The Road to Memphis: List 2

by Mildred D. Taylor
As World War II looms, seventeen-year-old Cassie Logan and her brothers experience the trials and tribulations of growing up and face shocking racial violence.

This list covers "The Hunt"–"Incident in Strawberry."

Here are links to our lists for the novel: List 1, List 2, List 3, List 4
30 words 14 learners

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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. goodly
    large in size, amount, or degree
    Before we left the house, we made sure we had ourselves a goodly size bag of peanuts, some potatoes for baking, a couple of jugs of cider, a kerosene lantern, matches, a flashlight, hunting knives, hunting bags, a rifle, and an ax.
  2. commiserate
    feel or express sympathy or compassion
    “Poor ole dog,” I commiserated.
  3. falter
    move hesitatingly, as if about to give way
    But he was too heavy to run far, and he soon began to falter.
  4. knoll
    a small natural mound
    We made our way up a heavily foliaged knoll and saw the Aames brothers and Jeremy, their flashlights shining, watching their dogs yelping and leaping at poor Harris standing in an upper fork of a tree.
  5. amiably
    in a friendly manner
    “Well, now,” he said, smiling amiably, “y’all out huntin’ t’night too?”
  6. waver
    move hesitatingly, as if about to give way
    Their eyes fixed on each other and didn’t waver.
  7. torrent
    a violently fast stream of water or other liquid
    “Always tryin’ to help us?” Stacey repeated, his words like an ice-cold torrent.
  8. protocol
    code of correct conduct
    Sissy was the kind of girl who, when her shoes hurt, simply took them off. Sissy never did stand on protocol.
  9. mar
    cause to become imperfect
    Dust and insects marred the double coat of paint.
  10. despondent
    without or almost without hope
    He heaved a despondent sigh, pushed back his hat so that the brim just barely shadowed his forehead, and looked at me.
  11. tumultuous
    characterized by unrest or disorder or insubordination
    Reverend Gabson had always been a preacher of tumultuous hellfire and brimstone sermons that went on and on.
  12. pallbearer
    one of the mourners carrying the coffin at a funeral
    Finally we were dismissed from the church, and we followed the pallbearers up the trail that led to the graveyard.
  13. incredulous
    not disposed or willing to believe; unbelieving
    I shot him an incredulous look. “What? Boy, what are you talking about?”
  14. snub
    a refusal to recognize someone you know
    Both Oliver and Little Willie smiled their hellos, but not one of those young ladies uttered a word. At the snub Oliver said, “Willie! Peaches talk to you yet?”
  15. render
    give or supply
    She rendered me a smart grin and turned away.
  16. contemptuous
    expressing extreme scorn
    He and Leon and Troy let out a contemptuous laugh.
  17. addle
    mix up or confuse
    “Don’t know what that boy think, he gone so addle minded,” declared Willie.
  18. relent
    give in, as to influence or pressure
    Clarence thought again, then somewhat relented.
  19. chagrin
    cause to feel shame
    “Yeah, I told it. Only thing was, Clarence wasn’t supposed to tell you I told it.”
    Clarence looked a bit chagrined.
  20. intercede
    act between parties with a view to reconciling differences
    “’Ey, wait, now, Sissy!” interceded Clarence. “Don’t be gettin’ on Cassie—”
  21. desolate
    providing no shelter or sustenance
    Strawberry had always been a sad, desolate kind of place to me, and in the years since I’d first seen it nothing much had changed.
  22. veranda
    a porch along the outside of a building
    Verandas still sagged in front of gloomy store buildings and raised wooden sidewalks still creaked and groaned.
  23. spindly
    long, thin, and often weak or fragile
    Wagons and pickups still lined the short strip of paved road that ran hurriedly through the town and away from it, and the spindly row of electrical lines that gave the town its claim to modernity still looked out of place.
  24. sentinel
    a person employed to keep watch for some anticipated event
    Like old gray sentinels from another era, they were always on the alert, reporting the latest comings, the latest goings, the slightest stray from the ordinary.
  25. raucous
    unpleasantly loud and harsh
    And then all the gray men and the Aames boys burst into raucous laughter.
  26. formidable
    inspiring fear or dread
    Mr. Wade Jamison, after all, was a formidable figure and, despite everything, one of their own.
  27. liberal
    having political views favoring reform and progress
    In the past there had been those who had retaliated against Mr. Jamison’s liberal ways by burning out his office late one night, but he had survived.
  28. prone
    lying face downward
    Troy, his head bleeding, lay prone on the ground.
  29. tarpaulin
    waterproofed canvas
    Jeremy threw the tarpaulin over Moe and jumped down just as Mr. J. D. Dueeze and his wife came running from the garage with Mr. Charlie Simms.
  30. ashen
    pale from illness or emotion
    At the call he straightened, and his ashen face grew even whiter.
Created on Mon Jul 12 10:44:15 EDT 2021 (updated Tue Jul 20 15:21:09 EDT 2021)

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