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Big Words in The Long Walk
I noticed that there are a lot Big Words in The Long Walk. This is not a complete list. I keep finding new big words every time I read the book.
Some words have many definitions, but I only included the one pertinent to the excerpt.
I could not find the definition for all words.
abattoir - a slaughterhouse.
He was an abattoir, a raw-blood machine.
abrading - scrape or wear away by friction or erosion.
He slid forward on the end of his nose, abrading the tip of it on the road like soft chalk on a rough blackboard
Adonis - the mortal lover of the goddess Aphrodite in Greek mythology
Percy transformed into a bright, sunlit Adonis
agape - (of the mouth) wide open, especially with surprise or wonder.
He shambled along, bulge-eyed, jaw hanging agape, rain swishing in.
ague - a fever or shivering fit.
By one o'clock the rain had become a hard, steady downpour that stung Garraty's eyes and made his body ache with a kind of internal ague.
alms - money or food given to poor people.
Eyes blind, supplicating hands held out before him as if for alms, Garraty walked toward the dark figure.
aloft - high up; far above the ground
"Thanks!" he hollered to McVries, holding the bent and twisted tube aloft.
amble - walk or move at a slow, relaxed pace.
He hurried, caught up with McVries, who was ambling along and staring idly at the crowd.
amiably - in a friendly and pleasant manner.
"Garraty," Stebbins said amiably
anatomizing - examine and analyze in detail.
he waited tensely for Stebbins to start anatomizing the idea.
apathetically - having or showing little or no emotion
Garraty watched apathetically and thought, even the horror wears thin.
aped - imitate the behavior or manner of (someone or something), especially in an absurd or unthinking way.
They aped conversation and watched Percy watching the soldiers, watching and mentally gauging the short distance to the thick woods.
Apocrypha - biblical or related writings not forming part of the accepted canon of Scripture.
The Walk was one of those things that existed on apocrypha, talismans, legend.
appreciable - large or important enough to be noticed.
His light Southern drawl had thickened appreciably.
articulated - put into words
He spoke sharply because Stebbins had articulated his own deep fear.
aspect - the positioning of a building or thing in a specified direction.
giving him the aspect of a skull
aqueous - of or containing water, typically as a solvent or medium.
Shortly after, the aqueous symphony of dawn began.
avid - having or showing a keen interest in or enthusiasm for something.
The crowd was staring back at him avidly.
baleful - threatening harm; menacing.
"That's gruesome!" Olson said. His haunted eyes stared balefully at Pearson.
bastardize - declare illegitimate
Both agreed that it was mixed, colorful, hirsute, and bastardized.
begrudge - to envy or resent the pleasure or good fortune of
Not that I begrudge you
bemused - puzzle, confuse, or bewilder
here was a Rockettelike precision about this little act of defiance that bemused Garraty.
bepimple - (cannot find definition!)
The bepimpled moon face was not Barkovitch's.
blat - make a sound like of a sheep, goat, or calf
A sharp, blatting pain that knifed up into his calves each time he took a step.
bloc - a combination of countries, parties, or groups sharing a common purpose.
but blocs of out-of-staters cheered briefly
blustering - talk in a loud, aggressive, or indignant way with little effect.
Jim Garraty had gone with them, blustering
boards - a group of persons having managerial, supervisory, investigatory, or advisory powers
long after the laws of biochemistry and handicapping have gone by the boards.
boggled - be astonished or overwhelmed when trying to imagine something.
Garraty would have boggled at this earlier
booster - a source of help or encouragement.
And Jim Garraty had not been much of a Long Walk booster.
brayed - speak or laugh loudly and harshly.
"Isn't that tough?" Collie Parker brayed.
brink - an extreme edge of land before a steep or vertical slope.
