| |  | | Some words to know... | | | | Vocabulary Chapter 1: The Sound of the Shell - scar : A protruding isolated rock "All round him the long scar smashed into the jungle was a bath of heat."
- crooks : curves behind the knees "The naked crooks of his knees were plump.."
- lodgments : resting places "He came forward, searching out safe lodgments for his feet..."
- proffer : offer "The fat boy waited to be asked his name in turn but his proffer of acquaintance was not made."
- garter : a band worn to hold up a stocking "He ripped off each stocking with is elastic garter ..."
- sidelong : in a sideways manner "Ralph looked at him [Piggy] sidelong and said nothing."
- motif : single or repeated design "Here the beach was interrupted abruptly by the square motif of the landscape..."
- efflorescence : blossoming " It [ lagoon] was clear to the bottom and bright with the efflorescence of tropical weed and coral."
- specious : deceptive "Ralph had been deceived before now by the specious appearance of depth in a beach pool and he approached this one preparing to be disappointed."
- lolled : lounged; hung around "Ralph lolled in the water."
- swathing : engulfing "Sleep enveloped him [Ralph] like the swathing mirages that were wrestling with the brilliance of the lagoon. "
- effulgence : brilliance "...the heat seemed to increase till it became a threatening weight and the lagoon attacked them with a blinding effulgence ."
- enmity : ill-will "He [Ralph] trotted through the sand, enduring the sun's enmity , crossed the platform and found his scattered clothes."
- fronds : large leaves with many divisions "When the breezes reached the platform the palm fronds would whisper..."
- decorous : proper and in good taste "Suddenly Piggy was a-bubble with decorous excitement."
- interposed : intruded: got between "The shell was interesting and pretty and worthy plaything; but the vivid phantoms of his day-dream still interposed between him and Piggy..."
- embossed : raised "...eighteen inches of shell with a slight spiral twist and covered with a delicate, embossed pattern."
- intricacies : details "A deep, harsh note boomed under the palms, spread through the intricacies of the forest and echoed back..."
19. fluking :changing by chance "The note boomed again; and then at his firmer pressure, the note, fluking up an octave, became a strident blare more penetrating than before." - strident : harsh and loud "The note boomed again; and then at his firmer pressure, the note, fluking up an octave, became a strident blare more penetrating than before."
- wubber : blubber: cry "Ralph's breath failed; the note dropped the octave, became a low wubber , was a rush of air."
- tow : pale; straw-colored "The two boys [Sam and Eric], bullet-headed and with hair like tow , flung themselves down and lay grinning and panting at Ralph like dogs."
- incredulous : unbelieving: skeptical "They [Sam and Eric] were twins, and the eye was shocked and incredulous at such cheery duplication."
- eccentric : odd "...a party of boys, marching approximately in step in two parallel lines and dressed in strangely eccentric clothing."
- hambone frill : a collar frill, resembling that put on bake ham "Their bodies, from throat to ankle, were hidden by black cloaks which boar a long silver cross on the left breast and each neck was finished off with a hambone frill ."
- matins : morning prayer "He's [Simon] always throwing a faint," said Merridew. "he did in Gib.; and Addis; and matins over the precentor."
- precento r : choir lead "He's [Simon] always throwing a faint," said Merridew. "he did in Gib.; and Addis; and matins over the precentor ."
- sniggers : snickers; laughs "This last piece of shop [information] brought sniggers from the choir..."
- furtive : sly, devious "There was a slight, furtive boy whom no one knew, who kept to himself with an inner intensity of avoidance and secrecy."
- pallidly /pallid : without liveliness "...the choir boy who had fainted sat up against a palm trunk, smiled pallidly at Ralph and said that his name was Simon."
- obscurely : mysteriously "There was a stillness in Ralph as sat that marked him out; there was his size, and attractive appearance; and most obscurely , yet most powerfully, there was the conch."
- mortification : shame; humiliation "Even the choir applauded; and the freckles on Jack's face disappeared under a blush of mortification ."
- suffusion : flush; blush, color "The suffusion drained away from Jack's face."
