Ship Breaker: Chapters 13–18

by Paolo Bacigalupi
In a world ravaged by climate change, Nailer is a teenage boy who salvages parts from old tankers. When he discovers a survivor on a grounded ship, he must decide whether to do his job or to rescue her.

Here are links to our lists for the novel: Chapters 1–6, Chapters 7–12, Chapters 13–18, Chapters 19–25
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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. embedded
    enclosed firmly in a surrounding mass
    The woman had scars carved into her arms and legs, bits of scrap steel embedded in her face and necklaces of scavenge twined around her throat.
  2. swelter
    be uncomfortably hot
    Beyond the ring of their firelight, there was nothing except animal sounds and insects, the black wildness of the jungles and swamps, the swelter of the interior.
    The definition is for the verb form of "swelter" (which comes from the Old English "sweltan" which means "to die" and softened into the Middle English "swelteren" which means "to faint from heat"). The example sentence uses the word as a noun to mean the "oppressive heat" of the interior that is much stronger than that of the firelight.
  3. disinterested
    unaffected by concern for one's own welfare
    Richard’s voice was flat, disinterested.
    Note that this word is not the same as "uninterested" where you are not interested in something. This means you do not have an interest in gaining something.
  4. clipper
    a fast sailing ship used in former times
    "A whole clipper ship of them showed up an hour ago.”
  5. impassive
    having or revealing little emotion or sensibility
    The three of them nodded, Blue Eyes smiling, Moby swigging from his bottle, Tool impassive.
  6. incredulity
    doubt about the truth of something
    Nailer gave her a look of incredulity.
  7. inflection
    the modification of pitch, tone, or volume when speaking
    Her voice had taken on some of the hard edge of Pima and Nailer’s own inflections.
  8. skiff
    a small boat propelled by oars or by sails or by a motor
    "Your old man would know a skiff was missing and be after you in no time.”
  9. tendon
    a band of tissue connecting a muscle to its bony attachment
    A few years before, his father had made him kill a goat, to show him the method of the knife, to show how a blade pierced flesh and snagged on tendons.
  10. adrenaline
    hormone secreted by the adrenal gland in response to stress
    He was shaking with adrenaline.
  11. truce
    a state of peace agreed to between opponents
    “We can broker a truce with your dad, Nailer."
  12. retort
    a quick reply to a question or remark
    Nailer had a dozen retorts, but all of them were based in his distrust of the half-man’s motives.
  13. moor
    secure in or as if in a berth or dock
    In the far distance, he caught sight of the moored clipper ship, its sails glinting in sunlight, a white gull resting on a mirror sea.
  14. parched
    dried out by heat or excessive exposure to sunlight
    The few bottles they carried in their pack were quickly drunk and by the second day all of them were parched and hollow in the heat and humidity.
  15. acquiesce
    agree or express agreement
    If Pyce controls me, my father has to acquiesce.
  16. refining
    the process of removing impurities
    “It’s tar sands development and refining."
    Compare with the vocabulary word, "crude".
  17. crude
    not refined or processed
    A way to make burnable fuel, a crude oil replacement.
    Compare with the vocabulary word, "refining".
  18. drought
    a shortage of rainfall
    Enough people dying from drought?
  19. girder
    a beam used as a main support in a structure
    She did not have to return, and she did not have to help lift an iron girder that I could not lift alone.
  20. optimism
    the hopeful feeling that all is going to turn out well
    A whole waterlogged world of optimism, torn down by the patient work of changing nature.
  21. smug
    marked by excessive complacency or self-satisfaction
    Nailer wanted to hit her smug face.
  22. chaff
    material consisting of seed coverings and pieces of stem
    Miss Met was far away upriver and higher in elevation and armored against cyclones and hurricanes as none of the others had been, a city designed from the ground up to avoid the pitfalls of their earlier optimism, a place for swanks that Nailer had heard was paved in gold and where gleaming walls and guards and wire kept the rest of the chaff away.
    Seed coverings and pieces of stem are protective and supportive parts, but they are separated and thrown away before the grains and fruits are eaten. From Miss Met's perspective, "chaff" is "trivial or worthless matter" that the city wants to keep out; the narrator's tone suggests that "chaff" (which Nailer would be perceived as) is better than swanks who are focused on proudly displaying their fashionable elegance.
  23. nexus
    the means of connection between things linked in series
    The train flew over its pylons, curving toward the center of the trade nexus, speeding over brackish water, bright with leaked waste oil and scrap trash and the stink of chemicals.
  24. brackish
    distasteful and unpleasant
    Lucky Girl wrung the brackish water out of her clothes with distaste, but Nailer enjoyed the breeze on his wet skin.
  25. affiliation
    a social or business relationship
    A few men were lounging in the shade, tats and piercings showing unknown affiliations.
  26. interloper
    someone who intrudes on the privacy or property of another
    They watched as the three interlopers moved through their turf.
  27. thoroughfare
    a public road from one place to another
    They trudged down the thoroughfare.
  28. wade
    walk through relatively shallow water
    Some people were wading out into the water, which seemed only waist deep.
  29. placid
    calm and free from disturbance
    A series of buoys stretched out into the placid water.
  30. cocktail
    a short mixed drink
    People who could afford to buy creatures mixed from a genetic cocktail of humanity, tigers, and dogs.
    Here, the word is used to describe the genetic mixing of humans, tigers, and dogs. Although the word sounds like a vulgar mixing of body parts, theories about its origin connect to stories about a chicken dinner, the muddy dregs of a tap, a Mexican king's daughter, and a jolly horse--all of which give the drink a dishonorable reputation, which is also suggested in the example sentence.
  31. ovum
    the female reproductive cell; the female gamete
    The Life Cult often supported itself on the ovum of its devotees, and the Harvesters were always buying.
  32. hull
    the frame or body of a ship
    He had memorized many of the flags from the old wrecks the ship breakers worked, the hulls painted with nation and merchant tags.
  33. catamaran
    a sailboat with two parallel hulls held together by a deck
    A schooner, a catamaran freighter, and a yacht, all of them lying across a bridge at a separate dock.
  34. stifle
    conceal or hide
    Nailer felt a stab of disappointment himself, but stifled it.
  35. adapt
    conform oneself to new or different conditions
    Nailer had expected Nita’s prissy distaste for the slums of the Orleans to continue, but she adapted quickly, with a fierce attention to whatever Tool and Nailer taught.
  36. apparition
    a ghostly appearing figure
    His father’s pale bare head bobbed above the crowds of laborers, an apparition of evil with his red dragon tattoos running up his arms and curling about his neck.
  37. dappled
    having spots or patches of color
    Their blunt doglike faces stared at the people with contempt, their noses twitching for a scent, their dappled dark skin and yellow eyes watching hungrily.
  38. converge
    move or draw together at a certain location
    Tool turned and saw his hunters converging.
  39. wraith
    a ghostly figure, especially one seen shortly before death
    The ship had come and his father had appeared like a wraith on the boardwalks and it was only dumb luck that allowed Nailer to avoid the man.
  40. fore
    front part of a vessel or aircraft
    A pair of half-men waited at the gangway, keeping guard and another pair were on the ship fore and aft.
    This word is similar to "prow" in the list for Chapters 1-6, but "fore" could also mean the direction toward the front of a ship.
Created on Fri Oct 11 19:38:24 EDT 2013 (updated Mon Aug 06 16:21:55 EDT 2018)

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