Short Story Vocabulary

Front 1

wild; frantic

The pigeon was trying to fly, but all it could manage was to flutter and turn round and round in a large circle, as if it were perfoming a _____dance.

Back 1

frenzied

Front 2

sad; gloomy

Then she saw the train slide away out of sight around the next headland, with a ______ wail that sounded like Lob's last goodbye.

Back 2

melancholy

Front 3

pushing a person into acting, especially by using pain or insults.

Moose and Leon and Mike and Conehead and Little Frankfurter were sprinkled out in front of me, _____ me forward.

Back 3

goading

Front 4

offended; wronged

At half-past nine that night Aunt Rebecca Hoskins was sitting by her fire thinking ______ thoughts about the inconsiderateness of nieces....

Back 4

aggrieved

Front 5

hinted; made known indirectly

His place, he _____, was definitely with the Pengellys

Back 5

intimated

Front 6

Comforted

Aaron's grandmother, who was just a little girl of eight at the time, had wept over the goat all day and all night and could not be __________.

Back 6

consoled

Front 7

take using force or authority

John Quinn had announced to everyone he was going to ___ revenge on me after school on Monday.

Back 7

exact

Front 8

twisted out of the normal shape.

I saw only their faces ____ in ecstasy and expectation.

Back 8

distorted

Front 9

moving in waves, like a snake.

There, across the street about 300 kids standing around like a big, _______ horseshoe.

Back 9

undulating

Front 10

lay or crawled about before someone in hope of mercy

I _____ in the dirt for a few moments, and then stood up slowly holding my head....

Back 10

groveled

Front 11

tried to persuade

And Aaron, miserable, argued with his mother and pleaded and cried and _____.

Back 11

coaxed