- togs : clothes for a specific use "All right, choir. Take off your togs . As if released from class, the choir boys stood up, chattered, pile their black cloaks on the grass."
- pallor : paleness "Now that the pallor of his [Simon's] faint was over, he was a skinny, vivid little boy..."
- glamour : magic spell; enchantment "A kind of glamour was spread over them and the scene and they were conscious of the glamour and made happy by it."
- skewed : slanting "Some unknown force had wrenched and shatter these cubes [rocks] so they lay askew , often piled diminishingly on each other."
- pliant : pliable; flexible "Here the roots and stems of creepers were in such tangles that the boys had to thread through them like pliant needles."
- immured : walled in " Immured in these tangles, at perhaps their most difficult moment, ..."
- communion : unity "Again came the solemn communion of shining eyes in the gloom."
- defiles : gorges, ravines "The boys chose their way through defiles and over heaps of sharp stone."
- twining : twine: meandering; curving "Ralph sketched a twining line from the bald spot on which they stood down a slope, a gully, through flowers, round and down to a rock where the scar started."
- plonking /plonk : plunking (onomatopoeia) "They were in the beginnings of the thick forest, plonking with wary feet on a track..."
- traces : straps of an animal's harness (used here metaphorically) "They found a piglet caught in a curtain of creepers, throwing itself at the elastic traces in all the madness of extreme terror."
- hiatus : break in time "There came a pause, a hiatus , the pig continued to scream..."
- enormity : great wickedness "The pause was only long enough for them to understand what an enormity the downward stroke would be."
- aloft : in air "He noticed that he still had the knife aloft and brought his arm down replacing the blade in the sheath."
Vocabulary Chapter 2: Fire on the Mountain - induced : persuaded "At last Ralph induced him to held the shell but by then the blow of laughter had taken away the child's voice."
- clambering : climbing, scrambling "Ralph was already clambering over the first smashed swathes of the scar."
- swathes : areas similar to rows left by a mower "Ralph was already clambering over the first smashed swathes of the scar."
- errant : disobedient "The noise of the errant assembly faded up the mountain."
- martyred : suffering "Then, with the martyred expression of a parent who has to keep up with the senseless ebullience of the children, he picked up the conch..."
- ebullience : liveliness "Then, with the martyred expression of a parent who has to keep up with the senseless ebullience of the children, he picked up the conch..."
- grotesque : disgusting, gross "Then they inched the grotesque dead think [the log] up the rock and toppled it over on top."
- officious : too eager to serve or advise "There was pushing and pulling and officious cries."
- leeward : facing the same direction that the wind is blowing "The air moved a little faster and became a light wind, so that leeward and windward side were clearly differentiated."
- windward : facing the direction from which the wind is coming. "The air moved a little faster and became a light wind, so that leeward and windward side were clearly differentiated."
- indignantly : angrily "I got the conch," said Piggy indignantly . "You let me speak!"
- recrimination : an accusation made in retaliation "His [Piggy's] voice lifted into the whine of virtuous recrimination ."
- hayrick : a large pile of hay "You said you wanted a small fire and you been and built a pile like a hayrick ."
- tumult : an uproar "He [Piggy] paused in the tumult , standing, looking beyond them and down the unfriendly side of the mountain..."
- festooned : decorated "Smoke was rising here and there among the creepers that festooned the dead or dying trees."
- capering : playful leaping or dancing "Beneath the capering boys a quarter of a mile square of forest was savage with smoke and flame."
- pinch : steal "--then you [Ralph] come up here an' pinch my [Piggy's] specks--"
Vocabulary Chapter 3: Huts on the Beach - tendril : slender, cold, hanging plant structure "Here was loop of creeper with a tendril pendant from a node."
- pendant : hanging "Here was loop of creeper with a tendril pendant from a node."
- node : knot, lump "Here was loop of creeper with a tendril pendant from a node ."
- bolting : out of control "They [Jack's eyes] were bright blue, eyes that in this frustration seemed bolting and nearly made."
- avidly : eagerly "Then the trail, the frustration, claimed him again and he searched the ground avidly ."
