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The action of allowing saliva to run from the mouth.
Vern took a chance and crept a little closer to the steps, practically slavering (302) |
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Of ill omen, foreboding evil, inauspicious.
"They trace those fuckin calls," Billy said ominously (303). |
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The feeling of solemn and reverential wonder, tinged with latent fear, inspired by what is terribly sublime and majestic in nature, e.g. thunder, a storm at sea.
As I grew older, my feelings of love for Dennis were replaced with and almost clinical awe...(312) |
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Lacking depth or intensity of colour, faint or feeble in colour, wan, pale. (Said chiefly of the human face as affected by death, sickness, or passion
I would imagine [Denny] pallid and bloody in the darkness, the side of his head walloped in... (312) |
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Of diseased skin, tissue, etc.: To come away or off, to be shed, as a slough.
Pathches of snow sloughed away to reveal the bald ground underneath (313) |
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marked with a small hollow or dent, permanent or momentary, formed in the surface of some part of the human body, esp. in the cheeks in the act of smiling, and regarded as a pleasing feature.
...the knobs on his brother's spine picked out in a series of dimpled shadows against the white of his Henes tee-shirt(314) |
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To deliver an oration; to act the orator; to hold forth, speechify'. Now usually humorous or sarcastic.
He presses his hand against his chest, looking for a moment like a stage Roman about to Orate.(316) |
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with secrecy, clandestinely.
the door... swings stealthily, closed as soon as your back is turned (317) |
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inspire or draw forth (memories, feelings, a response, etc.)
She... pushes a lock of hair behind her ear. It is an evocative, poignant gesture ((318) |
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Term
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Painfully sharp to the physical or mental feelings, as hunger, thirst, a pang, an affront; also said of a state of feeling, as grief, regret, despair.
She... pushes a lock of hair behind her ear. It is an evocative, poignant gesture ((318) |
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Term
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Definition
A method of opening the game, in which by the sacrifice of a pawn or piece the player seeks to obtain some advantage over his opponent. Often used metaphorically in real life power struggles.
"have you had a girl in your room, Ed?" [Virginia said.]His father lunges at the new gambit like a bear (323) |
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(of a manner, look, etc.) gloomy, menacing. harmful, malignant, destructive
The generator light blinks balefully at him twice, and then the car settles into a ragged idle (324) |
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coming or emanating from another source and hence not original (e.g. His music was derivative of Nirvana's, and thus not very interesting)
["Stud City"] seems both painfully derivative and painfully sophmoric to me now (326). |
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Immature, callow, irresponsibly youthful; sophomore: a second-year university or high school student.
["Stud City"] seems both painfully derivative and painfully sophmoric to me now (326). |
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beginning. in an initial stage.
...a 12 year old worrying that he might be an incipient alcoholic (329) |
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performer of tricks which are seemingly magical, esp. by rapid movements of the hands
KA-BLAM! The gun bucked in my hand. A big hole appeared in ... the trashcan -- it was the work of an evil conjuror. |
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a glorification of a thing; a sublime example; or quintessence of a thing
But the apotheosis of the memory [of that summer] is Gordon Lachance running down the road to the Florida Market with change in his pockets and sweat running down his back (342) |
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1 sleepy, drowsy. 2 in a state between sleeping and waking.
The hot afternoon buzzed somnolently along its appointed course outside...(344) |
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(amiable) Friendly, kindly disposed, favourably inclined
"Right," Chris said amiably, and clapped Teddy on the back. (353) |
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To increase (capital) by means of gambling; more generally, to exploit (a circumstance) for gain, to transform (an asset, advantage, etc.) into something considerably greater or more valuable.