Garraty felt a stabbing, needling pain in the left side of his chest and was still unable to stop cheering, even though he understood he was driving at the very brink of disaster.
bulwark - wall, rampart, fortification, parapet, stockade, palisade, barricade, embankment, earthwork
Everyone wants a bulwark against mortality, Garraty.
busily - engaged in action
then dragged him busily off the road.
cadge - ask for or obtain (something to which one is not strictly entitled).
There was nothing left for Olson to cadge off him now.
cameo - a piece of jewelry, typically oval in shape, consisting of a portrait in profile carved in relief on a background of a different color.
There was a tarnished cameo at her throat.
carrion - the decaying flesh of dead animals.
It was the death, the constant death, the stink of carrion that had settled into his nostrils.
companionably - Having the qualities of a good companion; friendly.
"I was counting my toes," Stebbins said companionably.
chagrin - distress or embarrassment at having failed or been humiliated.
The rest of them alternately cheered those who had managed to get some of it, or cursed the wooden-faced soldiers, whose expressions were now satisfyingly interpreted to hold subtle chagrin.
clamor - a loud and confused noise
There was a protesting clamor rising in both legs.
capricious - given to sudden and unaccountable changes of mood or behavior.
Overhead, capricious spring clouds began to scud across the sky in mackerel shapes, promising more rain.
coda - a concluding event, remark, or section.
He opened his mouth and struggled through blood for some coda. "You. Ba. Bas. Bast. Ba."
cadence - a sequence of notes or chords comprising the close of a musical phrase.
He made his feet rise and fall to the steady cadence in his head.
chirred - (especially of an insect) make a prolonged low trilling sound.
A few crickets chirred cautiously
comber - a long curling sea wave.
a wave of tense quiet came over the crowd slowly, moving outward in both directions from where he had sat down, like great glassy combers headed for the beach.
confederate - united in a league, alliance, or conspiracy
the kind of carelessly knit confederation that seemed to form and reform during the course of the Walk
constable - a peace officer with limited policing authority, typically in a small town.
They passed through a deserted crossroads where a sleepy-looking constable was parked.
consternation - feelings of anxiety or dismay, typically at something unexpected.
Harkness looked at him in panicked consternation
cordon - prevent access to or from (an area or building) by surrounding it with police or other guards.
the road was strictly cordoned off
cotton - to take a liking
but nobody much seemed to cotton to a lady undertaker.
covey - a small party or flock of birds, especially partridge.
The guns roared, and a covey of high school boys sitting in the scant shade of a Scout camper applauded briefly.
crane - stretch out one's body or neck in order to see something.
Her voice cut through the crowd and heads turned, necks craned
cranny - a small, narrow space or opening.
The guns roared, the crowd cheered, and Garraty felt the stubborn cranny of hope in the back of his brain open an infinitesimal bit more.
crawdaddy - (cannot find definition!)
Another boy suffered a convulsion and got a ticket as he crawdaddied on the road
craven - contemptibly lacking in courage; cowardly.
his voice rose and fell in a begging, pleading, totally craven monotone
He was talking to himself in a low, strained monotone.
crenellated - provide (a wall of a building) with battlements.
sunken and crenellated in on itself, the face of a rotten scarecrow in a long-since-harvested field.
crescent - has has the shape of a single curve
which hung crescently in the air under the rocker like the outside edge of a watermelon?
cryptic - having a meaning that is mysterious or obscure.
McVries said, and then, after a moment, he added cryptically: "Nobody loves a deader."
dale - a valley, especially a broad one.
Over hill, over dale, over stile and mountain.
deft - neatly skillful and quick in one's movements.
caught it more deftly
din - a loud, unpleasant, and prolonged noise.
The din was tremendous.
disgorge - cause to pour out.
A shaky groan seeped out of him, like a disgorged strand of flesh.
deftness - dexterous; nimble; skillful; clever
he saw Abraham catch one with nonchalant deftness.
disconcert - disturb the composure of; unsettle.
