharply
    In the constant moaning of the Labyrinth, I thought I could hear the anguished cry of Daedalus calling his son's name, as Icarus, his only joy, plummeted toward the sea, three hundred feet below.
  7. tentatively
    in a hesitant manner
    The cow mooed, put one hoof tentatively on the bars, then backed away.
  8. indignantly
    in a manner showing anger at something unjust or wrong
    Grover huffed indignantly. “Believe me, if you had hooves, you’d know about cattle guards. They’re annoying!”
  9. graze
    feed as in a meadow or pasture
    Cherry-colored cows roamed around, grazing on clumps of grass.
  10. bay
    bark with prolonged noises, of dogs
    At first everything seemed quiet...but then I heard it: the distant baying of dogs.
  11. corral
    a pen for cattle
    Once we passed a corral where the fence was coated in asbestos. Inside, a herd of fire-breathing horses milled around.
  12. trough
    a container from which cattle or horses feed
    The hay in their feeding trough was on fire.
  13. weathered
    worn by exposure to the elements
    His face was weathered and brown from years in the sun.
  14. torso
    the body excluding the head and neck and limbs
    His left arm grew out of his left chest, and the same on the right, so he had two arms, but four armpits, if that makes any sense. The chests all connected into one enormous torso, with two regular but very beefy legs, and he wore the most oversized pair of Levis I’d ever seen.
  15. vigorously
    in an energetic manner
    We breed them vigorously because there’s such a demand.
  16. quagmire
    a soft wet area of low-lying land that sinks underfoot
    It would’ve been a nice view, with the river and the trees and hills and all, except for the quagmire of horse muck.
  17. distaste
    a feeling of intense dislike
    “Pick up the sword, too,” Geryon said with distaste. “There’s nothing I hate worse than Stygian iron.”
  18. barter
    exchange goods without involving money
    “What sort of deal? Do you have gold?”
    “I've got something better. Barter.”
  19. equestrian
    of or relating to or featuring horseback riding
    But I’m Poseidon’s son, I protested. He created horses.
    Usually this gets me VIP treatment in the equestrian world, but not this time.
  20. petrify
    change into stone
    “Petrified seashells. Millions of years ago, even before the time of the gods, when only Gaia and Ouranos reigned, this land was under water. It was part of the sea.”
  21. mollusk
    aquatic invertebrate, often with a shell
    There were little pieces of ancient sea urchins in my hand, mollusk shells.
  22. carcass
    the dead body of an animal
    Somebody must’ve come by and fed the horses, because they were tearing into huge animal carcasses.
  23. exhilarating
    making lively and joyful
    The tugging sensation became more intense, painful even, but there was something exhilarating about seeing all that salt water. I had made this. I had brought the ocean to this hillside.
  24. ingenious
    showing inventiveness and skill
    “Very ingenious. It would’ve been better if you’d poisoned that pesky naiad, but no matter.”
  25. defy
    resist or confront with resistance
    “You dare defy me? I should fire you right now!”
  26. malice
    the desire to see others suffer
    A circlet of gold wreathed his head, and even in death his eyes were alive with malice.
  27. crafty
    marked by skill in deception
    You can’t trust him. He is old beyond counting, and crafty.
  28. hinder
    prevent the progress or accomplishment of
    “You are hindering Nico. You try to persuade him to give up his goal. I would make him a lord!”
  29. intone
    recite musically; recite as a chant or a psalm
    “Bianca, appear!” Nico intoned. He started chanting faster, and the spirits shifted restlessly.
  30. gnarled
    old and twisted and covered in lines
    He looked years older than when I’d last seen him. He was stooped and his hands were gnarled.
  31. naive
    lacking information or instruction
    “You are naïve. Such a thing is impossible.”
  32. searing
    extremely hot
    A searing pain closed around my neck like a molten-hot collar—cutting off my breath, making everything go black.
  33. exemplary
    worthy of imitation
    “My grading machine!” she cried. “I can’t be exemplary without my test scores!”
  34. hydraulic
    moved or operated or effected by liquid
    It looked like a mechanic’s garage, with several hydraulic lifts.
  35. grubby
    thickly covered with ingrained dirt
    Under the nearest hydraulic lift, which was holding a ’98 Toyota Corolla, a pair of legs stuck out—the lower half of a huge man in grubby gray pants and shoes even bigger than Tyson’s.
  36. shoddy
    of inferior workmanship and materials
    “I didn’t make you, did I?”
    “Uh,” Annabeth said, “no, sir.”
    “Good,” the god grumbled. “Shoddy workmanship.”
  37. suspension
    a mechanical system of springs or shock absorbers
    The suspension on this Corolla is no small matter, you know.
  38. usurper
    one who wrongfully seizes and holds the place of another
    Nevertheless, Zeus cast us away and relied on those fumbling Cyclopes. That is why we are taking over the forges of the usurper Hephaestus.
  39. reconnaissance
    the act of scouting, especially to gain information
    Our chance for a subtle reconnaissance mission had just been blown.
  40. flotsam
    the floating wreckage of a ship
    Fire and water collided, superheated steam, and I shot upward from the heart of the volcano in a huge explosion, just one piece of flotsam thrown free by a million pounds of pressure.
Created on Thu Jul 14 17:56:38 EDT 2016 (updated Sat Aug 26 09:44:11 EDT 2023)

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