The Subtle Knife: Chapters 7-9

by Philip Pullman
In the second book of Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy, Lyra and her new friend Will learn how to open windows into different worlds. They discover truths that will change their lives and the universe.

Here are links to our lists for The Subtle Knife: Chapters 1-3, Chapters 4-6, Chapters 7-9, Chapters 10-12, Chapters 13-15

Here are links to our lists for works by Philip Pullman: The Golden Compass, The Subtle Knife, The Amber Spyglass
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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. incredulously
    in a disbelieving manner
    “You don’t know about cats?" the oldest boy said incredulously.
  2. alchemy
    a pseudoscientific forerunner of chemistry in medieval times
    The Guild, they’re men who know all kind of things. Philosophy, alchemy, all kind of things they know.
  3. eroded
    worn away as by water or ice or wind
    But it was empty now, and the sunlight dusted the front of the ancient tower and showed up the blurred carvings beside the doorway: humanlike figures with folded wings, their features eroded by centuries of weather, but somehow in their stillness expressing power and compassion and intellectual force.
  4. porter
    someone who guards an entrance
    Forty minutes later she was inside the physics building once more, arguing with the porter, but this time she had a trump card.
  5. beckon
    summon with a wave, nod, or some other gesture
    At the top of the stairs, though, she had a surprise, because just as she passed a door with a symbol indicating woman on it, it opened and there was Dr. Malone silently beckoning her in.
  6. meek
    humble in spirit or manner
    Lyra thought this young woman had a nerve, acting as if it were her own laboratory, but she nodded meekly.
  7. berate
    censure severely or angrily
    But she hadn’t got time to berate herself, because Pantalaimon fluttered to her shoulder, and then said, “Look out—behind—’’ and immediately changed to a cricket again and dived into her pocket.
  8. flimsy
    lacking solidity or strength
    He sat on the terrace hearing the distant shouts of children diving off the harbor mouth, and read the clear handwriting on the flimsy airmail sheets, trying to picture the man who’d penned it, and looking again and again at the reference to the baby, to himself.
  9. distraught
    deeply agitated especially from emotion
    He put the letters in his pocket and stood up, and almost at once Lyra was there, wild-eyed, with Pantalaimon a snarling savage wildcat, too distraught to hide.
  10. ermine
    mustelid of northern hemisphere in its white winter coat
    Pantalaimon was flickering from shape to shape in his agitation: dog, bird, cat, snow-white ermine.
  11. rummage
    search haphazardly
    She turned and raced back to her rucksack, abandoned on the pavement, and rummaged through it feverishly.
  12. tundra
    a vast treeless plain where subsoil is permanently frozen
    It was much harder for Lyra now than it had been even in the Arctic, on the way to Bolvangar, for then she’d had the gyptians and Iorek Byrnison with her, and even if the tundra was full of danger, you knew the danger when you saw it.
  13. jut
    extend out or project in space
    His jaw was jutting as it had done last night facing the stone-throwing children by the tower.
  14. sextant
    an instrument for measuring angular distance
    There were three or four glass-fronted cabinets containing antique scientific instruments—brass microscopes, telescopes covered in green leather, sextants, compasses; it was clear why he wanted the alethiometer.
  15. reproach
    express criticism towards
    He shook his head, sadly and heavily, as if he were reproaching her and it was a sorrow to him, but he was doing it for her own good.
  16. croon
    sing softly
    Will listened hard, and heard it too: a low crooning murmur interrupted occasionally by a harsh laugh or a short cry of anger.
  17. halting
    proceeding in a fragmentary, hesitant, or ineffective way
    They climbed up one floor, stopped and listened, climbed the next; and the sound of the man’s voice was now mixed with that of halting, rhythmic footsteps.
  18. parapet
    fortification consisting of a low wall
    He found himself on a roof of lead, enclosed by the battlemented parapet.
  19. subtle
    working or spreading in a hidden and usually injurious way
    I hold the subtle knife on behalf of the Guild.
  20. antagonist
    someone who offers opposition
    Will darted forward suddenly, just as he’d done to the man in his house, and with the same effect: his antagonist tumbled backward unexpectedly, falling over Lyra to crash onto the lead.
  21. resistance
    any mechanical force that tends to slow or oppose motion
    But he did have time to see the knife fly from the man’s hand and sink at once into the lead some feet away, point first, with no more resistance than if it had fallen into butter.
