Dragon's Gate: Chapters 7–10

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

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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. debark
    exit from a vehicle, especially a boat
    At a city on the river, we debarked.
  2. assume
    take to be the case or to be true
    From my father's letters, I assumed that this was the road for the fire wagon.
  3. dialect
    the usage or vocabulary characteristic of a group of people
    He spoke in the dialect of the Three Districts.
  4. billow
    rise and move, as in waves
    Smoke billowed from the pipe on top of the fire wagon at the very front.
  5. provisions
    a stock or supply of foods
    A westerner with thick sideburns directed some of us into one of the houses, letting us make room where we could among the provisions.
  6. lurch
    move abruptly
    We had no sooner settled down than we heard a loud howl from the fire wagon; and the whole train lurched forward.
  7. gouge
    make a groove in
    Even when the land curved, the tracks tried to run as straight as they could along big holes gouged indiscriminately from the side of the hill.
  8. indiscriminately
    in a random manner
    Even when the land curved, the tracks tried to run as straight as they could along big holes gouged indiscriminately from the side of the hill.
  9. tamp
    press down tightly
    A crew of T’ang men was setting down the wooden slabs. A crew of westerners rested a pair of iron rails on top of them. To finish up, another T’ang crew was tamping gravel down around the wood.
  10. mortar
    a substance used as a bond in masonry or for covering a wall
    The blocks had been cut to fit one another without mortar. The fit was so exact that you couldn't have inserted a knife blade between the stones.
  11. chasm
    a deep opening in the earth's surface
    Beneath us, in the chasm, lay huge boulders, many of them as big as houses.
  12. sheer
    very steep; having a prominent and almost vertical front
    On the other side of the bridge, the mountains were too smooth and sheer for even brush to find a grip.
  13. flounder
    move clumsily or struggle to move, as in mud or water
    They floundered and high-stepped their way through the waist-high snow to our train, slid back the doors and urgently pantomimed for us to unload the supplies onto a long row of sledges pulled by oxen.
  14. pantomime
    a performance using gestures and movements without words
    He moved one hand slowly in pantomime, with accompanying noises.
  15. bedevil
    be confusing or perplexing to
    “These things have been bedeviling me ever since I saw them. What in God’s creation are they?”
  16. morosely
    in a sullen, moody manner
    Sean was staring morosely over the side of the sledge. His coat was now flat, so I supposed he had lost his father’s bottle.
  17. clamber
    climb awkwardly, as if by scrambling
    In his eagerness, Sean clambered heedlessly over everyone to get the bottle.
  18. trundle
    move along on or as if on wheels or a wheeled vehicle
    We trundled on, but the sledges ahead of us turned off.
  19. incline
    an elevated geological formation
    So the driver had all of us—Sean included—tumble out of the sledge and help shove it up the trail. When we reached a path with a more gradual incline, we could climb back into the sledge.
  20. lull
    a period of calm weather
    “The wind’s shifting back to the southwest. That means more storms will roll in from the sea. I’m glad I’ll be out of it. You’re lucky there was a lull.”
  21. shaft
    a column of light
    A shaft of gray daylight fell like a column through an airhole that had been dug straight up through the snow to the surface above.
  22. keen
    express grief verbally
    Over our heads, the wind had risen to a high keening sound; and when it blew across the airholes, I felt as if I were walking inside a giant flute.
  23. dirge
    a song or hymn of mourning as a memorial to a dead person
    The deeper we went into the snowy maze, the more I felt like the wind's tune was a funeral dirge.
  24. warily
    in a manner marked by keen caution and watchful prudence
    Brush smiled warily. "What sort of insult is that?”
  25. modest
    humble in spirit or manner
    “I'm his nephew and I'm joining him." I tried to look modest, but in my mind I was thinking: And then I'll help him in the Great Work.
  26. bluff
    a high steep bank
    “When you arrived, did you see the bluff above the camp?"
  27. dispatch
    send away towards a designated goal
    Even Shifty had been dispatched to a crew of Strangers—each to his own kind.
  28. painstakingly
    in a very careful manner
    The snow tunnel now extended another seven meters through the snow to the side of the mountain itself, where a hole had been painstakingly chiseled out of the rock.
  29. propriety
    correct behavior
    For once, he forgot about propriety and used his free arm to reach around me and give me a quick hug.
  30. foreman
    a person who exercises control over workers
    As he turned, he swung his drill off his shoulder, bringing a bushel of snow down from the wall upon the head foreman.
  31. chisel
    an edge tool with a flat steel blade with a cutting edge
    Shadowy men worked in the dim light, breath steaming from their mouths as they used hammers and chisels to smooth the walls.
  32. stifling
    characterized by oppressive heat and humidity
    With each meter the walls grew rougher and the air more and more stifling.
  33. swathe
    wrap in or as if in strips of cloth
    In front of him was a man swathed from head to toe in scarves.
  34. vehemently
    in a forceful manner
    He was arguing vehemently with Shrimp, and with a thin westerner with a long, dark, curly beard that hung down to his chest and a second westerner in a fur cap like a cylinder and a long red suede coat that hung down to his knees with black fur trimming the collar, cuffs and hem.
  35. overseer
    a person who directs and manages others
    And the man in the cap is Kilroy, our overseer. He supervises the crews at the heading.
  36. lapse
    pass into a specified state or condition
    Uncle Foxfire lapsed into the T'ang people's tongue.
  37. glower
    look angry or sullen as if to signal disapproval
    "Yes," Uncle Foxfire glowered. "With us giving and them taking. You're supposed to see that they keep our contracts. We've been in the mountain for six hours and we’re only supposed to be in it for four."
  38. browbeat
    discourage or frighten with threats or a domineering manner
    Back home, if someone tried to make fun of America, he would browbeat that critic until the man had to apologize.
  39. in vain
    without a successful result or effect
    “We're learning about them from the bottom up,” Father said, trying in vain to add humor to the moment.
  40. humbug
    a person who is intentionally deceptive or insincere
    “You’re worse than a liar, because a liar actually tricks people. You’re only a humbug who doesn’t have the energy to trick people. Instead, you let them trick themselves.”
Created on Thu May 09 18:32:21 EDT 2024 (updated Sat May 11 11:36:20 EDT 2024)

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