Boy: Tales of Childhood: Parts 1–2

by Roald Dahl
Renowned writer Roald Dahl, the author of such children's classics as Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and Matilda, recounts unexpected and fascinating stories from his own childhood.

Here are links to our lists for the autobiography: Parts 1–2, Part 3, Part 4

Here is a link to our list for The Landlady by Roald Dahl.
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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. amputate
    remove surgically
    So they simply amputated the arm at the elbow, and for the rest of his life my father had to manage with one arm.
  2. ingenious
    showing inventiveness and skill
    He kept his ingenious instrument in a slim leather case and carried it in his pocket wherever he went.
  3. amiable
    diffusing warmth and friendliness
    Their own father, an amiable giant nearly seven foot tall, lacked the drive and ambition of his sons, and he refused to support this tomfool idea.
  4. acquire
    come into the possession of something concrete or abstract
    He acquired a wife from a good family and a magnificent town house as well as a large chateau in the country.
  5. ambitious
    having a strong desire for success or achievement
    So off to Cardiff they went, these two ambitious young men, carrying with them little or no luggage.
  6. subside
    wear off or die down
    When the shock and sorrow of her death had begun to subside a little, my father suddenly realized that his two small children ought at the very least to have a stepmother to care for them.
  7. foliage
    the collective amount of leaves of one or more plants
    So indeed was the entire mantelpiece around the fireplace in the living-room, a splendid design of fruit and foliage and intertwining branches carved in oak.
  8. overwhelm
    overcome, as with emotions or perceptual stimuli
    He was so overwhelmed with grief that when he himself went down with pneumonia a month or so afterwards, he did not much care whether he lived or died.
  9. antibiotic
    a substance used to kill microorganisms and cure infections
    If they had had penicillin in those days, neither appendicitis nor pneumonia would have been so much of a threat, but with no penicillin or any other magical antibiotic cures, pneumonia in particular was a very dangerous illness indeed.
  10. catastrophe
    an event resulting in great loss and misfortune
    Heaven knows what it must have felt like to be hit with a double catastrophe like this.
  11. emphatically
    in a forceful manner; with emphasis
    Her husband had always stated most emphatically that he wished all his children to be educated in English schools.
  12. jaunty
    having a cheerful, lively, and self-confident air
    How swift and brave and graceful in his long trousers with bicycle-clips around them and his scarlet school cap at a jaunty angle on his head!
  13. linger
    be about
    We lingered outside its rather small window gazing in at the big glass jars full of Bull’s-eyes and Old Fashioned Humbugs and Strawberry Bonbons and Glacier Mints and Acid Drops and Pear Drops and Lemon Drops and all the rest of them.
  14. cauldron
    a very large pot that is used for boiling
    ‘They wait until they’ve got ten thousand rats,’ the father had answered, ‘then they dump them all into a huge shiny steel cauldron and boil them up for several hours.'
  15. elaborate
    add details to clarify an idea
    When we asked him to elaborate on this theory, he answered, ‘You wouldn’t understand it if I did tell you.’
  16. saturated
    unable to dissolve still more of a substance
    We had not the slightest doubt that these things were saturated in the dreaded anaesthetic which, as Thwaites had many times pointed out to us, could put you to sleep for hours at a stretch.
  17. loathsome
    highly offensive; arousing aversion or disgust
    But by far the most loathsome thing about Mrs Pratchett was the filth that clung around her.
  18. sullen
    showing a brooding ill humor
    So we simply stood and watched in sullen silence while this disgusting old woman stirred around inside the jars with her foul fingers.
  19. hoard
    a secret store of valuables or money
    Every afternoon, when the last lesson was over, the five of us would wait until the classroom had emptied, then we would lift up the floor-board and examine our secret hoard, perhaps adding to it or taking something away.
  20. desperado
    a bold outlaw
    We felt like a gang of desperados setting out to rob a train or blow up the sheriff's office.
