Ship Breaker: Chapters 19–25

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. revelry
    unrestrained merrymaking
    At each venue, all she said was “Nita” and the drunken crew sobered or dropped their whores and came away until they were a fast-moving knot of muscle and bare steel cutting through the drowned city’s revelry of sailors and traders.
  2. patron
    someone who supports or champions something
    “Even when your patron wished her protected?”
  3. demoralize
    lower someone's spirits; make downhearted
    They were all on the Dauntless, a huddle of demoralized sailors standing around Nailer and Tool, as Tool explained what had happened.
    The name of the ship stands in sharp contrast to the demoralized sailors, who are not "dauntless" ("invulnerable to fear or intimidation").
  4. usurper
    one who wrongfully seizes and holds the place of another
    "We’re hunting for Pyce’s traitorous lackeys and we’re going to take their ship and we’re going to free Miss Nita, and take back our company from the usurper.”
  5. crave
    have an appetite or great desire for
    “I do not crave death on the seas.”
  6. bravado
    a swaggering show of courage
    Nailer started to answer, tried to say something full of bravado, but something in Tool’s eyes stopped him.
  7. stench
    a distinctive odor that is offensively unpleasant
    His remaining eye regarded Nailer, and his breath was laced with the stench of combat and blood.
  8. stern
    the rear part of a ship
    Blurs on the horizon became ships, became bow and stern and the smears of faces.
    Compare this word with the other vocabulary words "prow" (Chapters 1-6) and "fore" (Chapters 13-18).
  9. wake
    the wave that spreads behind a boat as it moves forward
    In the increasing light, the ship’s wake curled white behind them, a spreading vee in the still gray water of morning.
  10. binge
    any act of immoderate indulgence
    "He talks about family sticking together, but what he really means is that I give him money so he can slide crystal, and make sure he’s okay on his binges, and he hits me when he wants.”
  11. underestimate
    make too low an approximation of
    "Pyce took us once unawares, but we won’t make the mistake of underestimating him again.”
  12. sleek
    designed to offer the least resistance while moving through air
    What had always looked so smooth and sleek on the horizon was a rough adventure when experienced from the prow of the Dauntless.
  13. schooner
    sailing vessel used in former times
    Candless was too good a leader to admit that he was frightened, but Nailer could tell from the way his face turned stony at the mention of the cross-global schooner that it represented an unequal fight.
  14. gossamer
    characterized by unusual lightness and delicacy
    Near Nailer, Cat and another crewman were loading the huge Buckell cannon that was set near the prow, fitting the parasail into its barrel and checking the monofilament tether line—gossamer thin and steel strong—that sat in a shining reel beside the gun.
  15. astonishingly
    in an amazing manner; to everyone's surprise
    He was hooked to the rail to keep himself from washing overboard, but still the huge blue-green waves that surged over the bow and poured off the sloped deck were astonishingly powerful.
  16. augmented
    added to or made greater in amount or number or strength
    "We call them augmented because they’re people-plus.”
  17. hydraulic
    moved or operated or effected by liquid
    She led him down into the hold of the clipper, to where the hydraulic systems of the ship lay exposed.
  18. bestial
    resembling an animal, especially by being vicious or cruel
    It stared at the two of them with bestial yellow eyes.
  19. disengage
    release from something that holds fast or entangles
    “How will you know which of these disengages the gears from the foil and which will allow you to test the lubricants?"
  20. vortex
    the shape of something rotating rapidly
    The entire maintenance compartment had become a vortex of whirling gears that seemed to want to suck Nailer in.
  21. reap
    gather, as of natural products
    “I won’t be sorry to see Mr. Marn reap a bitter harvest,” the captain said.
  22. tedium
    dullness owing to length or slowness
    Knot had taken on the project of teaching Nailer to read, and it hadn’t taken long for Nailer to begin resenting the tedium of book learning.
  23. veer
    turn sharply; change direction abruptly
    He veered, he dodged, he forced them to overshoot once, and the men on his deck fired their pistols across the gap.
  24. flit
    move along rapidly and lightly; skim or dart
    A look of fear flitted across Candless’s face, an anxious thought; then the captain roared, “Reynolds!”
  25. famine
    a severe shortage of food resulting in starvation and death
    Rising waters and famine were taking a toll.
  26. refraction
    the change in direction of a propagating wave
    When Nailer looked down into the glitter refraction of the waves it seemed that all the light and shimmer of the water had merged, a blur of motion too fast to understand.
  27. roil
    be agitated
    The storm clouds darkened and roiled like a seething cauldron of snakes.
  28. seething
    in constant agitation
    The storm clouds darkened and roiled like a seething cauldron of snakes.
  29. writhing
    moving in a twisting or snake-like or wormlike fashion
    The wire whipped up and away, writhing like a snake.
  30. ravine
    a deep narrow steep-sided valley
    She surged through the stormy sea, lunging into wave troughs and then climbing their slopes before plowing down into the next deep liquid ravine.
    Here, it is used figuratively; picture a "ravine" on the surface of the rolling ocean.
  31. starboard
    right side of a ship or aircraft to someone facing the bow
    “Starboard is what we call it,” Candless said dryly as he spun the wheel.
    The opposite of this word is "port", which means on the left side of the ship when looking forward.
  32. unscathed
    not injured
    No wonder Dauntless had come across unscathed even when they were in the wrong position.
  33. impregnable
    incapable of being attacked or tampered with
    The great clipper, so seemingly impregnable, had become impossibly small.
  34. capsize
    overturn accidentally
    The ship was trying to turn upside down, kept from capsizing only by the strength of its masts where they tangled in the Teeth.
  35. bemused
    deeply absorbed in thought
    Below him, Richard Lopez was watching, bemused.
  36. swagger
    act in an arrogant, overly self-assured, or conceited manner
    All of a sudden Richard Lopez was different, not the swaggering, dangerous man he had been, but something else.
  37. submerged
    beneath the surface of the water
    The next deck down would be completely submerged.
  38. trickle
    run or flow slowly, as in drops or in an unsteady stream
    A moment later, the rush slowed to a trickle.
    Compare with the antonymous vocabulary word, "torrent" (Chapters 1-6).
  39. testament
    strong evidence for something
    Farther down, another hole showed, a testament to the success of Nailer’s plan.
  40. shrine
    a place of worship associated with something sacred
    She nodded toward where Lucky Strike had started a Fates shrine in the trees.
Created on Fri Oct 11 19:38:42 EDT 2013 (updated Mon Aug 06 16:22:47 EDT 2018)

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