Leiningen Versus the Ants Vocabulary

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  1. plantation

farm

  1. placidly

pleasantly calm or peaceful; unruffled

  1. lucid

clear, transparent; shining or bright; easily understood and intelligible

  1. bunk

humbug; nonsense

  1. saurians

any of various reptiles of the suborder Sauria, which includes the lizards and in former classifications also the crocodiles and dinosaurs.

  1. distended

increased in volume, size, etc; swollen

  1. blindgut

a digestive cavity having only one opening

  1. conceivably

possibly; imaginably

  1. obstinacy

stubborn persistence

  1. moored

to fix in place, secure, especially a boat

  1. imploring

to beg urgently or piteously for aid or mercy

  1. ravenous

extremely hungry; famished

  1. campaigns

military operations for a specific objective

  1. peril

exposure to injury, loss, or destruction; grave risk; jeopardy; danger

  1. conquer

to win, especially through struggle

  1. dullards

a person regarded as mentally dull; a dolt.

  1. reeled

to go around and around in a whirling motion; to stagger or sway

  1. cranks

eccentric persons, especially who are unduly zealous.

  1. accelerate

to increase in speed; to go faster, especially in a vehicle

  1. sluggards

a slothful person; an idler

  1. grapple

to seize another, or each other, in a firm grip, as in wrestling; clinch.

  1. vanquished

defeated or conquered in battle

  1. primal

first; original; fundamental

  1. cunning

to be able to; have the ability, power, or skill to

  1. imminent

likely to occur at any moment

  1. tapir

any of several large, stout, three-toed ungulates of the family Tapiridae, of Central and South America, the Malay Peninsula, and Sumatra, somewhat resembling swine and having a long, flexible snout: all species are threatened or endangered

  1. kinkajous

a brownish, arboreal mammal, Potos flavus, of Central and South America, having a prehensile tail, related to the raccoon and coat

  1. loping

to move with long, bounding steps; to walk long, leisurely steps, especially referring to horses

  1. dementia

severe impairment or loss of intellectual capacity and personality integration, due to the loss of or damage to neurons in the brain

  1. denizens

an inhabitant or resident; a foreigner who is granted permission to live in a place

  1. steppe

an extensive plain, especially without trees

  1. pell-mell

in disorderly, headlong haste; in a recklessly hurried manner

  1. advent

a coming into place, view, or being; arrival

  1. blighters

diseases that cause plants, trees or fruits to wither or decay.

  1. cranium

the skull of vertebrae

  1. mandibles

the jaw, particularly the lower jaw

  1. besieged

make a long continued attempt to get possession of a place

  1. deluge

a great flood

  1. dwelt

to have a fixed home; to reside

  1. cataract

a waterfall of a good size; a heavy downpour

  1. shoals

an assembly of many; throng

  1. weir

obstruct or dam placed in a stream to raise the water, steer it into a trough or irrigation

  1. coursing

the act of water or other liquid rushing through a river, trough or similar space

  1. spades

implements used for digging; shovels

  1. deem

to judge; to think

  1. impelled

to drive or push forward; propelled

  1. submerging

to place under or plunge into water or other liquid

  1. annihilation

to destroy utterly

  1. aura

a distinctive and pervasive quality or character; air; atmosphere

  1. peril

exposure to injury, loss, or destruction; grave risk; jeopardy; danger

  1. fervidly

burning; glowing; intensely hot.

  1. clod

a lump or mass, esp. of earth or clay

  1. perilous

hazardous; risky and unsafe

  1. Dervish

Moslem monk or a friar

  1. Pirouette

A dancer’s whirling about on one foot or on toes.

  1. transfixed

to pierce through

  1. myriad

an extremely large number

  1. elemental

of the four elements: earth, water, wind and fire.

  1. eddied

water or air moving against the main current when having a whirling motion; small whirl pool or whirlwind.

  1. coherent

logically connected; consistent in structure and thought.

  1. fusillades

continuous discharge

  1. tamarind

a large tropical tree; the pods of such tree

  1. forlorn

desolate or dreary; unhappy or miserable, as in feeling, condition, or appearance.

  1. ceaselessly

without stop or pause; unending; incessant.

