October Sky: Chapters 10–14

by Homer Hickam
Originally published under the title Rocket Boys, this memoir recounts the story of six rocket-obsessed friends growing up in a small West Virginia mining town in the 1950s.

Here are links to our lists for the memoir: Chapters 1–4, Chapters 5–9, Chapters 10–14, Chapters 15–21, Chapter 22–Epilogue
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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. axiom
    a proposition that is not susceptible of proof or disproof
    Mr. Hartsfield waved away my questions about how to calculate and compare flat areas (the fins) and curved surfaces (the casement) to first immerse us in Euclidean geometry and all of its axioms and postulates and proofs.
  2. supple
    readily adaptable
    “That, Mr. Hickam, is trigonometry. In due course, we will get to wherever it is your usually less supple mind is trying to take us.”
    My usually less supple mind was trying to figure out how high our rockets were flying.
  3. postulate
    a proposition accepted as true to provide a logical basis
    As we covered each postulate and theorem, it soon became clear that Dorothy actually understood their derivations better than I did.
  4. coalesce
    fuse or cause to come together
    My mind closed down and I came immediately back to my bed, my room coalescing around me, my desk and chair, my little chest of drawers, the books and model airplanes suddenly so terribly real.
  5. warily
    in a manner marked by keen caution and watchful prudence
    Reverend Lanier greeted me warily in his study.
  6. stoic
    seeming unaffected by pleasure or pain; impassive
    Roy Lee kept a stoic silence.
  7. besmirch
    charge falsely or with malicious intent
    We’re going to make this a business deal, gentlemen, so that your dubious records won’t be further besmirched.
  8. oxidation
    the process by which a substance combines with oxygen
    “When oxygen combines with an element over an extended period of time, the result is slow oxidation, rust being a good example of it,” he said confidently.
  9. altitude
    elevation above sea level or above the earth's surface
    “We’ve built a range—Cape Coalwood—and we’re starting to get some altitude. But we need a better fuel.”
  10. viscous
    having a relatively high resistance to flow
    I kept stirring until the mix turned viscous and milky.
  11. derisive
    expressing contempt or ridicule
    A football boy yelled something derisive, but the people kept singing.
  12. theodolite
    a surveying instrument for measuring angles
    Quentin ran outside the bunker and fumbled with a new invention he called a “theodolite.” It was a broomstick with an upside-down protractor attached on one end and a wooden straightedge on the opposing side that rotated around a nail.
  13. barrage
    the heavy fire of artillery to saturate an area
    I picked up a rock, and the other boys did the same. We let loose a barrage, missing for the most part but making them dodge.
  14. appraise
    consider in a comprehensive way
    He appraised me and readjusted the helmet, then my belt until the buckle was squared in the front and the battery hung exactly off my right hip.
  15. winch
    a lifting device consisting of a cylinder turned by a crank
    The man-hoist winch began to creak and the lift dropped quickly, my stomach lifting up around my throat.
  16. dank
    unpleasantly cool and humid
    It registered on me after a time that the mine was not the cold, dank, ugly place I’d always imagined it to be.
  17. oblivion
    the state of being disregarded or forgotten
    There was a gap between the cage and the steps. To get on them would require taking a step over the oblivion of the deep hole beneath us.
  18. evasive
    deliberately vague or ambiguous
    I considered my answer and settled on the kind of evasive response I’d used on my mother over the years. “I learned a lot,” I said, and left it at that.
  19. kowtow
    bend the knees and bow in a servile manner
    “You’ve scraped and kowtowed enough, Sonny,” she said.
  20. fracas
    a noisy, angry argument or fight between people
    According to what Roy Lee heard from his mother, the fence-line telegraph had already gleefully dissected Mom and Dad’s fracas at the man-hoist.
  21. stiletto
    a small dagger with a tapered blade
    I stuck my verbal stiletto in him in just the right spot and twisted it.
  22. staple
    a necessary commodity for which demand is constant
    The house smelled of corn bread and beans, the Coalwood staple.
  23. tensile
    of or relating to physical stress or strain
    “It has a high melting point and good tensile strength too. Expensive stuff though. Take some time to drill and shape. C’mon.”
  24. aperture
    a usually small man-made opening
    “We need a mechanism for sealing off the upper aperture too,” Quentin said.
    Mr. Ferro looked at me. “We need a top plug,” I translated.
  25. scrimmage
    practice playing (a sport)
    His son Willy, Jr., often played touch football with us, coming down with the other boys from Mudhole to scrimmage with us on the broad concrete between the church and the Club House.
  26. parameter
    any factor defining a system and determining its performance
    “I fear the ratio of the mass of propellant added compared to the mass of the empty rocket will be too small,” he said. “I have deduced that there is a relationship between these two masses that must be within certain parameters.”
  27. bauble
    cheap showy jewelry or ornament
    After we decorated, Daisy Mae and Lucifer immediately began to pull down every bulb and bauble within paw’s reach, and Chipper took up residence deep within, squawking at anyone who walked past.
  28. precarious
    fraught with danger
    Jack went through his gears, selected one, and we were off, crunching up the short straightaway before the first curve of Coalwood Mountain. The fifth curve up was especially precarious.
  29. cant
    lean or slope to one side
    It canted toward a one-hundred-foot-high precipice without even a tree to slow the bus down if it went over.
  30. gilt
    a coating of gold or of something that looks like gold
    I took the book and read its title, written in gold gilt on a black bar imprinted on the front cover.
  31. reverent
    feeling or showing profound respect or veneration
    I reverently turned the book in my hands.
  32. vista
    the visual percept of a region
    On this strange sort of school-but-not-school day, and with the snowy vista outside, Emily Sue’s kitchen seemed twice as welcome, and warm, and fun.
  33. dilapidated
    in a state of decay, ruin, or deterioration
    It was an old, dilapidated shack with a tar-paper roof.
  34. doff
    remove
    She doffed her coat, kicked off her galoshes, and put on a pair of moccasins.
  35. privy
    an outhouse
    Mom’s parents had retired to a farm in Abb’s Valley, Virginia, and they had a privy.
  36. complement
    make perfect or supply what is wanting
    It was a simple one-holer, complemented by the inevitable Sears, Roebuck catalog.
  37. plaintive
    expressing sorrow
    It seemed to me a most plaintive request.
  38. plume
    anything that resembles a feather in shape or lightness
    There was a spark as the wires touched, and then Auk XVI suddenly jumped off the pad and flew straight up the rod into the sky, a white plume of rocket-candy fire and smoke sizzling behind.
  39. elliptical
    rounded like an egg
    All performed flawlessly, flying nice elliptical trajectories downrange to impact on the slack.
  40. overt
    open and observable; not secret or hidden
    “People show jealousy in a lot of ways,” Quentin snapped. “In your case, Jim old chap, it’s overt.”
Created on Sun Sep 30 17:15:07 EDT 2018 (updated Wed Oct 03 11:25:18 EDT 2018)

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