/Vocabulary

The Tale of Despereaux by Kate DiCamillo, Vocabulary List Chapters 19-24

The Tale of Despereaux Vocabulary List

  1. capacious | see definition»

    able to hold a great deal

    Roscuro, as he surfaced from the bottom of the queen's capacious bowl, could not help taking a few appreciative sips.

  2. concoct | see definition»

    to prepare (as food) by putting several different things together

    Cook's love and admiration for the queen and her palate moved the broth that she concocted from the level of mere food to a high art.

  3. consign | see definition»

    to put (someone) in a usually unpleasant place or situation

    Gregory the jailer and those who were consigned to his domain did not laugh or smile or clink glasses with the person sitting next to them.

  4. dank | see definition»

    unpleasantly wet or moist

    In a dank cell, the prisoner who had once had a red tablecloths and now had nothing, spent his days and nights weeping quietly.

  5. dire | see definition»

    very bad : causing great fear or worry

    There were of course, dire consequences of Roscuro's behavior.

  6. mend | see definition»

    to improve in health : HEAL

    There are those hearts, reader, that never mend again once they are broken.

  7. mingle | see definition»

    to bring or combine together or with something else

    The soup was a masterwork, a delicate mingling of chicken, watercress, and garlic.

  8. ornate | see definition»

    decorated in a fancy way

    There was, in the banquet hall, a most beautiful and ornate chandelier.

  9. palate | see definition»

    the sense of taste

    Cook's love and admiration for the queen and her palate moved the broth that she concocted from the level of mere food to a high art.

  10. revelation | see definition»

    a secret or surprising fact that is made known

    The revelation hit Roscuro with such force, that it made him lose his grip on the chandelier.

  11. soothe | see definition»

    to calm down : COMFORT

    Making soup illegal, outlawing rats, these things soothes the poor king's heart.

  12. sow | see definition»

    an adult female pig

    With that said, he begins a short history of the life and times of Miggery Sow, a girl born into this world many years before the mouse Despereaux and the rat Chiaroscuro, a girl born far from the castle, a girl named for her father's favorite prize-winning pig.

  13. tapestry | see definition»

    a heavy cloth that has designs or pictures woven into it and is used especially as a wall hanging

    Imagine that late one spring day, you step out of the dark and into a world of bright windows and polished floors, winking copper pots, shining suits of armor, and tapestries sewn in gold.

  14. unsavory | see definition»

    unpleasant or offensive

    Reader, in the spirit of honesty, I must utter a difficult and unsavory truth: Rats are not beautiful creatures.

  15. utter | see definition»

    to express in usually spoken words

    Reader, in the spirit of honesty, I must utter a difficult and unsavory truth: Rats are not beautiful creatures.

  16. waltz | see definition»

    to move or walk in a lively and confident manner

    The rat waltzed happily from room to room until he found himself at the door to the banquet hall.

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