- inscrutable : not easily understood "Jack lifted his head and stared at the inscrutable masses of creeper that lay across the trail."
- castanet : percussion instrument clicked in the hand " From the pig-run came the quick, hard patter of hoofs, a castanet sound, seductive, maddening--the promise of meat."
- seductive : tempting " From the pig-run came the quick, hard patter of hoofs, a castanet sound, seductive , maddening--the promise of meat."
- vicissitudes : difficulties or hardships "Jack stood there, streaming with sweat, streaked with brown earth, stained by all the vicissitudes of a day's hunting. "
- contrite : sincerely sorry for shortcomings "Simon's contrite face appeared in the hole. "Sorry."
- opaque : light can't pass through "The opaque , mad look came into his [Jack's] eyes again.
- declivities : descending slopes "But Jack was pointing to the high declivities that led down from the mountain to the flatter part of the island."
- rapt : completely absorbed "Ralph gazed bewildered at his [Jack's] rapt face.
- queer : different, odd "He's [Simon's] queer . He's funny."
- tacit : unstated "Jack nodded, as much for the sake of agreeing as anything, and by tacit consent they left the shelter and went toward the bathing pool."
- perceptible : detectable "Simon turned away from them and went where the just perceptible path led him."
- susurration : murmur "The deep sea breaking miles away on the reef made an undertone less perceptible than the susurration of the blood."
- sepals : modified leaves at the base of a flower's petals "Their green sepals drew back a little and the white tips of the flowers rose delicately to meet the open air."
Vocabulary Chapter 4: Painted Faces and Long Hair - whelming : engulfing, covering "They accepted the pleasures of morning, the bright sun, the whelming sea and sweet air..."
- opalescence : reflecting rainbow-colored light "Toward noon, as the floods of light fell more nearly to the perpendicular, the stark colors of the morning were smoothed in pearl and opalescence …"
- blatant : noisy; clamorous; obvious "Strange things happened at midday. The glittering sea rose up, moved apart in planes of blatant impossibility..."
- generic : without distinction; in general "The smaller boys were know no by the generic title of 'littlun.'"
- chastisement : punishment "In his other life Maurice had received chastisement for filling a younger eye with sand."
- impalpable : not capable of being felt "With impalpable organs of sense they examined this new field."
- incursion : a breakthrough into enemy territory "Perhaps food had appeared where at the last incursion there had been none; bird droppings, insects perhaps any of the strewn detritus of landward life."
- detritus : debris; garbage "Perhaps food had appeared where at the last incursion there had been none; bird droppings, insects perhaps any of the strewn detritus of landward life."
- myriad : innumerable; many "Like a myriad of tiny teeth in a saw, the transparencies (baby crabs) came scavenging over the beach."
- runnels : little streams "He [Henry] made little runnels that the tide filled and tried to crows them with creatures."
- crooning : singing softly "He sat there crooning to himself and throwing sand at the imaginary Percival."
- fibrous : with fibers or threadlike characteristics " Sixty feet above Roger, several nuts, fibrous lumps as big as rugby balls, were loosed from their stems."
- swarthiness : darkness (of skin) "When Roger opened his eyes and saw him [Jack], a darker shadow crept beneath the swarthiness of his skin..."
- disinclination : mild preference for avoiding something "...Piggy was an outsider, not only be accent, which did not matter, but by fat, and ass-mar, and specs, and a certain disinclination for manual labor."
- footling : useless; pointless "Of all the boys, he [Maurice] was the most at home there; but today, irked by the mention of rescue, the useless, footling mention of rescue, even the green depths of water and shattered, golden sun held no balm."
- balm : a healing oil or cream "Of all the boys, he [Maurice] was the most at home there; but today, irked by the mention of rescue, the useless, footling mention of rescue, even the green depths of water and shattered, golden sun held no balm ."
- ravenously : with greed "He turned round and peered up at the mountain. Ralph continued to watch the ship, ravenously ."
- gouts : collections of fluid "The twins stood with the pig swinging between them, dropping black gouts on the rock."
- lashing : (chiefly British) large amounts "'There was lashings of blood', said Jack, laughing and shuddering."