...one day not tooo many years from then I'd parlay all those childhood fears ... into about a million dollars |
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Sharp at the end, coming to a sharp point, thus, of diseases: Coming sharply to a point or crisis of severity; opposed to chronic
I became acutely aware of all the noises inside me and outside me (358) |
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A strong fibrous cord serving to connect a muscle with a bone or other part; a tendon. Metaphorically, the very core of our physical being
... the bloodbeat in my ears... the creak of sinews like the strings of a violin ... (358) |
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A stereotyped expression, a commonplace or worn-out phrase, words that lose interest through over-repetition
"His bowels turned to water" ... It may be the most accurate cliché ever coined (359) |
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Corrupt, evil, bad, base. Literally: Left-handed: Derived from Xian tradition in which Satan is said to be left-handed
the higher, more sinister sound of big grooved wheels turning heavily on the rails (360) |
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Term
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unruly; now chiefly, cross, fretful, peevish esp. of children
... a few scattered boos from the fractious members of [the principal's] student body (369) |
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Of or belonging to judgement in a court of law, or to a judge in relation to this function; pertaining to the administration of justice
"go-Get-Em, Lardass" - there were... some judicial frowns , the largest from Hizzonner Charbonneau (369) |
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Characterized by rigour; rigidly severe or unbending; austere, harsh, stern; extremely strict:
...it was she who oversaw the baking of each year's pies, subjecting each to her own rigorous quality control... (372) |
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The greatest altitude reached by the sun in his apparent course; Used metaphorically to mean the very peak of something
Lard Ass Hogan, now at the absolute apogee of his young life, beamed happily out over the audience. Puke was everywhere. |
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Of manners: Fitness, appropriateness, aptitude, suitability; appropriateness to the circumstances or conditions; conformity with requirement, rule, or principle;
And Miss Norman, who taught Latin and English... vomited into her own purse in an agony of propriety |
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A mounted attendant who rides in advance of or beside a carriage; spec. an escort mounted on a motor-cycle. Often metaphorically used.
the sky... the blue was now bruising towards purple. Seeing that outrider of twilight made me feel sad and calm at the same time
... fear that [the body of Ray Brower] would suddenly appear before us, a green and gibbering banshee whose purpose was to drive us back the way we had come before we could disturn his --its -- peace... |
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A female supernatural being supposed by the peasantry of Ireland and the Scottish Highlands to wail under the windows of a house where one of the inhabitants is about to die
Chris...voiced a screaming, womanish cry that rose and rose, ululating in the hot sunny summer air (391) |
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To howl or wail; to lament loudly.
Chris...voiced a screaming, womanish cry that rose and rose, ululating in the hot sunny summer air (391) |
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cannot be appeased or avoided; irreconcileable; inexorable
I felt [Chris's] soft, rotted, implacable hand wrap itself around my calf and begin to pull (391) |
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To point to or indicate beforehand; to give warning of, either by omen or naturally
The air had that peculiar lack of taste that presages the latest hot day in a famous series of hot days (392) |
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Not softened in respect of severity or intensity. Not modified or toned down;absolute.
Fourteen years later I sold my first novel and made my first trip to New York. "It's going to be a three-day celebration," my editor told me... But of course it was three days of unmitigated bullshit (398) |
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Definition
a religious or solemn observance or act,
There's a high ritual to all fundamental events, the rites of passage, the magic corridor where the change happens |
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a procedure regularly followed., often with a particular or special meaning
There's a high ritual to all fundamental events, the rites of passage, the magic corridor where the change happens |
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mangle or tear (esp. flesh or tissue). distress or cause pain to (the feelings, the heart, etc.).
A bad bruise on the side of his face, a scalp laceration, a bloody nose (420) |
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1 a (of the mind, ideas, etc.) macabre, unwholesome, sickly; melancholy.; of the nature of or indicative of disease
[We didn't find his pail] We found him, and we found his sneakers.... I've thought of going back and looking for it -- how does that strike you for morbid? (421) |
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Definition
filthy, repulsively dirty. mean or poor in appearance. wretched, sordid.
Teddy went in a squalid car crash... Teddy's Bel Air was full of his friends...They hit a utility pole... |
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lively, sprightly, animated, full of life
Chris sat among the well-dressed, vivacious boys and girls from the middle class families in Castle View... (433) |
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To get by begging.
Kids were always trying to cadge smokes off him (295) |
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To diminish gradually and cease; to run out and disappear (as a stream, a vein of ore); to die out
...the search [for the Boy] would just peter away into nothing (300) |
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a fit, convulsion (e.g. of laughter, excitement, rage, terror, etc.; also said of physical processes, as earthquakes or volcanic eruptions).
Teddy went into a hysterical paroxysm ... as he picked the leeches off his naked body (396). |
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