Class XII NCERT Vistas Book difficult word meanings
Here, the difficult words and their meanings of all the chapters of CBSE Class 12 English Vista Book have been compiled for the convenience of the students. This is an exhaustive list of the difficult words and meanings of all the chapters from the Vista book for CBSE NCERT Class 12 English. The difficult words’ meanings have been explained in an easy language so that every student can understand easily.
- Chapter 1 – The Third Level
- Chapter 2 – The Tiger King
- Chapter 3 – Journey to the End of the Earth
- Chapter 4 – The Enemy
- Chapter 5 – Should Wizard Hit Mommy
- Chapter-6 On the face of it
- Chapter 7- Evans tries an O – level
- Chapter 8 Memories of Childhood
- Vistas Book Word Meaning
- Flamingo Book Word Meaning
- Flamingo Book Poem Lesson Explanation
- Flamingo Book Lesson Explanation
- Vistas Book Lesson Explanation
Chapter 1 – The Third Level
- Arched- curved
- Bumping- knock or run into something
- Ducked- lower the head or body quickly
- Fussing- show unnecessary or excessive concern about something
- Gabardine- a smooth, durable, twill-woven worsted or cotton cloth
- Locomotive- a powered railway vehicle used for pulling trains
- Snapped- break suddenly and completely
- Spittoons- a metal or earthenware pot typically having a funnel-shaped top, used for spitting into
- Stack- a pile of objects, typically one that is neatly arranged
- Suburban- residential
- Timetables- a schedule showing the departure and arrival times of trains, buses or aircraft
- Vest- a garment worn on the upper part of the body
- Waking dream- an involuntary dream occuring while a person is awake
- Wander- walk; roam
Chapter 2 – The Tiger King
- Adorned: make more beautiful or attractive.
- Alarmingly: in a worrying or disturbing way.
- Ambition: a strong desire to do or achieve something.
- Ascertained: make sure of.
- Astonishing: extremely surprising or impressive
- Astrologers: a person who predicts future.
- Babble: talk rapidly and continuously in a foolish, excited, or incomprehensible way.
- Bafflement: to confuse, bewilder
- Banned: officially or legally prohibit
- Bare: not clothed or covered.
- Beware: be cautious and alert to risks or dangers.
- Boundless: unlimited or immense.
- Brandishing: wave or flourish something as a threat or in anger or excitement.
- Carcass: the dead body of an animal.
- Carved: cut or engraved to produce an object, design, or inscription.
- Catastrophic: involving or causing sudden great damage or suffering.
- Compelled: forced to do something.
- Confiscated: taken or seized with authority.
- Court of Wards: consisted of members to protect heirs and their estates when the heir was deemed to be a minor and incapable of acting independently.
- Crumpled: crushed to form creases and wrinkles.
- Deliberations: long and careful consideration or discussion.
- Demise: death
- Dewan: governing body.
- Dispelled: make a doubt, feeling, or belief disappear.
- Drawled: speak in a slow, lazy way with prolonged vowel sounds.
- Durai: Chief leader (English officer)
- Duraisaini: Wife of the english officer
- Elation: great happiness and exhilaration.
- Emerged: become apparent or prominent.
- Enunciated: say or pronounce clearly
- Erected: put together and set upright
- Exemption: state of being free from an obligation
- Flared: having a shape that widens progressively towards the end or bottom.
- Fling: throw or hurl forcefully.
- Flout: openly disregard a rule, law, or convention
- Fonder: having an affection or liking for.
- Forthwith: immediately; without delay.
- Fury: wild or violent anger.
- Growl: make a low guttural sound in the throat.
- Harakiri: ritual suicide by disembowelment with a sword
- Hastened: be quick to do something.
- Hasty: hurried.
- Haul: pull or drag with effort or force.
- Heap: an untidy collection of objects placed haphazardly on top of each other.
- Hindsight: understanding of a situation or event only after it has happened or developed.
- Humble: having or showing a modest or low estimate of one’s importance.
- Hurdle: a problem or difficulty that must be overcome.
- Imperative: vital importance
- Incoherent: expressed in an incomprehensible or confusing way
- Indomitable: impossible to defeat.
- Infant: a very young child
- Inhabiting: live in or occupy a place or environment.
- Innumerable: too many to be counted
- Intention: an aim or plan.
- Intently: with earnest and eager attention.
- Leapt: jump or spring a long way, to a great height, or with great force.
- Majesty: royal power.
- Miracle: or an outstanding example of something.
- Mounted: riding an animal
- Nanny: a person, typically a woman, employed to look after a child in its own home.
- Native: associated with a place by birth
- Obstinacy: stubbornness.
- Phrase: put into a particular form of words.
- Possessed: have as belonging to one
- Prey: an animal that is hunted and killed by another for food
- Procession: a number of people or vehicles moving forward in an orderly fashion, especially as part of a ceremony.
- Proclamation: a public or official announcement dealing with a matter of great importance.
- Pronounced: very noticeable
- Prophets: proclaimer of the will of God.
- Quake: shake or tremble.
- Quills: the hollow sharp spines of a porcupine, hedgehog, or other spiny mammal.
- Relented: become less severe or intense.
