Out of the DustWeek One Vocabulary

Day One Vocabulary (Pgs.

3-16)

Bawling (pg.3) I came too fast for the doctor, bawling soon as Daddy wiped his hand around inside my mouth.v. to cry or wail

Pledged (pg.6) They pledged revenge on the rabbit population; wagering who could kill more.v. to make a solemn promise

Wagering (pg.6) They pledged revenge on the rabbit population; wagering who could kill more. v. to bet on the outcome of a contest or question

Plowing (pg.6) …Miss Freeland says if we keep plowing under the stuff they ought to be eating, what are they supposed to do?v. to open, break up, or work with a plow on a piece of land

Civil (pg.7) Those men, they used to be friends. Now they can’t be civil with each other. They scowl as they pass on the street.adj. polite without being friendly

Scowl (pg.7) Those men, they used to be friends. Now they can’t be civil with each other. They scowl as they pass on the street.v. to make a frowning expression of displeasure

Slants (pg.8) I handed Livie the memory book we’d all filled with our different slants.

n. a personal point of view, attitude, or opinion

Riled (pg.11) I suspected Mad Dog had come first to Arley Wanderdale’s mind, but I didn’t get too riled. Not so riled I couldn’t say yes.v. to make angry

Bounty (pg.16) We haven’t had a good crop in three years, not since the bounty of ’31, and we’re all whittled down to the bone these days… n. a large growth, especially of a crop

Whittled (pg.16) We haven’t had a good crop in three years, not since the bounty of ’31, and we’re all whittled down to the bone these days… v. to reduce gradually

Day Two Vocabulary (Pgs.

17-29)

Parlor (pg. 24) In the kitchen she is my ma, in the barn and fields she is my daddy’s wife, but in the parlor Ma is something different. n. a room in a home, hotel, or club used for conversation or the receiving of guests

Brewing (pg.26) Daddy looks like a fight brewing.

v. to start to form

Feuding (pg. 27) He takes that red face of his out to the barn, to keep from feuding with my pregnant ma.v. to have a long lasting fight

Foul (pg.29) …all the while I glare at Ma’s back with a scowl foul as maggoty stew.

adj. disgusting in looks, taste, or smell

Maggoty (pg.29) …all the while I glare at Ma’s back with a scowl foul as maggoty stew.

adj. infested with maggots (larva of a fly)

Day Three Vocabulary (Pgs.

30-51)

Coo (pg.30) She was proud, I could tell. But she didn’t coo like Mad Dog’s ma.

v. to talk fondly or lovingly

Spindly (pg.31) The night sky kept flashing, lightning danced down on its spindly legs.

adj. of a tall or long and thin appearance

Ratcheted (pg.32) …it wasn’t until the dust hissed against the windows, until it ratcheted the roof, that Daddy woke.

v. to cause to move by steps or degrees

Wisp (pg.39) What remains is little more than a wisp of what it should be.

n. a small bunch of hay or straw

Dazed (pg.39) Joe De La Flor doesn’t see me pass him by; he rides his fences, dazed by the dust.

v. to be stunned or stupefied, especially by a blow

Wince (pg.39) I wince at the sight of his rib-thin cattle.

v. to shrink back (as from pain)

Seep (pg.40) Daddy grumbles, “The water’ll seep back into the ground as fast as I can pump it, Pol.” v. to flow or pass slowly through small openings

Leveling (pg. 41) “…Nothing needs more to drink than those two. But you wouldn’t hear of leveling your apples, would you?”v. to knock flat

Bittering (pg. 41) Ma is bittering. I can see it in her mouth…sounding crusty and stubborn.

v. to become sharp and resentful

Boughs (pg. 43) I stand under the trees and let the petals fall into my hair, a blizzard of sweet-smelling flowers, dropped from the boughs of the two… n. a branch of a tree

Searing (pg. 46) On Sunday, winds came, bringing a red dust like prairie fire, hot and peppery, searing the inside of my nose…v. to burn, scorch, mark, or injure with or as if with sudden heat

Soured (pg. 49) And every little crowd is grateful to hear a rag or two played on the piano…even when the piano has a few keys soured by dust.v. to become or make sour, of bad taste or sound

Gripe (pg. 49) …and only if she didn’t hear my gripe how I was tired…

n. a complaint

Out of the DustWeek Two Vocabulary

Day One Vocabulary (Pgs.