- malevolently : with hostility or hatred "Piggy grabbed and put on the glasses. He looked malevolently at Jack."
- gyration : revolving motion "Jack broke out of his gyration and stood facing Ralph."
- ha'porth : contraction for halfpenny worth: a tiny amount "There isn't more than a ha'porth of meat in a crab."
- nob : (chiefly British) one holding or having a superior position of respect or honor. "One for his nob !"
Vocabulary Chapter 5: Beast from Water - jeeringly : mockingly "...remembering that first enthusiastic exploration as though it were part of a brighter childhood, he smiled jeeringly ."
- ludicrous : ridiculous, absurd "But Piggy, for all his ludicrous body, had brains."
- effigy : representation, model "At first he was a silent effigy of sorrow; but then the lamentation rose out of him."
- lamentation : weeping, crying "At first he was a silent effigy of sorrow; but then the lamentation rose out of him."
- reverence : respect; honor
- tottery : unbalanced
- derisive : ridiculing, sarcastic
- indigo : deep reddish blue "The assembly looked with him, considered the vast stretches of water, the high sea beyond, unknown indigo of infinite possibility, heard silently the sough and whisper."
- sheered off : left the course "...and when one tried to get the thing straight the argument sheered off , bringing up fresh, unpleasant matter."
- sod you: (chiefly British, vulgar) damn you "'Take the conch!' ' Sod you !"
- inarticulate : unable to speak "Simon became inarticulate in his effort to express mankind's essential illness."
- tempestuously : like a tempest; stormily "A shadow fronted him tempestuously ."
- discursive : rambling, wandering "The assembly shredded away and became a discursive and random scatter from the palms to the water and away along the beach, beyond night-sight."
- gibbering : babbling "Then the wail rose, remote and unearthly, and turned to an inarticulate gibbering ."
- incantation : formula of words with the power of a spell "Percival...,lying in the long grass, was living through circumstances in which the incantation of his address was powerless to help him."
Vocabulary Chapter 6: Beast from Air - flaling : thrashing or swinging something around violently or uncontrollably "For perhaps ten seconds they [Samneric] crouched like that while the failing fire sent smoke and sparks and waves of inconstant light over the top of the mountain."
- waxy : in a rage "'Wasn't he waxy ?' 'About the Fire and the pig."
- interminable : seemingly without end "An interminable dawn faded the stars out, and at last light, sad and gray, filtered into the shelter."
- t remulously : timidly "The twins, holding tremulously to each other, dared the few yard to the next shelter and spread the dreadful news."
- embroiled : involved in conflict "Piggy, finding himself uncomfortably embroiled , slid the conch to Ralph's knees and sat down."
- diffidently : with hesitation and respect " Diffidently , Simon allowed his pace to slacken until he was walking side by side with Ralph and looking up a him through the coarse black hair..."
- constrainedly : with restraint "Ralph glanced sideways, smiled constrainedly as though he had forgotten that Simon had made a fool of himself."
- chasm : deep clefts or gores "He [Ralph] was surrounded on all sides by chasms of empty air."
- polyp : invertebrate animals including jellyfish "Slowly the waters sank among the rocks, revealing pink tables of granite, strange growths of coral, p o lyp, and weed."
- leviathan : a great sea monster defeated by God in the Old Testament Book of Job "Then the sleeping leviathan breathed out, the waters rose, the weed streamed, and the water boiled over the table rock with a roar." (This is figurative: the leviathan referred to here is a large table rock.)
- guano : excrement of sea birds (bird feces) "Nothing but what you might expect: pink, tumbled boulders with guano layered on them like icing..."
- exulting : joyful "'One heave,' cried Jack, exulting , 'and--whee--!" (Throwing down a bolder)
- mutinously : rebelliously " Mutinously , the boys fell silent or muttering."
Vocabulary Chapter 7 - dun : cheerless "If you could forget how dun and unvisited were the ferny coverts on either side, then there was a chance that you might put the beast out of mind and dream for a while."
- converts : thickets where animals can hide "If you could forget how dun and unvisited were the ferny coverts on either side, then there was a chance that you might put the beast out of mind and dream for a while."