  21. malignant
    dangerous to health
    She stood behind the counter, and her small malignant pig-eyes watched us suspiciously as we came forward.
  22. smithereens
    a collection of small fragments considered as a whole
    We could see it all, the huge glassjar smashed to smithereens with the dead mouse lying in the wreckage and hundreds of many-coloured Gobstoppers littering the floor.
  23. stature
    the height of a standing person
    But Headmasters (and policemen) are the biggest giants of all and acquire a marvellously exaggerated stature.
  24. pantomime
    a performance using gestures and movements without words
    I could hardly believe what I was seeing. It was like some awful pantomime.
  25. reluctance
    a certain degree of unwillingness
    With tremendous reluctance, the next boy sidled forward to his fate.
  26. exhort
    spur on or encourage especially by cheers and shouts
    She kept up her screeching all the way through, exhorting Mr Coombes to greater and still greater efforts, and the awful thing was that he seemed to be responding to her cries.
  27. agony
    intense feelings of suffering; acute mental or physical pain
    It is bad enough when the cane lands on fresh skin, but when it comes down on bruised and wounded flesh, the agony is unbelievable.
  28. wily
    marked by skill in deception
    Whether or not the wily Mr Coombes had chalked the cane beforehand and had thus made an aiming mark on my grey flannel shorts after the first stroke, I do not know.
  29. oblige
    cause to be indebted
    As I limped across the study clutching my buttocks hard with both hands, a cackling sound came from the armchair over in the corner, and then I heard the vinegary voice of Mrs Pratchett saying, ‘I am much obliged to you, ’Eadmaster, very much obliged.
  30. anonymous
    having no known name or identity or known source
    There were my three sisters and my ancient half-sister (that’s four), and my half-brother and me (that’s six), and my mother (that’s seven), and Nanny (that’s eight), and in addition to these, there were never less than two others who were some sort of anonymous ancient friends of the ancient half-sister (that’s ten altogether).
  31. dauntless
    invulnerable to fear or intimidation
    The sea journey from Newcastle to Oslo took two days and a night, and if it was rough, as it often was, all of us got seasick except our dauntless mother.
  32. churning
    moving with or producing or produced by vigorous agitation
    We used to lie in deck-chairs on the promenade deck, within easy reach of the rails, embalmed in rugs, our faces slate-grey and our stomachs churning, refusing the hot soup and ship’s biscuits the kindly steward kept offering us.
  33. influx
    the process of flowing in
    She was a white-haired wrinkly-faced old bird who seemed always to be sitting in her rocking-chair, rocking away and smiling benignly at this vast influx of grandchildren who barged in from miles away to take over her house for a few hours every year.
  34. raucous
    unpleasantly loud and harsh
    Like Bestemama, he sat most of the time quietly in a chair, saying very little and totally overwhelmed, I imagine, by the raucous rabble who were destroying his neat and polished home.
  35. destination
    the place designated as the end, as of a race or journey
    There was another full day’s travelling to be done before we reached our final destination, most of it by boat.
  36. fjord
    a long narrow inlet of the sea between steep cliffs
    The splendid little vessel with its single tall funnel would move out into the calm waters of the fjord and proceed at a leisurely pace along the coast
  37. tranquil
    free from disturbance by heavy waves
    Unless you have sailed down the Oslofjord like this yourself on a tranquil summer’s day, you cannot imagine what it is like.
  38. cubicle
    small area set off by walls for special use
    The lavatories were in a rickety wooden outhouse at the back of the hotel and each cubicle contained nothing more than a round hole cut in a piece of wood.
  39. petrol
    gasoline
    It was extremely difficult to start, and he always had to unscrew the sparking-plug and pour petrol into the cylinder.
  40. capsize
    overturn accidentally
    The thing can easily capsize or be swamped if the bows do not meet the great combing breakers at just the right angle.
Created on Wed Oct 22 18:57:06 EDT 2014 (updated Tue Sep 04 16:21:48 EDT 2018)

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