Dragon's Gate: Chapters 4–6

by Laurence Yep
Set in the 1860s, this third book of the Golden Mountain Chronicles focuses on teenage Otter Young, who dreams of saving China from the destructive Manchus and British by joining his father and uncle's Great Work in America.

Here are links to our lists for the novel: Chapters 1–3, Chapters 4–6, Chapters 7–10, Chapters 11–19, Chapters 20–30
40 words 12 learners

Learn words with Flashcards and other activities

Definition First
Print Flashcards

Other learning activities

Answer a few questions about each word. Use this to prep for your next quiz! Compete with other teams in real time to see who answers the most questions correctly! Test your spelling acumen. Read the definition, listen to the word and try spelling it!

Teaching tools

Create and assign quizzes to your students to test their vocabulary. Assign learning activities including Practice, Vocabulary Jams and Spelling Bees to your students, and monitor their progress in real-time.

Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. intricate
    having many complexly arranged elements; elaborate
    Father's index finger traced the curves of the intricate carving.
  2. inevitable
    incapable of being avoided or prevented
    When the wall stopped him, Father gave in to the inevitable.
  3. tonic
    a medicine that strengthens and invigorates
    “A spoonful of prevention is worth a basket of cures,” Mother said, and poured out another spoonful of tonic for me.
  4. tarnish
    place under suspicion; make less respected
    However, even if the robes were rented, it only tarnished their image a little.
  5. sassy
    improperly forward or bold
    “He’s getting fat and sassy in San Francisco,” Uncle answered.
  6. ratchet
    move by degrees in one direction only
    Next to us, the usual rattle of the water chain slowed to a low, ratcheting sound and then resumed again.
  7. trough
    a long narrow shallow receptacle
    A water chain was a narrow wooden trough through which a “chain” of wooden boards swept water along.
  8. undertake
    enter upon an activity or enterprise
    As we walked along the dikes dividing the fields, Uncle licked his lips as if he were undertaking a difficult task.
  9. radical
    far beyond the norm
    “Everybody there, they free. Everybody, they equal.”
    It was an even more radical notion than I had expected. I mean people aren't equal. Some grow up tall and some grow up short.
  10. ledger
    a record in which commercial accounts are recorded
    She was asking me, in front of a living legend, if I wanted to scribble in ledgers all the rest of my life...and yet I couldn't have asked for a better mother.
  11. obscure
    remote and separate physically or socially
    Important people were always making their way to our obscure corner of the district to pay their respects to my father and uncle.
  12. troupe
    an organization of performers and associated personnel
    And there wasn't a traveling troupe of actors, acrobats or puppeteers passing within twenty kilometers that didn't stop by to put on a show.
  13. outlandish
    noticeably or extremely unconventional or unusual
    The dark hat and denim clothes and outlandish boots made my schoolmate look like a strange, exotic seabird blown off course by some freak wind.
  14. humdrum
    not challenging; dull and lacking excitement
    When Father and Uncle finally left a few months later, it was Braid who went with them and not I. So I resigned myself to living out a dull, dreary humdrum life counting sweet potatoes in the Middle Kingdom.
  15. resign
    accept as inevitable
    I tried to resign myself to the life of a young country gentleman.
  16. kingfisher
    a colorful bird with a short tail and long, sharp bill
    The sky was so blue that day. It was the bright, burning blue of a kingfisher as it twirled and darted under the sun.
  17. balmy
    mild and pleasant
    Though it was early winter, the weather had turned warm and balmy, so Cricket and I headed into the mountains to Dragon's Gate for the festival.
  18. gorge
    a deep ravine, usually with a river running through it
    Ages ago, someone had erected a stone gate that stood astride the river just as it thundered out of a deep gorge and then thundered swiftly down the mountainside.
  19. idly
    in a lazy, casual, or aimless way
    Idly I wondered what Father and Uncle Foxfire were doing.
  20. astride
    with one leg on each side
    With the rest of the crowd, we stared dutifully at the old stone gate that stood astride the river.
  21. sidle
    move unobtrusively or furtively
    At that moment, a man sidled up next to me.
  22. hardy
    having rugged physical strength
    "And isn't there some spirit in the gate that grants the wish of those hardy enough to pass through these portals?”
  23. kickback
    a bribe paid to induce someone to enter into a transaction
    "I can recommend a good restaurant, young sirs.”
    "For which you'll get a generous kickback.”
  24. torrent
    an overwhelming number or amount
    I expected a torrent of curses the equal of the river.
  25. flourish
    a showy gesture
    And with a theatrical bow and flourish of his arm, he returned to the gate to try to pry money out of some other tourist.
  26. coax
    influence or persuade by gentle and persistent urging
    As he watched him leave, Cricket muttered to me, "He'll probably fish up any coins he can coax out of the tourists.”
  27. scraggly
    lacking neatness or order
    His hair was scraggly, the crown of his head wasn't shaved at all and his shirt was open.
  28. prominent
    conspicuous in position or importance
    However, I was fifteen and the son of a prominent, wealthy house.
  29. accordingly
    in agreement with
    So I asked myself what Uncle Foxfire would have done in a situation like this, and I acted accordingly.
  30. ruffian
    a cruel and brutal fellow
    Even if I hadn’t come from seven generations of rebels, I wasn’t about to bow my head to a drunken ruffian.
  31. stiletto
    a small dagger with a tapered blade
    The soldier slid a stiletto from the sleeve of his free hand. “Don't tell me I've caught me a rebel.” He waved the sharp tip in front of my face.
  32. plume
    a feather or cluster of feathers worn as an ornament
    As they capped their heads, a half-dozen plumes suddenly waved in the air.
  33. thrive
    grow vigorously
    Somewhere I heard parakeets squawking. We didn't get them wild like they did down in the hot, humid lowlands; but escaped pets could thrive and even breed up here.
  34. forge
    a workplace where metal is worked by heating and hammering
    Even now, in my dreams I saw my birth father, a big, dark shadow, smelling of smoke from his blacksmith's forge—with arms that could have tossed me up to heaven.
  35. prosperous
    in fortunate circumstances financially
    Since she couldn't forget the days of famine, she insisted on having plenty of food in the house, so there was always plenty to eat. Her body simply rejected the prosperous sign of fat just as she rejected finery.
  36. spry
    moving quickly and lightly
    She was simply Mother, the woman who still went down to tend her fields like any poor farmer and who was still spry enough to trip her husband two falls out of three when they wrestled.
  37. crane
    stretch, so as to see better
    She craned her head back to measure me better. “I'd say that you're just about the same height, in fact. But he had more flesh to him—though I suppose you'll fill out when you get older."
  38. elation
    a feeling of joy and pride
    “Scolding's a luxury. If we had enough time, I'd try to track down Tiny's brothers. I think they fled to Hong Kong. But we have to get you out of the country as soon as we can."
    For her sake, I tried to hide my sense of elation.
  39. clout
    special advantage or influence
    Our name has some clout with the agents. They'll see that you get on a safe ship that'll land you alive on the other side of the ocean.
  40. clamor
    utter or proclaim insistently and noisily
    Suddenly, now that I had my wish, I could feel a host of fears clamoring inside me.
Created on Thu May 09 18:32:12 EDT 2024 (updated Sat May 11 14:13:19 EDT 2024)

Sign up now (it’s free!)

Whether you’re a teacher or a learner, Vocabulary.com can put you or your class on the path to systematic vocabulary improvement.