The Scorpio Races: Chapters 37–48

by Maggie Stiefvater
Each year, residents of Thisby race the violent water horses that live in the sea around their island. Sean hopes that winning will enable him to buy the horse he loves; Puck hopes that winning will allow her to save her home and keep her family together. But surviving the brutal competition will prove more challenging than either of them expected.

Here are links to our lists for the novel: Prologue–Chapter 11, Chapters 12–24, Chapters 25–36, Chapters 37–48, Chapters 49–66
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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. fitful
    intermittently stopping and starting
    Of course, it’s getting dark, and it’s drizzling fitfully, but still, under the lean-to it’s dry, and an electric lantern provides enough light to see our soup by.
  2. scrabble
    grope, scratch, or feel searchingly
    They both vanish into the mist, and the last thing I hear is hooves scrabbling, frenzied, and then Puffin wailing.
  3. insensible
    unresponsive to stimulation
    Beside me, in the backseat, Finn is insensible because of Puffin.
  4. crude
    not carefully or expertly made
    There are knickknacks on a half-dozen shelves, but they’re entirely different from our sort of knickknacks: crude wooden statues that could be either horses or deer, a broom of grass with a red ribbon tied around it, a piece of limestone with the name PEG written on it.
  5. foible
    a minor weakness or peculiarity in someone's character
    I feel weird about that, too, the rather free admittance of Finn’s foibles, though I’ve always thought it was something private, something only Connollys knew about.
  6. grovel
    show submission or fear
    I thought, before, that a word from him would be enough, but now I know that I want him to court my good graces. If I can’t have a groveling apology, I don’t want anything at all.
  7. aggrieve
    cause to feel distress
    Beech guffaws but Tommy looks aggrieved and apologizes.
  8. qualm
    uneasiness about the fitness of an action
    Tommy has no qualms about making a fool of himself, scrabbling after the collie as she leads him on a merry chase, and even Finn’s laughing.
  9. effects
    property of a personal character that is portable
    Before we turn off the lights, I see that there are no personal effects in the room, nothing to say that it is Beech’s.
  10. austere
    severely simple
    Just this bed and an austere desk with an empty vase and some coins on it, and a narrow dresser with well-worn corners.
  11. tact
    consideration in dealing with others
    Because I’m tired, I say exactly what I’m thinking, without a lick of tact to make it go down easier.
  12. indignant
    angered at something unjust or wrong
    Now he’s indignant. “What kind of a question is that?”
  13. beleaguer
    surround so as to force to give up
    Those are my horses down there in this beleaguered stable, out there in that fearful night.
  14. entreat
    ask for or request earnestly
    The largest of the mares must recognize something in my walk, because she stops struggling and whinnies to me, long and entreating.
  15. venture
    proceed somewhere despite the risk of possible dangers
    I think that I’d like to meet Tommy’s family, if they are the sort who wouldn’t mind having a water horse left in their care while Tommy ventures out to save the neighbors.
  16. homely
    lacking in physical beauty or proportion
    I also grant him some siblings, while I’m at it. Two brothers and a sister. The sister is homely. The brothers are not.
  17. rueful
    feeling or expressing pain or sorrow
    He looks away with a rueful snort. “It was a gamble. Like you and your pony.”
  18. tout
    advertise in strongly positive terms
    “None of Sean Kendrick’s much-touted brand of witchcraft needed. Does it bother you that he’s so faithless?”
  19. bauble
    cheap showy jewelry or ornament
    I’m more embarrassed by the attention than by the insult. Probably because when I’m done down here, I’ll be back in Dory Maud’s booth selling baubles to tourists.
  20. cornice
    a molding between the ceiling and the top of a wall
    The hotel is the grandest building on the island, everything about it designed to make someone from the mainland feel at home. So the architecture inside is painted columns and civilized wooden arches, cornices and polished wood.
  21. halcyon
    idyllically calm and peaceful; suggesting happy tranquility
    On the wall adjacent to me is a painting of a thoroughbred posing in a bridle, standing before a halcyon landscape.
  22. ruminate
    reflect deeply on a subject
    “I have a jacket. Blue one.”
    Holly ruminates on this for a moment. “I remember it now. Thin as a dead child?”
  23. discreet
    marked by prudence or modesty and wise self-restraint
    I know the exact moment I am recognized, as everyone looks away so discreetly that it’s obvious they were just looking the second before.
  24. anachronistic
    chronologically misplaced
    Calvert’s kinder than Eaton, the anachronistic bully who Puck had to knock heads with, but he wouldn’t have been at the festival.
  25. penitent
    a person who repents for wrongdoing
    The confessional is open to the rest of the church, and the curtain is only between the confessor and the priest. And the curtain is ridiculous not only because Father Mooneyham can just watch the penitent walk through the pews toward him, but also Father knows everyone’s voices on the island, so even blind, he’d know whose sin was whose.
  26. ascribe
    attribute or credit to
    “This sounds more like egotism to me, Kate. You are ascribing much power to what was, after all, only your hand.”
  27. prodigal
    recklessly wasteful
    “Leaving doesn’t mean not coming back. It wouldn’t hurt you to meditate on the story of the prodigal son.”
  28. ethereal
    of heaven or the spirit
    His hair had been slicked back with water because he’d felt it added to his ethereal appearance.
  29. absolve
    grant remission of a sin to
    “Will it make you feel better to say two Hail Marys and a Columba Creed?”
    “Yes, thank you.” He absolves me. I feel absolved.
  30. buoyant
    characterized by liveliness and lightheartedness
    Because it’s been a long day and there’s no reason to expect that it’s not going to get longer, I allow myself the small pleasure of imagining that the sloping fields and glossy mares on either side of the lane are mine, and that I’m strolling pleasantly down to my own yard, filled with the buoyant contentedness that comes from the certainty of one’s holdings and the knowledge that dinner will have once been a cow.
  31. peal
    sound loudly and sonorously
    A whinny peals across the yard, and another horse replies from inside the barn.
  32. emphatic
    forceful and definite in expression or action
    “Sean Kendrick.” I say it emphatically enough that the stallion’s ears prick toward me.
  33. appraise
    estimate the nature, quality, ability or significance of
    Sean’s look is appraising, as if he’s trying to decide if I really mean it. Or maybe he’s just trying to decide if I’m capable.
  34. lupine
    of or relating to or characteristic of wolves
    Beside Sean, Corr abruptly shifts his weight and the motion of his head seems more lupine than equine.
  35. repress
    put down by force or intimidation
    It appeals to a part of me that has been repressed by years of studious effort on the part of the adults in my life.
  36. lacerate
    cut or tear irregularly
    I would just say no anyway, but I feel certain that Sean Kendrick with his lacerating gaze would see right through me to the vagaries behind that no.
  37. vagary
    an unexpected and inexplicable change in something
    I would just say no anyway, but I feel certain that Sean Kendrick with his lacerating gaze would see right through me to the vagaries behind that no.
  38. intrepid
    invulnerable to fear or intimidation
    Her expression is fierce and uncompromising, full of the intrepid bravery of a small boat in an uncertain sea.
  39. straggle
    go, come, or spread in a rambling or irregular way
    And when I squeeze my legs around him, Corr bounds forward again, as if we’d been merely straggling before.
  40. bleak
    offering little or no hope
    Finn’s face is bleak and terrible, and I don’t think he believes it.
Created on Mon Aug 19 15:41:18 EDT 2019 (updated Thu Sep 05 10:49:23 EDT 2019)

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