The Great Gilly Hopkins: List 4

by Katherine Paterson
When eleven-year-old Galadriel Hopkins is sent to live with Maime Trotter in Maryland, the latest in a series of foster parents, she hatches a plan to run away to her biological mother in California.

This list covers "Never and Other Canceled Promises"–"Homecoming."

Here are links to our lists for the novel: List 1, List 2, List 3, List 4
30 words 201 learners

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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. pervade
    spread or diffuse through
    Even when you don't look at it, the stink pervades everything.
  2. culinary
    of or relating to or used in cooking
    “I declare, Miss Gilly, you are the only person I know who can rival Mrs. Trotter’s culinary skill.”
  3. tardy
    after the expected or usual time
    “The potatoes are lumpy,” she responded, doing some tardy mashing with the tines of her fork.
  4. ultimate
    furthest or highest in degree or order; utmost or extreme
    She beamed, having delivered the ultimate compliment.
  5. reckon
    expect, believe, or suppose
    “Well, she sure got up and hightailed it when I come in and bulldozed poor Gilly clean through the carpet.” Trotter snickered. “I reckon she thought she was fixing to be next.”
  6. commendation
    a message expressing a favorable opinion
    Gilly, armed with an absence excuse that looked more like a commendation for bravery in battle, and William Ernest, cheerful but pale, went back to school.
  7. entice
    provoke someone to do something through persuasion
    Agnes Stokes danced along beside them, trying to entice Gilly to join her in a trip to the deli, but Gilly was too intent on getting W.E. home.
  8. astounding
    so surprisingly impressive as to stun or overwhelm
    “Well, I’ve got some rather astounding news for you, Gilly.”
  9. defiantly
    in a rebellious manner
    It gave her the strength to look up again defiantly.
  10. titter
    a nervous restrained laugh
    Mr. Randolph’s fixed smile crumbled into a nervous titter.
  11. belligerently
    in the manner of someone eager to fight
    She looked belligerently at Trotter, but Trotter was so busy making the meat platter and the salad bowl switch places that the expression was wasted.
  12. kaleidoscopic
    made up of varied and constantly shifting elements
    It was the sounds she loved—the sounds that turned and fell in kaleidoscopic wonder.
  13. straddle
    sit or stand astride of
    Once the tugboat takes you out to the ocean liner, you got to get all the way on board. Can’t straddle both decks.
  14. destination
    the place designated as the end, as of a race or journey
    Every other time she’d moved, she’d been able to think of the destination as a brief stop along the way, but this one was the end of the road.
  15. impression
    a vague idea in which some confidence is placed
    “She—uh—seems to think I got a rather wrong impression of that foster home she’d put you in.”
  16. considerable
    large in number, amount, extent, or degree
    The house was on the edge of the village. It was a little larger, a little older, and considerably cleaner than Trotter's.
  17. monogram
    mark, print, or embroider with one’s initials or other letters
    They ate lunch in the dining room with real monogrammed silver off silver-rimmed china set on lace mats.
  18. expanse
    a wide and open space or area, as of land, sea, or sky
    In the quiet of Chadwell’s room, Gilly lay back and gazed out the window at the blue expanse of sky.
  19. margin
    the boundary line or area immediately inside the boundary
    If she lifted up on her elbow she could see the rolling fields beyond the margin of the tiny town, and beyond the hills, the mountains dark and strong.
  20. agony
    intense feelings of suffering; acute mental or physical pain
    Gilly thought she might die waiting. She dulled the agony somewhat by plunging into housecleaning for Nonnie.
  21. variation
    something a little different from others of the same type
    It was a scene that was to repeat itself with variations many times in those first couple of weeks.
  22. scarce
    deficient in quantity or number compared with the demand
    Money, though not as scarce as at Trotter’s, was hardly in the supply hinted at in the letters to W.E.
  23. nevertheless
    despite anything to the contrary
    Money, though not as scarce as at Trotter’s, was hardly in the supply hinted at in the letters to W.E. Nevertheless, Nonnie seemed determined to prepare royally for Courtney’s return.
  24. recount
    narrate or give a detailed account of
    Every ornament they hung had a family history, and Gilly half-listened as Nonnie recounted each tale.
  25. ravel
    disentangle or separate out
    There was a yarn snowman that Courtney had made when a Brownie, it was gray now, and beginning to ravel.
  26. tattered
    worn to shreds; or wearing torn or ragged clothing
    And there were yards of tattered paper chains.
  27. laden
    filled with a great quantity
    Grandparents laden with shopping bags of Christmas presents.
  28. quavering
    (of the voice) shaking as from weakness or fear
    She didn’t want to cry in the stupid airport, but just at that moment she heard Nonnie say in a quavering voice, “Courtney.”
  29. willowy
    slender and graceful
    Courtney was tall and willowy and gorgeous. The woman who stood before them was no taller than Nonnie and just as plump, although she wore a long cape, so it was hard to make out her real shape.
  30. embroider
    decorate with needlework
    Nonnie had sort of put her hand on the younger woman’s arm in a timid embrace, but there was a huge embroidered shoulder bag between the two of them.
Created on Fri Sep 23 21:04:26 EDT 2016 (updated Tue Aug 01 10:47:55 EDT 2023)

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