Garraty stared at him, disconcerted.
discordant - disagreeing or incongruous
Like a badly treated guitar that has been knocked about by an unfeeling musician, the strings were not broken but only out of tune, discordant, chaotic.
dollop - a shapeless mass or blob of something, especially soft food.
spread his head like a dollop of wet glue on the rocks
donned - put on
Garraty had donned his coat
dubious - not to be relied upon; suspect.
The moon cast a dubious light on the groundfog, leaving it pearly and opalescent in the fields.
duplicity - deceitfulness; double-dealing.
he could see no duplicity in their faces
emaciated - abnormally thin or weak, especially because of illness or a lack of food.
He was up ahead a little, limping quite a bit now, and looking emaciated
enthralling - capturing and holding one's attention; fascinating.
A heady sense of triumph, suffocating and enthralling, roared through him.
ethereal - extremely delicate and light in a way that seems too perfect for this world.
Baker seemed almost ethereal.
extremis - in extreme circumstances
Garraty wondered if maybe they were all there still, walking ghosts that Baker could now see in his moment of extremis.
fallow - (of farmland) plowed and harrowed but left unsown for a period in order to restore its fertility as part of a crop rotation or to avoid surplus production.
He studied the fallow field they were passing
feral - characteristic of wild animals
his feral face turned up to the sky
fetched - go for and then bring back
His one foot fetched against his other foot, he stumbled, almost fell, and somehow kept his balance.
fixity - the state of being unchanging or permanent.
He was staring with an odd fixity
flogging - to make progress by painful work
now he'll get up and start flogging it.
flotilla - a group moving together
Somebody in the crowd had just released a flotilla of balloons.
forlornness - desolate or dreary; unhappy or miserable, as in feeling, condition, or appearance.
But when the car had passed back through the gate, forlornness struck him and he was only a sixteen-year-old boy again, alone in a strange place.
furtive - in a way that attempts to avoid notice or attention; secretively.
Birds sang in the high-crowned trees, the furtive breeze now
When he turned away, Garraty touched the carbine slung over the soldier's back. He did it furtively.
He looked up at Garraty and grinned a scary, furtive grin.
gall - something bitter to endure
HER HEART IS GALL AND WORMWOOD
gantry - a bridgelike overhead structure with a platform supporting equipment such as a crane, railroad signals, lights, or cameras.
Olson's whole frame seemed to tremble, like a gantry in a high wind.
gaunt - extremely thin and bony; haggard and drawn, as from great hunger, weariness, or torture; emaciated.
The face to which he referred was now haggard and gaunt
He had grown gaunter in the last few hours. His eyes were sunk deeper in their sockets.
gibed - make insulting or mocking remarks; jeer.
"A praaayin' man!" McVries gibed
gibber - speak rapidly and unintelligibly (gibberish), typically through fear or shock.
The Crowd Face mugged and gibbered and cheered
gimlet - having a piercing or penetrating quality
She watched them go by with gimlet eyes.
goggling - look with wide open eyes, typically in amazement or wonder
He was wearing a Randy the Robot T-shirt and goggling around a half-eaten jam sandwich.
green - (I could not find this definition!)
I was scairt green.
"See anything green?" Garraty asked irritably. <- also used in Christine and It!
haggard - having a gaunt, wasted, or exhausted appearance, as from prolonged suffering, exertion, or anxiety; worn
The face to which he referred was now haggard and gaunt
halitosis - a condition of having offensive-smelling breath; bad breath.
He put a hand on Olson's shoulder and leaned into an evil nimbus of sweat, halitosis, and urine.
hangdog - having a dejected or guilty appearance; shamefaced.
one of the Troopers looked around, startled and ... well, almost hangdog.
harrowed - In agriculture, a harrow is an implement for breaking up and smoothing out the surface of the soil.
Consolidated building, chicken houses, old trucks up on blocks, newly harrowed fields.
heady - having a strong or exhilarating effect.
