The Diviners: List 2

by Libba Bray
In this first book of the series, seventeen-year-old Evangeline O’Neill is enjoying life in 1920s New York City, until her museum curator uncle is called in to consult on a murder and she realizes that her ability to read objects could be helpful.

This list covers "A Late-Summer Evening"–"City of Dreams."

Here are links to our lists for the novel: List 1, List 2, List 3, List 4, List 5
40 words 12 learners

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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. dirge
    a song or hymn of mourning as a memorial to a dead person
    Gabe played a bit from “America the Beautiful,” turning it briefly into a dirge and letting his trumpet slide into despair before picking up the beat again.
  2. sashay
    walk with a lofty proud gait, often to impress others
    The audience applauded as the chorines bowed and sashayed offstage laughing and talking.
  3. dapper
    marked by up-to-dateness in dress and manners
    Schools, fraternal organizations, and even Harlem’s professional basketball team, the New York Renaissance, or Rens, were financed in part by Papa Charles, the Dapper Gentleman.
  4. revue
    a variety show with topical sketches and songs
    Sometimes the club owners offered him a drink or let him listen in on the jazz or watch the revue girls dance.
  5. spectral
    resembling or characteristic of a phantom
    He saw things in that strange empty space he inhabited for those long seconds, things that he didn’t understand: faces in the mist, spectral shadows, and a funny man in a tall hat whose coat seemed to be made of the land itself.
  6. balk
    refuse to proceed or comply
    When Pastor Brown balked at using Memphis’s gift during services at Mother AME Zion—“We’re not that sort of religion, Viola”—Memphis’s mother had taken him to the various Pentecostal and Spiritualist storefront churches, over Octavia’s objections...
  7. don
    put on clothes
    A boy in sergeant’s stripes began shouting orders, and the camp blurred with sudden movement—cigarettes tamped under boots, tin coffee mugs abandoned, gas masks donned, positions taken, every man alert and waiting.
  8. limn
    trace the shape of
    Now the first hints of red and gold limned the treetops in Central Park and an Indian-summer sun shone over Manhattan.
  9. jaunt
    a journey taken for pleasure
    Evie, Mabel, and Theta, outfitted in their fashionable best, boarded the crowded trolley for an afternoon jaunt to the movies.
  10. rapt
    feeling great delight and interest
    Metro presents Rex Ingram’s production of Vincent Blasco Ibañez’s literary masterpiece THE FOUR HORSEMEN OF THE APOCALYPSE flashed upon the screen and they fell silent, held rapt by the screen’s glow and Rudolph Valentino’s beauty.
  11. finagle
    achieve something by means of trickery or devious methods
    Evie had finagled her way down here.
  12. garish
    tastelessly showy
    Her blood-drained face was made up in garish fashion—heavy powder and rouge.
  13. undulate
    move in a wavy pattern or with a rising and falling motion
    On the river, a ferry cut the gray water into undulating peaks that rippled out into smoothness again.
  14. surreptitious
    marked by quiet and caution and secrecy
    Men on the street gave the postings a surreptitious glance as they passed by.
  15. browbeat
    discourage or frighten with threats or a domineering manner
    They’d passed around the back of the Tea House and saw the boy who’d been browbeaten by the hostess in the restaurant.
  16. chide
    scold or reprimand severely or angrily
    “Don’t talk with food in your mouth,” Memphis chided.
  17. attache
    a shallow and rectangular briefcase
    He and Jericho had assembled a stack of books, which they were tucking into Will’s attaché case.
  18. edict
    a formal or authoritative proclamation
    Sam had been told not to touch it, and it was precisely that edict that made the watch so appealing.
  19. pique
    a sudden outburst of anger
    Unless she killed him in a fit of pique.
  20. chaste
    pure and simple in design or style
    Evie held up the chaste, high-necked gown, examining it with a scowl.
  21. hapless
    unfortunate and deserving pity
    Under a crumbling eave in the old house, a spider waited and watched as a hapless fly ventured into its web.
  22. phosphorescence
    the emission of light without heat
    The stranger turned a crank and, high above, a metal grate, rusty with neglect, screeched open to reveal a night sky untouched by the phosphorescence of city lights.
  23. listless
    lacking zest or vivacity
    It was the perfect place to watch listless clouds drift by.
  24. divulge
    make known to the public information previously kept secret
    The stories mentioned that it was a ritual murder and that the killer had left a note with a Bible quotation and occult symbols, but didn’t divulge what the symbols were.
  25. pensive
    deeply or seriously thoughtful
    She scooted her chair closer to him and put on her best pensive face.
  26. cogitate
    exercise the mind to arrive at a solution or judgments
    Did you know that she can read Latin? She can conjugate while she cogitates!
  27. imperious
    having or showing arrogant superiority
    Gabe matched her imperious tone. “I say, old boy. Do give her my best.”
  28. furtive
    secret and sly
    Theta exchanged a furtive glance with Henry at the piano.
  29. bravado
    a swaggering show of courage
    He sang with exaggerated romantic bravado in his soft, sweet tenor.
  30. fervently
    with strong emotion or zeal
    For a year after James had died, she’d cupped his half-dollar pendant between her pressed palms and prayed fervently for a miracle, for a telegram that would say GOOD NEWS! IT WAS A TERRIBLE MISTAKE, AND PRIVATE JAMES XAVIER O’NEILL HAS BEEN FOUND, SAFE, IN A FARMHOUSE IN FRANCE.
  31. misgiving
    uneasiness about the fitness of an action
    He shook off his misgiving and was gone.
  32. egregious
    conspicuously and outrageously bad or reprehensible
    “Phoenix are expecting me, and if I can’t hail a taxicab, I’ll go from being forgivably late to being egregiously late.”
  33. cheeky
    offensively bold
    “You owe me twenty dollars.”
    “Cash or check?” he said cheekily.
  34. fanaticism
    excessive intolerance of opposing views
    Evie skimmed the pages of a book titled Religious Fervor and Fanaticism in the Burned-Over District.
  35. brethren
    the lay members of a male religious order
    The inscription read THE PENTACLE OF THE BRETHREN, BRETHREN, NY, C. 1832.
  36. fetching
    very attractive; capturing interest
    The artist had given the comet a face, and it smiled down at the fetching girl.
  37. marquee
    a structure, often with a signboard, over an entrance
    Outside the Globe Theatre on Forty-second Street, the lighted marquee blazed FLORENZ ZIEGFELD PRESENTS NO FOOLIN’: A MUSICAL REVUE GLORIFYING THE AMERICAN GIRL in tall letters.
  38. ermine
    the expensive white fur of a small mammal
    She nodded toward the lower level, where the seductive motion-picture starlet, draped in ermine and velvet, enjoyed the stares of admirers.
  39. bevy
    a large gathering of people of a particular type
    The curtains opened, and a bevy of smiling chorus girls in brightly colored bathing suits tap danced in perfect synchronization while a tuxedo-clad gentleman sang of beautiful girls.
  40. placid
    calm and free from disturbance
    The other dancers’ placid expressions suggested they were thinking about nothing more exciting than washing out their stockings after the show.
Created on Sun Oct 23 14:03:03 EDT 2022 (updated Wed Aug 30 10:43:55 EDT 2023)

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