Dactyl Hill Squad: Chapters 12–18

by Daniel José Older
In this historical fantasy novel set during the Civil War, orphan Magdalys Roca attempts to rescue her friends from a slave trader — with the help of some domesticated dinosaurs.

Here are links to our lists for the novel: Chapters 1–3, Chapters 4–6, Chapters 7–11, Chapters 12–18, Chapters 19–28, Chapters 29–39

Here is a link to our lists for Shadowshaper by Daniel José Older.
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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. impeccable
    without error or flaw
    “I didn’t say it works like that,” another man, Louis, said. He was short, a little older than the first man, and impeccably dressed. “I said that’s how we gotta play it. Not the same.”
  2. retort
    answer back
    “Do I tell you how to play?” the man in the top hat retorted.
  3. grim
    harshly uninviting or formidable in manner or appearance
    But the smiles around her were friendly, and the place smelled like the living: a musty mix of sweat and smoke and whiskey—so much better than the grim, antiseptic emptiness of the orphanage.
  4. masquerade
    making a false outward show
    “So behave yourselves and pretend you’re the good, proper citizens you masquerade as when you out and about on the boulevard, okay?”
  5. skulk
    lie in wait or behave in a sneaky and secretive manner
    “And you!” Bernice hollered. “Halsey! What are you doing skulking in the corner? Who’s that with you, Mr. Crunk? A white lady? Bring her over. Mr. Barrett will sort you out with some drinks. You look a mess, Halsey. You’ll rest yourselves here or I’m not fit to run the Bochinche.”
  6. confer
    have a meeting in order to talk something over
    The card game swung back into full-tilt rambunctiousness as Cymbeline and Bernice conferred in a corner by the piano.
  7. diminutive
    very small
    “Miss Crunk!” Louis bowed low before Bernice could finish talking. “It is an honor. Your performance of Lady Anne was breathtaking. The name’s Louis Napoleon. No relation to the diminutive temperamental French emperor, I’m afraid.”
  8. temperamental
    subject to sharply varying moods
    “Miss Crunk!” Louis bowed low before Bernice could finish talking. “It is an honor. Your performance of Lady Anne was breathtaking. The name’s Louis Napoleon. No relation to the diminutive temperamental French emperor, I’m afraid.”
  9. dapper
    marked by up-to-dateness in dress and manners
    Cymbeline stood there gaping for a few moments, then offered her hand for the short, dapper man to kiss.
  10. bondage
    the state of being under the control of another person
    “Mr. Ballantine and Mr. Napoleon are coordinators with the Vigilance Committee,” Miss Bernice explained, “which helps fugitive slaves make it farther up north and works to stop the Kidnapping Club from sending our folks south to bondage.”
  11. writ
    a legal document issued by a court or judicial officer
    “Get a writ of habeas corpus for each orphan,” David went on, more thinking out loud than instructing Louis, who clearly already knew exactly what to do.
  12. habeas corpus
    a writ ordering a prisoner to be brought before a judge
    “Get a writ of habeas corpus for each orphan,” David went on, more thinking out loud than instructing Louis, who clearly already knew exactly what to do.
  13. intently
    with strained or eager attention
    He nodded at Magdalys, who realized she had been staring intently at him, then headed for the door. “The rest of y’all, arm up and meet me back here in twenty. If you have dinos, ride ’em. Let’s move.”
  14. crestfallen
    brought low in spirit
    Cymbeline looked somehow crestfallen and relieved at the same time.
  15. saunter
    walk leisurely and with no apparent aim
    They stood perfectly still for a couple seconds, letting Magdalys stare in wonder, and then Mapper sauntered in one direction while Two Step, of course, broke into a sly two step, shimmying and shaking his way around the table.
  16. sashay
    walk with a lofty proud gait, often to impress others
    “Quite quite, good sir,” Two Step said, sashaying behind Magdalys while Mapper strutted around from the other direction.
  17. constitutional
    a regular walk taken as a form of exercise
    “Just getting spiffy for our morning constitutional, you know,” Two Step said.
  18. skittish
    unpredictably excitable, especially of horses
    The pterodactyls, Dr. Barlow Sloan’s Dinoguide declared, are a feisty and skittish bunch.
  19. wallop
    a severe blow
    “Lee’s army pressed further into Pennsylvania,” Mr. Barrett said, pouring coffee into a ceramic mug and passing it to Bernice. “They figure if they can make it all the way to Washington, well, that’d be a wallop and a half for the morale of the Union.”
  20. morale
    the feeling that makes group members want to succeed