55-69)

Kerosene (60) Daddy put a pail of kerosene next to the stove…

n. a thin oil obtained from petroleum and used as a fuel

Antiseptic (62) He bathed my burns in antiseptic.

n. a substance that helps stop the growth or action of germs

Grit (63) Grit scratched my eyes, it crunched between my teeth.

n. a small hard sharp particle (as of sand or dirt)

Scorched (66) She smells like scorched meat.

adj. dried out or burnt by heat

Squirreled (67) Daddy found the money Ma kept squirreled in the kitchen under the threshold.

n. to store up for future use

Threshold (67) Daddy found the money Ma kept squirreled in the kitchen under the threshold.

n. the section of wood or stone that lies under a door

Descending (68) I saw a cloud descending. It whirred like a thousand engines.

v. to pass from a higher to a lower place or level

Day Two Vocabulary (Pgs.

70-84)

Stupor (71) They didn’t say a word about my father drinking himself into a stupor while Ma writhed, begging for water.n. a state of dullness or lack of interest resulting often from stress or shock

Writhed (71) They didn’t say a word about my father drinking himself into a stupor while Ma writhed, begging for water.v. to twist and turn this way and that way (normally in pain)

Carcasses (73) On either side of the road are the carcasses of jackrabbits, small birds, field mice, stretching out into the distance. n. a dead body

Sod (75) …He’s stubborn as sod. He and the land have a hold on each other.

n. the grass-covered surface of the ground

Raw (77) I kept my raw and stinging hands behind my back when he comes near…

adj. having the surface scraped or roughened

Grizzled (81) My stomach grizzled as I made my way through the dark to her house.

v. to complain; whimper; whine.

Stubble (83) …they grazed down the stubble till they reached root.

n. the stem ends of herbs and especially grasses remaining attached to the ground after harvest

Day Three Vocabulary (Pgs.

87-110)

Deformed (92) He doesn’t stare at my deformed hands.

adj. distorted or misshapen in form

Grime (104) I place a wet cloth over my nose to keep from breathing dust and wipe the grime tracings from around my mouth…n. dirt rubbed into or covering a surface

Forsaken (104) Restless…swearing I’ll leave this forsaken place.

Adj. completely deserted or helpless; abandoned

Cloaked (105) Monday morning dawns, cloaked in mist.

v. to cover

Surveying (105) …the farmers, surveying their fields, nod their heads as the frail stalks revive.

v. to look over and examine closely

Frail (106) …the farmers, surveying their fields, nod their heads as the frail stalks revive.

Adj. not having normal strength, fragile

Revive (106) …the farmers, surveying their fields, nod their heads as the frail stalks revive.

v. to bring back or come back to life

Sow (108) Will they sow wheat on his grave, where the buffalo once grazed?

v. to plant seed for growth

Day Four Vocabulary (Pgs.

111-118)

Festered (111) …the picked and festered bits of my hands in agony.

adj. to be formed of pus

Agony (111) …the picked and festered bits of my hands in agony.

n. intense pain of mind or body

Musky (113) None of the musky woman smell left that was Ma.

adj. to be of a smell of musk, strong smell from perfume

Out of the DustWeek Three Vocabulary

Pgs. 119-167

Day One Vocabulary (Pgs.

119-133)

Throb (127) I have practiced my piece over and over till my arms throb…

v. to beat hard or fast (as from fright or pain)

Parched (128) Course they never will, not with my hands all scarred up, looking like the earth itself, all parched and rough and cracking…adj. to toast by dry heat

Amateur (129) Backstage, we were seventeen amateur acts, our wild hearts pounding…

n. a person who is new at a given job or task

Jittery (131) I went on somewhere near the backside of middle, getting more and more jittery with each act, till my time came.adj. to be extremely nervous

Cripple (132) …it was all my fault she didn’t win, that the judges were just being nice to a cripple…

n. a lame or disabled person

Day Two Vocabulary (Pgs.