A heady sense of triumph, suffocating and enthralling, roared through him.
hemorrhage - an escape of blood from a ruptured blood vessel, especially when profuse.
Something inside Art Baker had hemorrhaged
hiatus - a pause or gap in a sequence, series, or process.
The hiatus Parker had so accurately predicted was almost over.
hirsute - rough, shaggy, bristly
Both agreed that it was mixed, colorful, hirsute, and bastardized.
hypothetical - serving as a hypothesis, which is a supposition or proposed explanation made on the basis of limited evidence as a starting point for further investigation.
Garraty thought about his hypothetical drowning man again.
immortality - the ability to live forever; eternal life.
maybe this is some crazy kind of immortality.
impartial - treating all rivals or disputants equally; fair and just.
The crowd cheered her enthusiastically and impartially.
impassive - not feeling or showing emotion.
They were staring back impassively.
incorruptible - not susceptible to corruption, especially by bribery.
Clothed in flesh incorruptible.
indifferent - having no particular interest or sympathy; unconcerned.
The blond stared back at him indifferently.
Indignant - feeling or showing anger or annoyance at what is perceived as unfair treatment.
A sudden insane urge to stop came to him. Just to see if they really meant business. He rejected the thought indignantly and a little fearfully.
inexorable - impossible to stop or prevent.
The thought was inexorable.
infinitesimal - extremely small.
The odds infinitesimally adjusted in favor of those remaining.
The guns roared, the crowd cheered, and Garraty felt the stubborn cranny of hope in the back of his brain open an infinitesimal bit more.
Inexplicably - in a way that cannot be explained or accounted for.
Inexplicably, he found himself aroused again.
implacable - relentless; unstoppable.
He had been playing the role of an implacable Southern revival minister who had also been a compulsive murderer.
inarticulate - unable to speak distinctly or express oneself clearly.
Abraham had begun to moan inarticulately
insensate - lacking physical sensation.
binding himself more tightly to its insensate self
insupportable - unable to be supported or justified.
the pain seemed insupportable now
interminably - incapable of being terminated
Baker collected three warnings, and then the silence stretched out interminably.
intone - say or recite with little rise and fall of the pitch of the voice.
"Fourscore and seven years ago," Abraham intoned
irrevocably - in a way that cannot be changed, reversed, or recovered.
Now Jan was gone, his mother was gone. Irrevocably and for eternity.
jackknife - move (one's body) into a bent or doubled-up position.
He fell on the road and began to snap and sunfish and jackknife viciously.
jitter - feelings of extreme nervousness.
making the tongue jitter nuttily in the mouth
Keatsville - romantic like the poetry of John Keats
the joy and bliss was Keatsville all the way.
Klieg light - a powerful electric lamp used in filming.
But a battered Klieg light had been plugged in somewhere
lackadaisical - lacking enthusiasm and determination; carelessly lazy.
Abraham and Collie Parker were lackadaisically discussing the merits of four-barrel carbs.
lancet - a small, broad, two-edged surgical knife or blade with a sharp point.
A lancet of pain pierced into Garraty's head.
listless - (of a person or their manner) lacking energy or enthusiasm.
"Walk," Olson said listlessly.
litany - a tedious recital or repetitive series.
And he found himself suddenly spitting the question at the boy over and over, like an idiot litany
loden - a thick waterproof woolen cloth.
tall boy in a ridiculous loden-green trenchcoat.
loll - sit, lie, or stand in a lazy, relaxed way.
Olson raised his lolling head slowly
luminescent - the emission of light not caused by incandescence and occurring at a temperature below that of incandescent bodies.
There was a huge, luminescent arrow ahead in the dark.
mackerel - name applied to a number of different species of pelagic fish
Overhead, capricious spring clouds began to scud across the sky in mackerel shapes, promising more rain.
melancholy - a feeling of pensive sadness, typically with no obvious cause.
He fell into a melancholy, oddly satisfying mood
malevolently - evil; harmful; injurious
The sun was poised malevolently over the fringe of woods.