    “Lee’s army pressed further into Pennsylvania,” Mr. Barrett said, pouring coffee into a ceramic mug and passing it to Bernice. “They figure if they can make it all the way to Washington, well, that’d be a wallop and a half for the morale of the Union.”
  21. dire
    fraught with extreme danger; nearly hopeless
    “Things’ll get very dire indeed, I’m afraid,” Bernice said. “And they’re already pretty bad, as you yourselves saw last night.”
  22. lavish
    characterized by extravagance and profusion
    “How do we look?” Sabeen said, posing in the doorway with an elegant gown that was about four sizes too big. She even had lavish fake silk gloves and a humongous sun hat. Cymbeline appeared behind her, also fully decked out in evening wear.
  23. crest
    a showy growth of feathers or skin on the head of an animal
    Bernice had told them to use the crest extending from the back of the dactyls’ heads to nudge them one direction or the other, but this one had already responded to her thoughts just like the brachy had, and Magdalys had no intention of yanking its head around if she didn’t have to.
  24. manifest
    reveal its presence or make an appearance
    It was real, this connection. She wasn’t making it up. Maybe she’d always had it, but had never gotten a chance to let it manifest—it’s not like she’d been able to spend much time with dinos up till now, and when she did, she certainly didn’t try to communicate with them.
  25. affluent
    having an abundant supply of money or possessions of value
    That tree-lined neighborhood at the top of the smaller slope must be the Crest, Magdalys thought, where all the affluent Brooklynites were said to live, promenading along the streets astride their graceful duckbills.
  26. promenade
    take a leisurely walk
    That tree-lined neighborhood at the top of the smaller slope must be the Crest, Magdalys thought, where all the affluent Brooklynites were said to live, promenading along the streets astride their graceful duckbills.
  27. plait
    a hairdo formed by braiding or twisting the hair
    Then, suddenly, they were sinking again, and the building tops rushed up toward Magdalys as the two plaits Sabeen had braided her hair into that morning flapped behind her in the rushing wind.
  28. barren
    providing no shelter or sustenance
    A little beyond where the houses ended on the far side of Dactyl Hill, a towering concrete building stood surrounded by barren fields.
  29. gibbet
    an instrument of public execution
    In the middle, various stone buildings clustered around a central yard with a platform in the middle: the hanging gibbet.
  30. clamor
    utter or proclaim insistently and noisily
    All the dactyls around them hurled into the air for a few moments in alarm, then came clamoring back down.
  31. heckle
    challenge aggressively
    “How we sposta have a meeting if we can’t heckle?” someone yelled.
  32. secession
    formal separation from an alliance or federation
    “Plus they kinda busy with the whole dealing with a violent secession thing. On the plus side, I’m told the siege of Vicksburg is finally over—General Grant’s raptor riders took the city early this morning after—” A huge cheer went up.
  33. casualty
    someone injured or killed in a military engagement
    “Did...” Magdalys started once the cheering had died down, but she realized she had no idea what to ask. “Have you heard...anything about what happened to the casualties?”
  34. decisive
    determining or having the power to determine an outcome
    “The assault at Milliken’s Bend was the Rebs’ last hope to get reinforcements to Vicksburg,” David said over the excited chatter filling the Bochinche. “And the city fell shortly after, which means our boys dealt a decisive blow, fellas.”
  35. exasperation
    a feeling of annoyance
    The room seemed to let out a collective sigh of exasperation.
  36. sketchy
    giving only major points; lacking completeness
    “Details are still sketchy: Two down at the docks. At least five in midtown. Three in the Claw.”
  37. ecstatic
    feeling great rapture or delight
    Mapper, still standing, held his hands out to either side, smile ecstatic. “So we’re the…”
    “Dactyl Hill Squad!” everyone yelled at the same time.
  38. stifle
    smother or suppress
    Amidst stifled laughs, the Dactyl Hill Squad nodded in unison.
  39. shenanigan
    the use of tricks to deceive someone
    “Now, thing number two is this: A lot of the Kidnapping Club’s shenanigans go down in Manhattan, particularly by the docks. And by shenanigans, just to be perfectly clear, I mean they snatch African New Yorkers off the streets and send them down south to slavery...."
  40. regimen
    a systematic plan for therapy
    And my father trained me in secret, raised me a soldier, kept me on a strict military regimen, even taught me tactics and strategy, weapons...everything.
Created on Tue May 07 09:26:12 EDT 2019 (updated Tue May 07 13:32:50 EDT 2019)

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