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Kings of B'More: List 3

When sixteen-year-old Harrison Meredith finds out that his best friend Linus Munro is moving away, he plans a surprise day of adventures.

This list covers pages 144–234 of the 2022 Kokila edition.

Here are links to our lists for the novel: List 1, List 2, List 3, List 4, List 5
40 words 14 learners

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Full list of words from this list:

  1. spire
    a tall tower that forms the superstructure of a building
    In the corner of your eye you'd always catch the edge of a house, the spire of a church, a peeling billboard, a looming apartment building. It was never just sky.
  2. facade
    the front of a building
    He slowly lowered his gaze, and the building, a dark stack of trapezoids, slowly came into view. It looked black at first, but then it revealed itself—its facade was made up of copper-colored screens with intricate designs.
  3. inevitable
    incapable of being avoided or prevented
    He'd seen his parents playacting as their old selves for a long time, for years, just to avoid the inevitable truth: that they'd grown apart.
  4. sparse
    not dense or plentiful
    They wound their way through a maze of stanchions, the crowd still relatively sparse.
  5. stanchion
    any vertical post or rod used as a support
    They descended from the lobby to the concourse, an area where another serpentine set of stanchions would lead, it seemed, to all of history.
  6. docent
    a guide who leads others on a tour
    A docent in a black blazer stood in front of a glass door. She spoke to the small crowd at the end of the line.
  7. concourse
    a wide hallway in a building where people can walk
    Linus ducked under the stanchion and walked quickly down the concourse, around the corner to the escalator, and rode into the air.
  8. contemplative
    deeply or seriously thoughtful
    Ms. Doreen continued, "What you're going to do is you're going to walk every step of the way through our history, starting at the beginning and ending up back here, where we got to today. It's a lot. It might seem like too much. But it's important. That's why y'all are here. Once you get back to the surface, you can go into the Contemplative Court. There's a waterfall there and benches and you can just sit and let it all settle."
  9. toil
    work hard
    He looked at a painted mural of Black people toiling in a field of white.
  10. gumption
    fortitude and determination
    He drifted past other statues—of Phyllis Wheatley and Elizabeth Freeman—and then turned to discover the whole cabin that had been magic'd to the inside of the museum. He just didn't get it. It was so old. It was made of wood and, what, gumption?
  11. antebellum
    belonging to a period before a war
    Before Harrison could respond, the guy charged away and vanished into a side room named "Antebellum Politics."
  12. ominously
    in a manner suggesting something bad will happen
    Behind a pane of glass: a Klan hood, lit ominously from above.
  13. placid
    calm and free from disturbance
    He stared up at the falling stream and he was nine again, the following summer, facing the placid surface of a community pool in the lessons his parents enrolled him and Corrine in every year thereafter.
  14. inherent
    existing as an essential constituent or characteristic
    At the tips of his fingers, unreachable no matter how fast or how far or how long he swam, was always the promise inherent in water: of lightness, of buoyancy, that he could float away.
  15. flashy
    tastelessly showy
    A giant car was on display up front. And to his left, less flashy but nonetheless intriguing, was a curved white wall with a dark blue sign on it that read VISUAL ART.
  16. swath
    a path or strip (also figurative)
    It was mostly gray, with a swath of blue on one side. It looked to Linus like an aerial map, like looking at the Harbor from above.
  17. carabiner
    an oblong metal ring with a spring clip
    Cool Aparna, seventeen-year-old Baltimore County resident and Plowshares rising senior, held nothing except her cell in one hand and a chunky key ring—with multiple metal keys, a car key, a carabiner, a gym tag, a Panera tag, and mace—in the other.
  18. subtle
    difficult to detect or grasp by the mind or analyze
    "Do you use skin lighteners?"
    "Ugh, no. I get not-so- subtle hints about it from some aunties, but, like, no. I'm good."
  19. benevolence
    disposition to do good
    "It isn't really a thing you donate, is it?"
    Cool Aparna looked at me with what seemed like benevolence. "I think everyone deserves to feel good."
  20. solace
    comfort offered to one who is disappointed or miserable
    Then he was shocked to realize he'd thought of Baltimore Cemetery as theirs. But it was true—it was their domain, it and all they surveyed. And inside it they'd shared secrets and questions and provided each other with answers and solace.
  21. venture
    proceed somewhere despite the risk of possible dangers
    They'd initially ventured up while still vibrating with excitement about getting the job at BaltiTours.
  22. demographic
    of or relating to the characteristics of human populations
    "Do you plan on paying, young man?" It's amazing how some people's tones can make even your demographic truths into a read.
  23. clamber
    climb awkwardly, as if by scrambling
    They clambered down the staircase, coming to a connection between two train cars.
  24. careen
    move sideways or in an unsteady way
    The guy from the museum tumbled down the stairs and came careening through the connection between the cars.
  25. brusquely
    in a blunt direct manner
    The man grabbed the handle and jostled it brusquely, to no avail.
  26. cask
    a cylindrical container that holds liquids
    "No bottles, no cans, no flasks, none of those Nalgenes, no Tupperware full of juice, no casks."
  27. explicitly
    in a clearly expressed manner
    "They just explicitly said that it is illegal to be thirsty at Pride."
  28. placate
    cause to be more favorably inclined
    Linus positioned himself at dueling distance from the ATM. He held his card out like a treat a wild-animal tamer used to placate a lion.
  29. vigilant
    carefully observant or attentive
    "You're going to be caught out here unawares. You need to stay vigilant. Things are crazy."
  30. admonition
    cautionary advice about something imminent
    It stared Harrison in the eye as if backing up the admonition of the cashier.
  31. confines
    a bounded scope
    The security guards were still calling out all kinds of drinking equipment that was not allowed within the confines of the Pride festival.
  32. stifle
    smother or suppress
    Linus's shoulders were shaking as he attempted to stifle his laughter.
  33. tout
    advertise in strongly positive terms
    There were people dressed in matching T-shirts touting their companies or their organizations, walking in groups after marching in the parade or breaking apart and creating a kind of "find the pattern" game.
  34. disparity
    inequality or difference in some respect
    "I'm just shocked you call this a city. It's a bunch of different amusement parks with deep economic and racial disparities."
  35. incidental
    following or accompanying as a consequence
    All of them save Linus spent their days at Plowshares talking, making up jokes, and building that library of incidental knowledge that houses a friendship.
  36. appropriate
    take possession of by force
    He clacked the fan open and shut lightly, not wanting to draw attention and be accused of appropriating the culture of any dad, grandpa, stepfather, or wise old mentor.
  37. reverie
    an abstracted state of absorption
    Harrison felt Linus wrapping him in a bear hug, pulling him out of his reverie.
  38. pervade
    spread or diffuse through
    There seemed to be a deep sadness that pervaded every mention of them, every part of that family, and Harrison didn't understand it.
  39. hedge
    minimize loss or risk
    He could hedge his bets and say that he left it at home and pray that Aparna was close enough for it to seem plausible.
  40. haughty
    having or showing arrogant superiority
    Corrine puffed her chest out, haughty and dismissive.
Created on Tue Apr 04 15:33:59 EDT 2023 (updated Thu Apr 06 10:01:18 EDT 2023)

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