Mammon - wealth regarded as an evil influence or false object of worship and devotion
They all grinned, and Garraty reflected how strange it was about the Major, who had gone from God to Mammon in just ten hours.
Crowd was nothing but a Voice and an Eye, and it was not surprising that Crowd was both God and Mammon.
maudlin - self-pityingly or tearfully sentimental, often through drunkenness.
Some of them began to talk about their girlfriends, and the conversation became stumbling and maudlin.
millennium - a period of 1000 years.
sealed against the dark millennia
monoliths - something having a uniform, massive, redoubtable, or inflexible quality or character.
Heaped stacks of pulpwood stood to the sky like monoliths
monotone - a continuing sound, especially of someone's voice, that is unchanging in pitch and without intonation.
his voice rose and fell in a begging, pleading, totally craven monotone
montage - the technique of producing a new composite whole from fragments of pictures, text, or music.
nothing but a dream montage, an insomniac's half-sleeping wakemare.
mugged - made faces, especially silly or exaggerated ones, before an audience or a camera.
The Crowd Face mugged and gibbered and cheered
murmur - a soft, indistinct sound made by a person or group of people speaking quietly or at a distance.
The cheers had died away to a muted, almost sexual murmur.
mustachioed - having a mustache.
Then he thought of the smiling, mustachioed face of the Major
myopic - nearsighted; shortsighted
He goggled in that myopic, defenseless way
necrophiliac - "It means you got an urge to sleep with a dead woman," Baker said. "Or a dead man, if you're a woman." "Or if you're a fruit," McVries put in.
Poe the necrophiliac
nimbus - Classical Mythology. a shining cloud sometimes surrounding a deity when on earth.
He put a hand on Olson's shoulder and leaned into an evil nimbus of sweat, halitosis, and urine.
nonchalant - (of a person or manner) feeling or appearing casually calm and relaxed; not displaying anxiety, interest, or enthusiasm.
he saw Abraham catch one with nonchalant deftness.
nuttily - Crazy; idiotic
making the tongue jitter nuttily in the mouth
oblong - having an elongated shape, as a rectangle or an oval
a huge white oblong in the darkness.
obsidian - a volcanic glass similar in composition to granite, usually dark but transparent in thin pieces, and having a good conchoidal fracture.
His eyes, darkly obsidian, were fixed straight ahead.
onus - used to refer to something that is one's duty or responsibility.
And in a feeble effort to remove the onus, Garraty repeated: "It was a long time ago."
opalescent - showing varying colors as an opal does.
The moon cast a dubious light on the groundfog, leaving it pearly and opalescent in the fields.
orgiastic - Sociology . (of an expressive crowd) reaching a peak of emotional intensity, often of an ecstatic nature and frequently expressed by uninhibited behavior.
A sound began to beat its way into the night then, savage and orgiastic.
pallidly - pale; faint or deficient in color
Baker smiled pallidly.
pandemonium - wild and noisy disorder or confusion; uproar.
amid the greatest pandemonium
paroxysms - any sudden, violent outburst; a fit of violent action or emotion
the crowd went completely loopy, convulsing itself in greater and greater paroxysms.
pavloved - To become the victim of routine so much so as to become brain washed and maintain the same habits despite a change in one's environment.
it had been Pavloved into them.
pelt - a skin stripped of hair or wool for tanning
His hair became a dripping pelt.
pelting - attack (someone) by repeatedly hurling things at them.
The rain came again, hard and pelting
phenomenon - a fact or situation that is observed to exist or happen, especially one whose cause or explanation is in question.
Garraty stared at this strange phenomenon, fascinated.
poultice - a soft, moist mass of material, typically of plant material
He was walking with his arms wrapped around his head like a gigantic poultice.
placards - a poster or sign for public display, either fixed to a wall or carried during a demonstration.