- scurfy : with a surface deposit "Not one of them was an obvious subject for a shower, and yet--hair was much too long...;the skin of the body, scurfy with with brine."
- brine : sea salt "Not one of them was an obvious subject for a shower, and yet--hair was much too long...;the skin of the body, scurfy with with brine ."
- moors : (British) grasslands unusable for farmland; boggy areas "They [Ralph's parents] had lived in a cottage on the edge of the moors ..."
- brandishing : waving about in a threatening manner "Jack had him by the hair and was brandishing his knife."
- rugger (British) slang for rugby "I got jolly badly hurt at rugger once."
- glowered : look angrily "Jack glowered ."
- sagely : wisely "Everybody agreed [with Ralph] sagely ."
- daunting : dismaying "The word was too good, too bitter, too successfully daunting to be repeated."
- windy : (slang: short for idiom "Got the wind up") "We're being fools." Out of the darkness came the answer. " Windy ?" "Course I am. But we're still being fools."
- impervious : without feeling or response "So they sat, the rocking, tapping, impervious Roger and Ralph, fuming..."
- bravado : foolhardiness "Ralph surprised himself, not so much by the quality of his voice, which was even, but by the bravado of its intention."
Vocabulary Chapter 8: Gift for the Darkness - prefect : student monitor in a private school "He's [Ralph's] not a hunter. He'd never have got us meat. He isn't a prefect ..."
- sanctity : holiness; inviolability "The wood he fetched was close at hand, a fallen tree on the platform that they did not need for the assembly, yet to the others the sanctity of the platform had protected even what was useless there."
- demure : modest "Each of them [Jack & Roger] wore the remains of a black cap and ages ago they had stood in two demure rows and their voices had been the song of angels."
- fervor : intensity "If Jack was astonished by their fervor he did not show it."
- palled : grew uninteresting "At length even this [their laughter] palled ."
- paunched : gutted (cut into) a potbelly "Then he started work on the sow and paunched her, lugging out the hot bags of colored guts..."
- taboo : rule that makes something forbidden "I dunno, Ralph. I expect it's him." "Jack?" "Jack." A taboo was evolving round that word too."
- demoniac : fiendish "The forest near them burst into uproar. Demoniac figures with faces of white and red and green rushed out howling, so that the littlun fled screaming."
Vocabulary Chapter 9: A View to a Death - interspersed : interwoven; with something at intervals in between "Here there were wide spaces interspersed with thickets and huge trees and the rend of the ground led him up as the forest opened."
- corpulent : with a large, bulky body "Then as the blue material of the parachute collapsed the corpulent figure would bow forward, sighing, and the flies settle once more."
- looming : dark, indistinct, and deceptively large "Piggy was inspecting the looming sky through his glass, 'I don't like them clouds, Remember how it rained just after we landed?'"
- succulent : juicy "The boys with the spit gave Ralph and Piggy each a succulent chunk [of meat]."
- sauntered : strolled "Jack rose from the log that was his throne and sauntered to the edge of the grass."
- demented : insane "Piggy and Ralph under the threat of the sky, found themselves eager to take a place in this demented but partly secure society."
- unendurable : not bearable "'Kill the Beast! Cut his throat! Spill his blood!' The blue-white scar was constant, the noise unendurable . "
- surged : rolled forward like a wave "At once the crowd surged after it, poured down the rock, leapt on to the beast, screamed, struck, bit, tore."
- furrowing : creating trenches in something "The parachute took the figure forward, furrowing the lagoon, and bumped it over the reef and out to see."
- phosphorescence : ongoing emission of light "The edge of the lagoon became a streak of phosphorescence which advance minutely, as the great wave of the tide flowed."
Vocabulary Chapter 10: The Shell and the Glasses - befouled : made foul or disgusting, ruined "The green light and the glossy patches of sunshine played over their befouled bodies."
- illumination : the process of clarifying or explaining something intellectual or spiritual enlightenment "Sitting on the tremendous rock in the torrid sun, Roger received this news as an illumination .
