Sold: List 1

by Patricia McCormick
Lakshmi's stepfather tells her she must leave their impoverished Nepalese village and work in the city — but when Lakshmi arrives, she discovers that she is a victim of trafficking.

This list covers "A Tin Roof"–"Everything I Need to Know."

Here are links to our lists for the novel: List 1, List 2, List 3, List 4
30 words 791 learners

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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. thatch
    plant stalks used as roofing material
    My mother is standing on a log ladder, inspecting the thatch, and I am on the ground, handing the laundry up to her so it can bake dry in the afternoon sun.
  2. kiln
    a furnace for firing, burning, or drying porcelain or bricks
    A tin roof means the family has a son working at the brick kiln in the city.
  3. strut
    walk in a proud, confident way
    We pinched our noses shut whenever the headman’s wife passed by recalling the time she broke wind strutting past us at the village spring.
  4. notch
    a small cut
    We rubbed the rough-edged notch in the school bench for good luck before a recitation.
  5. paddy
    an irrigated or flooded field where rice is grown
    We threw mud at each other during the long afternoons stooped over in the paddies, and wept with laughter when one of Gita’s mud pies hit her haughty older sister in the back of the head.
  6. haughty
    having or showing arrogant superiority
    We threw mud at each other during the long afternoons stooped over in the paddies, and wept with laughter when one of Gita’s mud pies hit her haughty older sister in the back of the head.
  7. brocade
    weave a design into
    Now that Gita is gone, to work as a maid for a wealthy woman in the city, her family has a tiny glass sun that hangs from a wire in the middle of their ceiling, a new set of pots for Gita’s mother, a pair of spectacles for her father, a brocaded wedding dress for her older sister, and school fees for her little brother.
  8. bleat
    cry plaintively like a sheep or goat
    Tali nudges her head into the palm of my hand and bleats in agreement.
  9. solemn
    dignified and somber in manner or character
    And when I brush my teeth with a twig from the neem tree, Tali copies me, nibbling her twig as solemn as a monk.
  10. indignant
    angered at something unjust or wrong
    When finally she spotted me through the window, she bahhed with wounded pride, indignant at being left behind.
  11. keen
    demonstrating ability to recognize or draw fine distinctions
    She marched across the yard, propped her hooves up on the windowsill, and looked in with keen and curious eyes as the teacher finished the lesson.
  12. plait
    make by braiding or interlacing
    In the morning, Ama bends down to stir the kitchen fire and to plait my hair before I go to school.
  13. noble
    impressive in appearance
    They pray to the goddess whose brow is fierce and noble, whose breast is broad and bountiful, whose snowy skirts spread wide above us.
  14. withered
    lean and wrinkled by shrinkage as from age or illness
    My stepfather’s arm is a withered and useless thing.
  15. mangle
    destroy or injure severely
    Broken as a child when there was no money for a doctor, his poor mangled limb pains him during the rainy months and gives him great shame.
  16. tawny
    having the color of tanned leather
    By midday, the tawny fields will be dotted with the cheerful dresses of the women, red as the poinsettias that lace the windy footpaths.
  17. wicker
    work made of interlaced slender branches or twigs
    Napping babies will sway in wicker baskets, and lizards will sun themselves outside their holes.
  18. hearth
    a built-in space in a wall where a fire can be built
    At night, low hearths will send up wispy curls of smoke fragrant with a dozen dinners, and darkness will clothe the land.
  19. wispy
    thin and weak
    At night, low hearths will send up wispy curls of smoke fragrant with a dozen dinners, and darkness will clothe the land.
  20. perpetual
    uninterrupted in time and indefinitely long continuing
    On those nights, the hillside and the valley below are bathed in a magical white light, the glow of the perpetual snows that blanket the mountaintops.
  21. loft
    floor consisting of open space at the top of a house
    On those nights I lie restless in the sleeping loft, wondering what the world is like beyond my mountain home.
  22. woe
    misery resulting from affliction
    On the mountain we mark time by women's work and women’s woes.
  23. gruel
    a thin porridge
    In the rainy months, they patch the crumbling mud walls of their huts and keep the fire going so that yesterday’s gruel can be stretched to make tomorrow’s dinner.
  24. yeti
    a large hairy creature said to live in the Himalayas
    Nearby is Yeti, the biggest one, named for the hairy snow monster.
  25. cower
    crouch or curl up
    Yeti grows so fat, little Muthi cowers under a nearby leaf in fear and awe.
  26. gnarled
    old and twisted and covered in lines
    There is Ananta, the one shaped like a snake; and Bajai, the gnarled grandmother of the group; Vishnu, as sleek as rain; and Naazma, the ugly one, named for the headman’s wife.
  27. scrimp
    be very thrifty or frugal
    I scrimp a bit on Naazma.
  28. tender
    hurting
    For days I have sensed a ripening in my body, a tender, achy, feeling unlike anything I’ve felt before.
  29. privy
    a room or building equipped with one or more toilets
    And even before I go to the privy to check, I know that I have gotten my first blood.
  30. modesty
    formality and propriety of manner
    Now, she says, you must carry yourself with modesty, bow your head in the presence of men, and cover yourself with your shawl.
Created on Thu Jul 18 11:07:57 EDT 2019 (updated Thu Jul 18 11:33:29 EDT 2019)

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