They cheered steadily with one hoarse voice, they waved unreadable placards.
platitudes - a flat, dull, or trite remark, especially one uttered as if it were fresh or profound.
"You can just cram your fucking platitudes!"
plosive - denoting a consonant that is produced by stopping the airflow using the lips, teeth, or palate, followed by a sudden release of air.
But he kept on walking and they all kept on walking. Little grunting noises and soft, plosive breathing became audible.
Plumb - to examine closely in order to discover or understand
Plumb the unplumbed depths of Garraty.
philippic - a bitter attack or denunciation, especially a verbal one.
One hand was frozen in the middle of a wide, sweeping gesture, as if he was about to deliver an angry philippic.
prophylactics - a device, usually a rubber sheath, used to prevent conception or venereal infection; condom.
... rotted prophylactics, broken bottles, smashed buoys, and green-mossed skeletons in tattered bathing trunks.
queasy - nauseated; feeling sick.
His own stomach rolled queasily.
quizzically - questioning or puzzled
Pearson looked at him quizzically
rapturous - characterized by, feeling, or expressing great pleasure or enthusiasm.
still cheering rapturously.
rancor - bitterness or resentfulness, especially when long-standing.
There was no rancor in Pearson's tired voice.
ratchetingly - made up word, can't find a definition
A small dog tore out of a farmyard and barked at them ratchetingly
raucously - Rough-sounding and harsh
A crow cawed raucously
report - a sudden loud noise of or like an explosion or gunfire.
There was one sharp, clean report, and Garraty jerked his eyes from Percy to the soldier standing on the back deck of the halftrack.
reproach - address (someone) in such a way as to express disapproval or disappointment.
but seemed all the same to indicate a subtle reproach.
retrospect - A review or contemplation of things in the past
he was too tired and numb for retrospect.
rill - a small stream.
spanning a fast-running rill of water.
roguish - characteristic of a dishonest or unprincipled person.
"Be a lotta pretty girls on the road today," Baker said, eyeing Garraty roguishly.
roiling - make (a liquid) turbid or muddy by disturbing the sediment.
And suddenly his roiling, agonized muscles, the sweat running down his face, even the pain itself-seemed very sweet and real.
rook - take money from (someone) by cheating, defrauding, or overcharging them.
That they had all been swindled, rooked.
roundly - in a vehement or emphatic manner.
Collie was still smiling gaily and waving and cursing spectators and newsmen roundly
runnel - a narrow channel in the ground for liquid to flow through.
And then he raced toward the halftrack, his tears cutting runnels through the sweaty dirt on his face, red hair glinting like a fire in the sun.
sally - a sudden charge out of a besieged place against the enemy; a sortie.
This sally brought general laughter.
sardonic - grimly mocking or cynical.
He had recovered and was his old sardonic self again.
satire - the use of humor, irony, exaggeration, or ridicule to expose and criticize people's stupidity or vices
The harmonica player started in satirically on Taps
scud - move fast in a straight line because or as if driven by the wind.
Overhead, capricious spring clouds began to scud across the sky in mackerel shapes, promising more rain.
scutter - (especially of a small animal) move hurriedly with short steps.
At quarter past the hour, Bobby Sledge tried to scutter quietly into the crowd
sententiously - given to excessive moralizing; self-righteous.
"Sinless in thought, word, and deed," McVries said sententiously.
shambling - to walk or go awkwardly; shuffle.
It was a queer, shambling, limping run.
He shambled along, bulge-eyed, jaw hanging agape, rain swishing in.
shrewish - (of a woman) bad-tempered or aggressively assertive.
"There!" Barkovitch screamed shrewishly.
shucked - removed
he had shucked both his jacket and his shirt
sieve - a utensil consisting of a wire or plastic mesh held in a frame, used for straining solids from liquids, for separating coarser from finer particles, or for reducing soft solids to a pulp.
It's like shaking a box of crackers through a sieve, Garraty.