- assimilating : forcing something/someone to be a part of a group "He creased to work at his tooth and sat still, assimilating the possibilities of irresponsible authority."
- theological : relating to the study of God "I expect the beast disguised itself." "Perhaps," said the chief. A theological speculation presented itself."
- barmy : (British) crazy "I mean it" said Piggy. "If we don't get home soon we'll be barmy ."
- composite : something made up of distinct parts "The blood roared again in Ralph's ears, confused images chased each other through his mind. A composite of these things was prowling round the shelters."
- purged : cleaned; freed "The night was cool and purged of immediate terror."
Vocabulary Chapter 11: Castle Rock - luminous : glowing "The twins watched anxiously and Piggy sat expressionless behind the luminous wall of his myopia."
- myopia : near-sightedness "The twins watched anxiously and Piggy sat expressionless behind the luminous wall of his myopia ."
- multitudinous : consisting of innumerable parts "There was a silence, except for the multitudinous murmur of the bees."
- propitiating : appealingly; in order to regain favor " Piggy nodded propitiating ."
- unquenchable : unstoppable; can't be satisfied "Behind him came the twins, worried now of a while but full of unquenchable vitality."
- impenetrable : unable to be entered "The densest tangle on the island, a mass of twisted stems, black and green and impenetrable , lay on their left and tall grass swayed before them."
- pinnacles : peaks; spires "There was the neck of land, the ledge skirting the rock, up the were the red pinnacles ."
- quavered : trembled "Am I safe?" quavered Piggy. "I feel awful--"
- ludicrous : ridiculous "With ludicrous care he embraced the rock, pressing himself to it above the sucking sea. "
- sabers : curved swords "Jack wrenched free and swung at Ralph with his spear. By common consent they were using the spears as sabers now, no longer daring the lethal points. "
- truculently : with aggressive savagery " Truculently they squared up to each other but kept just out of fighting distance."
- cessation : stop "The twins, puzzled, looked at each other; while piggy, reassured by the cessation of violence, stood up carefully."
- parried : stopped a physical attack "He [Jack] struck in a humming circle behind him and Ralph only just parried the blow."
- talisman : object considered to be a charm against evil "By him stood Piggy still holding out the talisman , the fragile, shining beauty of the shell."
Vocabulary Chapter 12: Cry of the Hunters - inimical : hostile " To carry he must speak louder; and this would rouse those striped and inimical creatures from their feasting by the fire."
- antiphonal : responses alternating from one group to a second "But the night was dark. Eric took up; and then the twins started their antiphonal speech."
- ululation : howling "'We've got to give signals like this'. Eric raised his head and achieved a faint ululation by breathing on his open mouth."
- ensconce : conceal "At first the twisted stems, ensconce himself so deep that only a crawler like himself could come through..."
- cordon : a line of people set up to prevent passage through an area "There he would sit, and the search would pass him by, and the cordon waver on, ululating along the island…"
- diddle : fool, confuse "One must remember to wake at first light, in order to diddle the savages--and he did not know how quickly sleep come and hurled him down a dark interior slope."
- diaphragm : the separation between the chest and abdomen "He caught sight of the rise and fall of his diaphragm and was surprised to see how quickly he was breathing."
- elephantine : clumsy, intent movement "He saw something red [rock] turned over slowly as a mill wheel. Then the red thing was past and the elephantine progress diminished toward the sea"
- crepitating : crackling "He heard a curious trickling sound and then a louder crepitating as if someone were unwrapping great sheets..."
- shied : started suddenly (past tense of shy) "At the sound he shied like a horse among the creepers and ran once more till he was panting."
- obscurity : state of being unknown "The savage peered into the obscurity beneath the thicket."
- drill : durable cotton twill used for military uniforms "He saw white drill , epaulettes, a revolver, a row of gilt buttons down the front of a uniform."
- epaulettes : shoulder ornaments on a military uniform "He saw white drill, epaulettes , a revolver, a row of gilt buttons down the front of a uniform."
- distended : swollen from internal pressure "Other boys were appearing now, tiny tots some of them, brown, with distended bellies of small savages."
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