The Farthest Shore: Chapters 10–13

by Ursula K. Le Guin
In this third book of The Earthsea Cycle, Archmage Ged and Prince Arren must travel to the end of the world in order to close a breach that threatens magic and all living things.

Here are links to our lists for the novel: Chapters 1–2, Chapters 3–4, Chapters 5–6, Chapters 7–9, Chapters 10–13
40 words 8 learners

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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. foreboding
    a feeling of evil to come
    “Therefore I am the Sparrowhawk,” the mage said; he was still cheerful, seeming to shrug off forethought and foreboding.
  2. concord
    a harmonious state of things and of their properties
    For these were thinking creatures, with speech and ancient wisdom: in the patterns of their flight there was a fierce, willed concord.
  3. insolence
    an offensive disrespectful impudent act
    That was an insolence; but I seek no quarrel with these creatures.
  4. promontory
    a natural elevation
    The boat rounded a short promontory, and he saw on the shore what he took for a moment to be a ruined fortress.
  5. entrails
    internal organs collectively
    The beach between the dying dragon and the sea’s edge was tracked and scored by the feet and heavy bodies of his kind, and his entrails were trodden into the sand.
  6. pinnacle
    a lofty peak
    Neither Arren nor Sparrowhawk spoke until they were well clear of that island and heading across the choppy, restless channel of the Dragons’ Run, full of reefs and pinnacles and shapes of rock, toward the northern islands of the double chain.
  7. anemone
    a marine polyp that resembles a flower
    Arren now picked their boat’s way, between the rocks and reefs. Some of these lay low, under or half-under the wash of the waves, covered with anemone and barnacle and ribbony sea fern; like water-monsters, shelled or sinuous.
  8. sinuous
    curved or curving in and out
    Arren now picked their boat’s way, between the rocks and reefs. Some of these lay low, under or half-under the wash of the waves, covered with anemone and barnacle and ribbony sea fern; like water-monsters, shelled or sinuous.
  9. diffuse
    spread out; not concentrated in one place
    Others stood up in cliff and pinnacle sheer from the sea, and these were arches and half-arches, carven towers, fantastic shapes of animals, boar’s backs and serpent’s heads, all huge, deformed, diffuse, as if life writhed half-conscious in the rock.
  10. garble
    distort or make false by mutilation or addition
    As they sailed on, the garbling echoes lessened and this syllable came more clearly, so that Arren said, “Is there a voice in the cave?”
  11. enigmatic
    not clear to the understanding
    And, though Lookfar picked her way like a cat among the dangers, they were busy with the steering for some while, and slowly the cave forever thundering out its enigmatic word fell behind them.
  12. phantasmagoria
    a constantly changing medley of real or imagined images
    Now the water deepened, and they came out from among the phantasmagoria of the rocks.
  13. sheer
    very steep; having a prominent and almost vertical front
    Its cliffs were black and made up of many cylinders or great pillars pressed together, with straight edges and plane surfaces, rising three hundred feet sheer from the water.
  14. palisade
    a strong fence made of stakes driven into the ground
    He scanned the terrific palisades, and Arren looked up at them uneasily, thinking how a dragon might drop from that far, black rim and be upon them almost with its shadow.
  15. insuperable
    incapable of being surpassed or excelled
    In his voice was an insuperable gentleness.
  16. fulcrum
    the pivot about which a lever turns
    For first we two must stand upon the balance point, the very fulcrum of the world. And if I fall, you fall, and all the rest.
  17. sedge
    a grassy plant that grows in wet areas around the world
    The dunes ran inland, low and grassy, for half a mile or so, and then there were lagoons, thick with sedge and salt-reeds, and beyond those, low hills lay yellow-brown and empty to the end of sight.
  18. alight
    come down
    It circled and stooped, and down it came with that thunder and shrill whistle of outspread golden wings. It alighted on huge talons on the summit of the dune.