  22. hilt
    the handle of a sword or dagger
    It plunged as far as the hilt and stopped suddenly.
  23. clamber
    climb awkwardly, as if by scrambling
    The young man, cut and battered, clambered up the step, and saw Will standing above him holding the knife; he stared with a sickly anger and then turned and fled.
  24. sodden
    wet through and through; thoroughly wet
    The tangle of rope was sodden with blood, and when he pulled it away—
  25. stump
    part of a limb or tooth remaining after the rest is removed
    Blood was pulsing strongly from the stumps where his fingers had been, and his jeans and shoes were sodden already.
  26. superficial
    of, affecting, or being on or near the surface
    It was like a persistent, deep hammer thud more than the bright, sharp clarity when you cut yourself superficially.
  27. lethargic
    deficient in alertness or activity
    His movements became more and more lethargic, and presently they stopped altogether.
  28. stricken
    grievously affected especially by disease
    The two children turned and ran, leaving their stricken brother, and Lyra, frightened and guilty, withdrew inside the room again and shut the window.
  29. keen
    having a sharp cutting edge or point
    The other edge was just as keen, but silvery in color, and Lyra, who was looking at it over Will’s shoulder, said: “I seen that color before! That’s the same as the blade they was going to cut me and Pan apart with—that’s just the same!”
  30. random
    lacking any definite plan or order or purpose
    Perhaps it was those cloudy colors along the blade, or perhaps it was the way it sat so naturally in Will’s hand, but the little movements he was making with the tip now looked purposeful instead of random.
  31. delicate
    marked by great skill especially in meticulous technique
    It was like delicately searching out the gap between one stitch and the next with the point of a scalpel.
  32. sheath
    a protective covering, as for a knife or sword
    The old man handed him a leather sheath, backed with stiff horn, with buckles to hold the knife in place, because the slightest sideways movement of the blade would have cut through the thickest leather.
  33. solemn
    dignified and somber in manner or character
    “This should be a solemn occasion,” Giacomo Paradisi said.
  34. predecessor
    one who goes before you in time
    The Specters are our fault, our fault alone. They came because my predecessors, alchemists, philosophers, men of learning, were making an inquiry into the deepest nature of things.
  35. bond
    an electrical force linking atoms
    They became curious about the bonds that held the smallest particles of matter together. You know what I mean by a bond? Something that binds?
  36. negotiable
    legally transferable to the ownership of another
    We thought a bond was something negotiable, something that could be bought and sold and exchanged and converted....
  37. unrelenting
    never-ceasing
    The pain was dull and unrelenting, but at least the cuts were clean, and having seen what the knife could do, he knew that no cuts could be cleaner; but the stumps where his fingers had been were bleeding freely.
  38. repellent
    highly offensive; arousing aversion or disgust
    She is a repellent brat.
  39. intoxicating
    extremely exciting
    Her voice was intoxicating: soothing, sweet, musical, and young, too.
  40. eon
    an interminable period of time
    Lord Asriel is gathering an army, with the purpose of completing the war that was fought in heaven eons ago.
  41. disturbance
    activity that is a malfunction, intrusion, or interruption
    He found a way of blasting open the barrier between our world and others. It caused profound disturbances to the earth’s magnetic field, and that must resonate in this world too....
  42. preoccupied
    having excessive or compulsive concern with something
    The security services in this world were preoccupied for years with the Soviet Union—we know it as Muscovy.
  43. elusive
    difficult to detect or grasp by the mind or analyze
    As soon as he was on the grass in Cittàgazze he felt in the air for those elusive edges, calming his mind, breathing slowly, conscious all the time that only feet away there was horrible danger.
  44. loathsome
    highly offensive; arousing aversion or disgust
    Then came a screech, not human, not animal, but worse than either, and he knew it was that loathsome monkey.
  45. diminishing
    becoming smaller or less or appearing to do so
    And Will and Lyra were through the window, and Will felt once again for the almost intangible edges in the air and pressed them swiftly together, closing the window all along its length as through the diminishing gap came the sound of feet among twigs and cracking branches—
Created on Thu Sep 07 11:30:10 EDT 2017 (updated Thu Sep 21 17:32:45 EDT 2017)

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