I feel like a sieve," he said. "I drink it and it pops out on my skin two minutes later.
signal honor - especially important or noticeable
That signal honor had gone to 13, Roger Fenum.
skittish - excitable or easily scared.
He found himself wondering if they wouldn't all be better off dead, and shied away from the thought skittishly.
sloe-eyed - having attractive dark, typically almond-shaped eyes.
They were pale, sloe-eyed faces with brooding expressions under dripping hats and umbrellas and spread newspaper tents.
slough - a place of deep mud or mire
The people seemed to rise above them and around them like the living walls of a huge dark slough.
sloughed - to shed or cast off
His form had seemed to elongate as the weight sloughed off him.
Garraty sluffed one of his two warnings.
sluice - (of water) pour, flow, or shower freely.
Then rain began to fall through the hail, sluicing down the hill they were climbing
sly - in a manner intended to avoid notice
It seemed to Garraty that the road had become a sly combination of upgrades with no corresponding downs.
sodden - saturated with liquid, especially water; soaked through.
The rain made it sodden and sticky, lifeless.
solemnly - in a formal and dignified manner.
McVries clapped his hands solemnly, three times.
smartly - to feel a sharp, stinging pain, as in a wound
he slapped himself twice smartly across the face
smartly - in a manner showing quick-witted intelligence or skill.
Do this smartly, please.
they about-faced smartly and faced the oncoming halftrack.
smote - struck with a firm blow.
A moment later the storm smote them again.
The ripe smell of paper mill smote them.
sough - to make a rushing, rustling, or murmuring sound
The comforting sough of the wind in the pines
A light wind soughed through the pines.
spluttered - to make a sputtering sound, or emit particles of something explosively, as water dropped onto a hot griddle.
Firecrackers popped and spluttered in strings.
sporadically - occasionally or at irregular intervals.
Warnings cracked out sporadically
spree - a spell or sustained period of unrestrained activity of a particular kind.
You can spend your life like a drunkard on a spree.
spurious - not genuine, authentic, or true; not from the claimed, pretended, or proper source; counterfeit. <- doesn't make sense in context
His legs seemed to gain a new and spurious springiness.
starchy - virile; having traditionally masculine traits especially to a marked degree
everyone whistled and waved at the three young waitresses sitting on the steps, just to show them they were still starchy.
stile - an arrangement of steps that allows people but not animals to climb over a fence or wall.
Over hill, over dale, over stile and mountain.
stupefy - make (someone) unable to think or feel properly.
Garraty looked up, half-stupefied and a little sweaty in spite of the night chill.
suffused - gradually spread through or over.
McVries's face was dark with suffused blood.
stridently - in an extremely forceful way.
Thunder cracked stridently, artillery practice in the sky.
sunfish - flap around like a sunfish on land
He fell on the road and began to snap and sunfish and jackknife viciously.
supplicating - to pray humbly; make humble and earnest entreaty or petition.
Eyes blind, supplicating hands held out before him as if for alms
surfeit - an excessive amount of something.
There's a surfeit even of death.
syphilitic - pertaining to syphilis, a chronic infectious disease, which affects the genitals, skin, mucous membranes, aorta, brain, liver, bones, and nerves
The face of a founding father and the mentality of a syphilitic donkey
talisman - an object, typically an inscribed ring or stone, that is thought to have magic powers and to bring good luck.
The Walk was one of those things that existed on apocrypha, talismans, legend.
tarmacs - material used for surfacing roads or other outdoor areas, consisting of crushed rock mixed with tar.
It peopled doorsteps, lawns, driveways, picnic areas, gas station tarmacs
tethered - to be roped or chained to restrict movement.
The pain in his feet and his legs seemed to belong to someone else to whom he was tethered only loosely
thatch - straw-like; as if made of straw
Garraty ran both hands through the straw-thatch of his hair.
thrall - the state of being in someone's power or having great power over someone.