  1. illuminate

to supply or brighten with light; to enlighten, as in with knowledge

  1. victualing

to supply with food and provisions

  1. provender

food, especially for cattle

  1. foray

to plunder, pillage, raid

  1. fey

acting as if enchanted or under a spell; foredoomed to die at a certain time, especially suddenly.

  1. alacrity

cheerful willingness and promptitude, liveliness

  1. raze

to tear down; demolish; level to the ground

  1. intermittent

stopping or ceasing for a time; alternately ceasing and beginning again

  1. fording

the act of crossing a stream or river by wading or in a car or on a horse

  1. vanguard

the foremost division or the front part of an army; advance

  1. skirmishers

soldiers who are responsible for overseeing outlying posts

  1. novel

of a new kind; different from anything seen or known before

  1. slow-witted

not very smart

  1. dumbfounded

to be made dumb or stupid because of a surprise or shock

  1. belied

to cause someone to lie; contradicted by

  1. knitted brows

scowls

  1. zealously

with extreme, and sometimes religious, enthusiasm

  1. cordon

a line or circle of soldiers, policemen, forts, etc. placed at intervals to guard a place.

  1. sentries

guards; watchmen

  1. betook

to cause something to be taken

  1. sated

to be satisfied fully; supplied with more than enough, so as to disgust or weary

  1. voracious

eating much; greedy in eating, ravenous

  1. glutted

having eaten too much

  1. razing

destroying or ruining completely

  1. granaries

storage areas for grain

  1. impel

to drive or to force

  1. garrison

the soldiers stationed in a fort or town, usually for the purpose of defending it

  1. listlessly

seeming too tired to care about anything; indifferently

  1. rampart

a wide bank of earth, often with a wall on top, built around a fort to defend it; anything that defends

  1. ecstasy

a state of great joy; thrilling or overwhelming delight; rapture

  1. holocaust

mass murder, or genocide, as by bomb or other devastation within a relatively short time span. (In WWII the Nazis murdered millions of Jews and other people. Also a nuclear bomb murdered millions in Japan. These were holocausts.)

  1. havoc

very great destruction or injury

  1. whet

to make keen or eager; to stimulate

  1. anew

once more; again

  1. immolate

to kill as a sacrifice

  1. cistern

a reservoir or tank for carrying water or other fluids

  1. disused

not used

  1. spry

active; lively; nimble

  1. flogged

whipped very hard; beaten

  1. inundate

overflow; flood

  1. gauntlet

formerly, a military punishment in which the offender had to run between two rows of men who struck him with clubs or other weapons as he passed; now to carry out an action despite danger on all sides.

  1. nil

nothing; zero

  1. apathy

laziness or indifference, in particular towards a cause

  1. breeches

short trousers reaching to the knee

  1. salve

a soft, greasy substance put on wounds or sores

  1. chafer

any group of beetles that feed on plants

  1. beleaguered

besieged; surrounded

  1. aloft

far above the earth; high up

  1. lurid

lit up with red or fiery glare; glaring in brightness or colour; terrible, sensational or startling

  1. cuirasses

a piece of armour for the body; breastplate

  1. pyre

a pile of wood on which a dead body is burned as a funeral rite; any large heap of burnable material

  1. appreciably

an amount enough to be appreciated or noticed; significantly

  1. hulled

a hull is a body or frame of a ship, therefore hulled means to be framed or enclosed in a strong structure

  1. smart

intelligence; also an injury

  1. etching

engraving a piece of art by using acid to eat a design into a plate of metal, which is then used as a stamp

  1. panorama

a wide, unbroken view of a surrounding region

  1. apparition

a ghost or spirit

  1. lacerated

cut; sliced

  1. thwarted

opposed and defeated; obstructed or prevented from doing something

  1. illimitable

without limit

  1. alluvium

the sand and mud left from flowing water

  1. swathed

wrapped up closely or fully; bandaged

  1. fomentations

medicines or concoctions

  1. draught

a drink, as in, “a draught of beer”

Questions

A)Why do you think the author chose to use these words, instead of using ones that are more commonly used and known?

B)In the following sentences replace the word in italics with a stronger word:

After I left the doctor’s office, I sat down and cried. ______

The wind blew through the woods, knocking down trees. ______

Mr. Dover is nice ______

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