  19. accord
    be harmonious or consistent with
    This was no carrion stink; dry and metallic, it accorded with the faint odors of the sea and the salt sand, a clean, wild smell.
  20. comely
    very pleasing to the eye
    His hair was long and black, falling in a mass of glossy curls; he was broad-shouldered and tall, a strong, comely man.
  21. forlorn
    marked by or showing hopelessness
    The hills rose up golden and forlorn upon their right, and on their left lay the salt marshes and the western sea.
  22. lurid
    shining with an unnatural red glow
    Fire shot from his jaws, and smoke and sparks from his red nostrils; his teeth gleamed like blades of ivory in that lurid glare.
  23. ramshackle
    in poor or broken-down condition
    As they came closer Arren saw that the ramshackle walls were built up of great bones: whales’ bones, he thought at first, and then saw the white triangles edged like knives, and knew they were the bones of a dragon.
  24. gilt
    having the deep slightly brownish color of gold
    He wore an armor of gilt bronze of ancient fashion; it was rent as if by hatchet blows, and the jeweled scabbard of his sword was empty.
  25. malign
    evil or harmful in nature or influence
    Malign and cold, the metal lay in his heart. He crouched, and the blood ran black and poisonous, steaming, from his mouth, and the fire died in his nostrils till they became like pits of ash.
  26. semblance
    the outward or apparent appearance or form of something
    None of them bore wounds, as had the semblance of Erreth-Akbe summoned into daylight at the place of his death.
  27. gait
    the rate of moving, especially walking or running
    It seemed to Arren that his companion’s gait had slowed somewhat, and sometimes he hesitated.
  28. smattering
    a small number or amount
    And so determined, I took the Pelnish Lore again, but found only hints and smatterings of what I needed.
  29. vindictiveness
    a hateful desire for revenge
    Very strange was the mixture of despair and vindictiveness, terror and vanity, in his words and voice.
  30. clamber
    climb awkwardly, as if by scrambling
    Rocks clattered under their feet and under their hands, for they had to clamber.
  31. abominable
    unequivocally detestable
    Arren looked at that dry, dark springhead, the mouth of dust, the place where a dead soul, crawling into earth and darkness, was born again dead: abominable it was to him, and he said in a harsh voice, struggling with deadly sickness, “Let it be shut!”
  32. abreast
    alongside each other, facing in the same direction
    But often the way was too narrow for them to go abreast, or Arren had to go in front to seek out footing.
  33. doggedly
    with obstinate determination
    He crawled forward, when he was able to do so, doggedly.
  34. jowl
    the jaw in vertebrates that is hinged to open the mouth
    Its head, the color of iron, stained as with red rust at nostril and eye-socket and jowl, hung facing him, almost over him.
  35. profound
    showing intellectual penetration or emotional depth
    It was carven of iron, shaped from rock—but the eyes, the eyes he dared not look into, the eyes like oil coiling on water, like yellow smoke behind glass, the opaque, profound, yellow eyes watched Arren.
  36. rivulet
    a small stream
    He stood up and started to walk up the rivulet to find their packs.
  37. astride
    with one leg on each side
    And there in front of the wings and the first great iron thorn of the spine-armor, in the hollow of the neck there was a place for a man to sit astride, or two men.
  38. unfurl
    unroll, unfold, or spread out
    Slowly the wings lifted and unfurled.
  39. haunch
    the upper part of the leg of an animal, often used for food
    Carefully it gathered in the spring of its great haunches, and leapt like a cat up into the air, and the wings beat down and bore them above the fog that drifted over Selidor.
  40. deign
    do something that one considers to be below one's dignity
    Without landing, without looking down, the great iron-colored worm flew over the little islands and the little towns and farms, and deigned not even a belch of fire for such small fry.
Created on Thu Dec 15 14:48:19 EST 2022 (updated Tue Aug 22 13:09:20 EDT 2023)

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