134-149)

Rugged (138) …he’s still good looking with his strong back, and his blondy-red hair and his high cheeks rugged with wind.adj. having wrinkles or uneven features

Pneumonia (140) Last Friday, Pete Guymon took ill with dust pneumonia.

n. a disease of the lungs marked by inflammation, congestion, fever, cough, and difficulty in breathing and caused especially by infection

Curdling (140) …and sits there still, the cream curdling, the apples going soft.

v. to cause curds to form in, for dairy to go bad

Brittle (148) …that no matter how brittle and sharp life seemed, no matter how brittle and sharp she seemed, she was still my ma who loved me…adj. easily broken, cracked, or snapped

Day Three Vocabulary (Pgs.

153-167)

Court (153) The hard part is in spite of everything if I had any boy court me, it’d be Mad Dog Craddock.

v. to engage in a social relationship usually leading to marriage

Soothe (153) And then later, she would curl beside my father, and assure him that everything was alright, and soothe him into his farmer’s sleep. v. to bring comfort : calm down

Ignite (157) But the entire Oklahoma Panhandle is so dry, everything is going up in flames. Everything too ready to ignite. v. to set on fire

Fierceness (156) Jim Goin and Harry Kesler spotted the fire, and that was a miracle considering the fierceness of the dust storm at the time.n. state of being furiously active or determined

Warped (157) …but the flames, crazy in the wind, licked away at the wooden frames of the three box cars, until nothing remained but warped metal.v. to turn or twist out of shape

Sparse (160) And so they go, fleeing the blowing dust, fleeing the fields of brown-tipped wheat barely ankle high, and sparse as the hair on a dog’s belly.adj. of few parts

Sulking (163) I was sulking in the truck beside my father…

v. to be silent or irritable in sadness

Barreling (163) …a black cloud, big and silent as Montana, boiling on the horizon and barreling towards us.v. to travel at a high speed

Out of the DustWeek Four Vocabulary

Pgs. 168-227

Day One Vocabulary (Pgs.

168-189)

Glowering (173) He just keeps that invitation from her, glowering down at me from the shelf above the piano.v. to stare angrily

Yield (177) And because the rain came so patient at first, and built up strength as the earth remembered how to yield, instead of washing off…v. to give up and stop fighting

Primed (178) …the rain came slamming down, tons of it, soaking into the ready earth to the primed and greedy earth…adj. to be ready for something

Idled (178) In the dark, headlights shining, he idled toward the freshened fields…

v. to spend time doing nothing

Parcel (184) He knelt, studying the parcel, and called to Reverend Bingham, who came right by and opened the package up. n. a wrapped bundle

Knoll (186) I sat…imagining a song for my little brother, buried in Ma’s arms on a knoll overlooking the banks of the Beaver.n. a small round hill

Shale (187) Once dinosaurs roamed in Cimmarron County. Bones showing in the green shale.n. a rock with a fine grain formed from clay, mud, or silt

Slogging (187) A chill shoots up my spine imagining a dinosaur slogging out of the Oklahoma sea.v. to work in a steady determined manner

Day Two Vocabulary (Pgs.

193-206)

Smothering (197) I go, knowing that I’ll die if I stay, that I’m slowly, surely smothering.

v. to prevent the development or actions of, suffocate

Hoarding (200) I feed him two of the stale biscuits I’ve been hoarding and save the rest.

v. to gather money, food, or the like, in a hidden or carefully guarded place for future use

Day Three Vocabulary (Pgs.

209-227)

Scowled (209) I scowled at Daddy. He looked at the wall.

v. to make a frowning expression of displeasure

Mottled (209) Doc looks carefully at the mottled skin…

adj. Spotted or blotched with different shades or colors

Flinch (217) I look straight into Louise’s face. Louise doesn’t flinch. She looks right back.

v. to draw back from or as if from physical pain

Sassy (222) I am getting to know the music again…We are both confident, and a little sassy.

adj. given to back talk

Diversification (226) Daddy said he’d try some sorghum, maybe some cotton, admitting as how there might be something to this notion of diversification folks were talking about… n. the increase in a variety of products