He held kids in thrall for six weeks
tine - a prong or sharp point, such as that on a fork or antler.
A white-purple tine of lightning jabbed the horizon.
tousle - make untidy
A small boy with a tousled head of hair
Transcendental - relating to a spiritual or nonphysical realm.
The Transcendental Quality of Love
treble - three times as much or as many.
The pain in his feet would double, perhaps treble before the end came
trifle - a small amount
the stars in the east seemed a trifle paler.
trite - (of a remark, opinion, or idea) overused and consequently of little import; lacking originality or freshness.
So Garraty went through the business about Scramm and Scramm's wife for the second time, and halfway through another boy got his ticket (HELL'S ANGELS ON WHEELS stenciled on the back of his battered jeans jacket) and made it all seem rather meaningless and trite.
trice - in a moment; very quickly.
Dom landed headfirst in the dirt, and his hands were cuffed behind him in a trice.
triphammer - a large, heavy pivoted hammer used in forging, raised by a cam or lever and allowed to drop on the metal being worked.
Garraty slowed to a very fast walk, his mouth cottony dry, his heart pounding at triphammer speed.
trooping - walk at a slow or steady pace.
A whistle blew as the last of the Walkers - Stebbins - passed by, and Garraty, looking back over his shoulder, saw them trooping inside again.
truculent - eager or quick to argue or fight; aggressively defiant.
He peered out from beneath it like a truculent lighthouse keeper.
twinge - A sharp, sudden physical or mental pain
A sharp twinge of pain went through the arch of his right foot.
He thought about Jan, his girl, and felt a twinge of guilt about the girl he had kissed earlier.
twining - interlace
Baker looked up at the twining, heavy branches under which they were passing
undemonstrative - not given to open exhibition or expression of emotion, especially of affection.
They were huddled together for warmth but were undemonstrative.
undulating - wavy
Garraty found himself totally isolated inside an undulating shower curtain.
unison - simultaneous or synchronous
They fired in neat unison
unobtrusively - in a way that is not conspicuous or attracting attention.
the one Parker had killed had been unobtrusively replaced
vanguard - the foremost division or the front part of an army
The vanguard was still some distance ahead.
vapid - offering nothing that is stimulating or challenging.
a vapid, eager visage that duplicated itself mile by mile
verge - an edge or border.
The soldiers walking along the verge of the road did not answer.
visage - the surface of an object presented to view.
a vapid, eager visage that duplicated itself mile by mile
vulpine - relating to a fox or foxes
His face was speckled by two days of beard and it looked sickly vulpine.
vacuously - Devoid of substance or meaning
The collar of his chambray workshirt flapped vacuously against his neck.
The vacuous, dazed look was gone.
wakemare - not a word. awake nightmare?
nothing but a dream montage, an insomniac's half-sleeping wakemare.
waspishly - quick to resent a trifling affront or injury; snappish
Barkovitch said waspishly.
wend - go in a specified direction, typically slowly or by an indirect route
he ran out of microphone cable and began wending his way back
whined - give or make a long, high-pitched complaining cry or sound.
One of the rifles roared, and a bullet clipped asphalt beside Olson's left hand and whined away.
whocked - whacked? Did Stephen King make this word up?
with an audible bonk! like a cantaloupe being whocked with the handle of a kitchen knife.
wistful - having or showing a feeling of vague or regretful longing.
"You're one lucky sonofabitch, Garraty," Parker said wistfully.
wizened - withered; shriveled
He also looked ancient and wizened.
wormwood - something bitter or grievous
HER HEART IS GALL AND WORMWOOD
wraithlike - an apparition of a living person supposed to portend his or her death.
The voice was a dried husk, wraithlike.
writhe - make continual twisting, squirming movements or contortions of the body.
He turned away, pale, his lips writhing.
wryly - in a way that expresses dry, especially mocking, humor.
My guardian angel, Garraty thought wryly.