Keep Dancing, Lizzie Chu: Chapters 18–25

by Maisie Chan
Twelve-year-old Lizzie Chu is determined to journey west from Glasgow, Scotland to Blackpool, England so that she can honor her grandmother's last wish of enjoying afternoon tea at a historic ballroom.

Here are links to our lists for the novel: Chapters 1–7, Chapters 8–17, Chapters 18–25, Chapters 26–33
40 words 6 learners

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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. lustrous
    made smooth and bright by or as if by rubbing
    Her black hair was thick and lustrous.
  2. ethereal
    of heaven or the spirit
    The colorful pastel ribbons Tyler had added to Chi’s costume made her look ethereal, like she really had come from some heavenly realm rather than Partick in the West End of Glasgow.
  3. manifest
    reveal its presence or make an appearance
    He was as starstruck as I was when he saw his beloved goddess manifested in our dingy hallway.
  4. dingy
    thickly covered with ingrained dirt or soot
    He was as starstruck as I was when he saw his beloved goddess manifested in our dingy hallway.
  5. totter
    move without being stable, as if threatening to fall
    He tottered forward, his hands on his chest like he was keeping his heart inside.
  6. venture
    put forward, of a guess, in spite of possible refutation
    “You know how long it took her to get ready this morning?” Minh asked me. Before I could venture a guess, he blurted out, “Too long!”
  7. exasperated
    greatly annoyed; out of patience
    “Why is everyone bringing so much stuff?” Minh asked, a little exasperated. “We’re literally just going for one day.”
  8. abbey
    a church or building associated with a monastery or convent
    They were all in big trouble. Monkey flew to see Guan Yin and asked her to help. She flew to the abbey and restored the magic tree to its former glory.
  9. enlightenment
    the beatitude that transcends the cycle of reincarnation
    They reached their destination and returned with the sacred scrolls. Guan Yin was pleased with their progress, and their reward was enlightenment!
  10. matted
    tangled in a dense mass
    It says on this website that Sandy was a fish ogre with matted hair and a necklace of skulls—sounds just like Minh to me.
  11. profound
    showing intellectual penetration or emotional depth
    “They all did. The story shows that even though a journey may not always go the way you expect, it might be the way you need.”
    I’d never heard anything so profound come out of Chi’s mouth before.
  12. grating
    unpleasantly harsh in sound
    A grating sound started to hurt my ears, so I rolled up the window. It must have been the wind.
  13. definitive
    supplying or being a final or conclusive settlement
    She tried not to give definitive answers to any of Wai Gong’s questions. There was a lot of “it shall be so” and “this is the way,” which I was sure she had lifted from The Mandalorian.
  14. emission
    a substance that is released
    “No...no...no!” Minh said as the car began to move as if it were coughing. It jerked forward, spluttering like someone with a bad cold.
    “Guan Yin, bless us, this does not look good,” Wai Gong said.
    “Dad told you not to use your pal for the emissions test, Minh! You should have listened to him!” Chi yelled.
  15. plume
    anything that resembles a feather in shape or lightness
    “The engine is overheating,” said Minh. “I shouldn’t have said yes to driving you. The car hasn’t been on a trip this long before. I knew this was a bad idea!” Plumes of smoke rose into the sky.
  16. judder
    shake or vibrate rapidly and intensively
    “I’m too young to die, and I can’t die in this outfit!” Chi yelped as the car began to judder and splutter.
  17. reception
    quality or fidelity of a broadcast
    “I can’t get a signal here—we’re in a reception black spot or something. Just what I don’t need. Can you all look and see if you have a signal?”
  18. cower
    crouch or curl up
    Minh had his hands on his hips. The rest of us cowered behind him.
  19. stocky
    having a short and solid form or stature
    The leader was shorter than me, but he was stocky.
  20. designate
    give an assignment to someone
    “You talk to them, Minh—you’re the designated adult,” she said.
  21. outskirts
    area relatively far from the center, as of a city or town
    Marge’s Angels took us to a small village on the outskirts of Bamber Bridge, then to a little greasy spoon café on the main street called the Hot Bite.
  22. disheveled
    in disarray; extremely disorderly
    Chi was looking particularly disheveled—there were black oil stains on the bottom of her robe, and her hairpieces were falling all over her face.
  23. bombard
    address continuously, as if with a barrage
    I felt like I was being bombarded suddenly from all directions—first Minh, then Marge, and now Tyler.
  24. burly
    muscular and heavily built
    “A carer! Oof, that’s difficult enough for an adult, never mind a young lass like yourself,” said Dot, a burly biker with a red bandana around her head.
  25. dementia
    mental deterioration of organic or functional origin
    “I looked after my mum for a few years—she had Alzheimer’s, which is a type of dementia. We didn’t realize at first, but then the forgetting began, and one day I visited and she’d forgotten who I was, just like that. It’s a lot for a young girl.”
  26. relish
    derive or receive pleasure from
    “Why don’t you guess why I’m dressed like this?” Chi said, relishing the attention.
  27. brink
    the limit beyond which something happens or changes
    Our own journey to the west was on the brink of failing.
  28. lurch
    move suddenly or as if unable to control one's movements
    “It’s not here...it’s not in my rucksack...”
    My stomach lurched.
  29. karma
    effects of one's actions that determine his or her destiny
    “You’ve already helped us by bringing us here. I can’t ask for more help from you,” I said.
    “Nonsense. Do you believe in karma?” Dot asked.
  30. rickety
    inclined to shake as from weakness or defect
    We jogged as fast as we could down the hill until we saw the rickety old garage, Wai Gong only just managing to keep up with us.
  31. nimble
    moving quickly and lightly
    Tyler worked fast; his nimble fingers came in handy.
  32. abacus
    a manual calculator with counters on rods or in grooves
    Wai Gong counted like a human abacus; it surprised me how fast he was doing it.
  33. elated
    exultantly proud and joyful; in high spirits
    “I can’t believe we made it!” I said. I felt elated. Things were back on track. Literally.
  34. reckon
    judge to be probable
    “If you’d kept the sweet for however many years, I reckon the word would have faded and it would have gone all chalky and moldy. I think it’s best that you ate it, since you made your wife happy in that moment too. And now you have the memory inside you forever.”
  35. yin
    the dark, negative principle in Chinese dualistic cosmology
    Dancing was our yang activity, fast and powerful. And qigong was our yin activity. It helped us to cope with becoming parents again.
  36. beefy
    muscular and heavily built
    The biggest rugby guy nodded and stood up near his seat. “Me shoulders are tight, actually,” he said with a thick Yorkshire accent. He started rotating his big beefy arms in the air like Wai Gong.
  37. promenade
    a public area set aside as a pedestrian walk
    We walked in pairs toward the promenade. The sea air smelled of freshly deep-fried doughnuts, and a cool breeze made the sides of my hair flutter.
  38. taut
    subjected to great tension; stretched tight
    Her face was taut.
    “Uh-oh,” she said.
  39. earful
    a severe scolding
    “Mum’s calling, and I’ve got a gazillion missed calls from Minh, who is no doubt very annoyed with me, but he’ll get over it.”
    “Are you going to answer it?” I asked, knowing that Jane was going to give Chi an earful.
  40. panoramic
    as from an altitude or distance
    I took the camera from Tyler and started to film panoramic shots of the beach.
Created on Thu Jul 11 08:24:01 EDT 2024 (updated Thu Jul 11 18:06:08 EDT 2024)

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