- Resolve: decide firmly on a course of action.
- Retreat: withdrawing
- Rife: of common occurrence
- Savage: fierce, violent, and uncontrolled.
- Shoved: make one’s way by pushing someone or something.
- Shuddering: tremble convulsively
- Slivers: a small, thin, narrow piece of something cut or split off a larger piece.
- Squeaky: having or making a high-pitched sound or cry.
- Standstill: a situation or condition in which there is no movement or activity at all.
- Stuka bomber: German dive bomber and ground-attack aircraft.
- Stupefaction: make someone unable to think or feel properly.
- Summoned: order someone to be present.
- Supplication: the action of asking or begging for something earnestly or humbly.
- Suppurating: undergo the formation of pus
- Tally: a current score or amount
- Thrilled: cause someone to have a sudden feeling of excitement and pleasure.
- Throne: a ceremonial chair for a sovereign
- Transfixed: cause (someone) to become motionless with horror, wonder, or astonishment.
- Tuft: a bunch or collection of threads, grass, hair, etc., held or growing together at the base.
- Unforeseen: not anticipated or predicted.
- Vital: essential.
- Vowed: solemnly promise to do a specified thing.
- Wandered: walk or move in a leisurely or aimless way.
- Wantonly: in a deliberate and unprovoked way.
- Wary: feeling or showing caution about possible dangers or problems.
- Whizzing: move quickly through the air with a whistling or buzzing sound.
Chapter3 – Journey to the End of the Earth
- Austral: relating to the Southern Hemisphere
- Avalanche: snowslide
- Blasé: unimpressed with or indifferent to something because one has experienced or seen it so often before
- Calving: split and shed
- Consecrates: make or declare sacred
- Cordilleran folds: an extensive chain of mountains or mountain ranges
- Desolate: (of a place) uninhabited and giving an impression of bleak emptiness
- Ecospheres: parts of the universe habitable by living organisms
- Etching: engraved
- Expansive: covering wide area in terms of space or scope; extensive
- Frigid: very cold in temperature
- Immersion: submerge
- Isolation: separation
- Landmass: a continent or other large body of land
- Mind-boggling: overwhelming; startling
- Paltry: petty; insignificant
- Precambrian granite shields: large areas of relatively low elevation that forms part of continental masses
- Pristine: in its original condition; unspoilt
- Profound: very great or intense
- Prognosis: a forecast of the likely outcome of a situation
- Ruckus: a row or commotion
- Supercontinent: a former large continent from which other continents are held to have broken off and drifted away
- Surreal: unusual; bizzare
- Thrived: prosper; flourish
- Ubiquitous: everywhere; pervasive
- Unmitigated: unconditional
Chapter 4 – The Enemy
- A stain of red: blood stain
- Absolute state: a state run by kings having total powers
- Amazement: surprise
- Anatomy: the branch of science concerned with the bodily structure of humans, animals, and other living organisms, especially as revealed by dissection and the separation of parts.
- Anatomy: the branch of science concerned with the bodily structure of humans, animals, and other living organisms, especially as revealed by dissection and the separation of parts.
- Anesthetic: a substance that induces insensitivity to pain
- Apologise: feel sorry
- Assassins: professional killers
- Assuage: decrease, reduce
- Battered: torn and worn out
- Beachcomber: a vagrant who makes a living by searching beaches for articles of value and selling them
- Beginning to stir: gaining consciousness.
- Bitter: unpleasant
- Blond: light – coloured, yellowish colour
- Blond: of light colour
- Bluntly: in a straight – forward manner
- Boughs: branches of trees
- Briskly: quickly
- Burden: here, it refers to a dead body.
- By word of mouth: people tell it to each other rather than it being printed in written form.
- Cardinal: basic, first
- Cares of his life: problems and responsibilities that he faced during his life
- Chilled: freeze due to cold weather
- Chrysanthemum: a flower
- Compelled: forced
- Comprehending: understanding
- Concise: short
- Consequence: result
- Contemptuously: disrespectfully
- Conviction: firm belief
- Courteously: politely
- Crept: crawled
- Crimson: bright red colour
- Cross: angry, disappointed
- Crouched: sit in a squatting position
- Dereliction: failure to perform one’s duty
- Despised: hated
- Dignity: respect
- Dismayed: shocked
- Distress: sadness
- Dragged: pulled
- Dusk: the time of sunset
- Eaves: part of the roof that meets or overhangs the wall of a building
- Ebbing: decreasing gradually
- Execution: legal punishment
- Fathom: a unit of measuring the depth of the sea.
- Feeble: weak
- Fierce: dangerous
- Flashlight: torch
- Fluttered: trembled
- Fortifying: putting security at a place
- Fowl: cock, hen
- Gall bladder: the small sac-shaped organ beneath the liver, in which bile is stored after secretion by the liver and before release into the intestine.
- Gasped: to catch one’s breathe due to astonishment
- Gasping: struggling to breathe, unable to speak
- Gaunt: gloomy, weak
- Gay: happy
- Grateful: thankful
- Grieving: in a state of sadness
- Gripping: holding tightly
- Guts: informal word for bravery and determination
- Haggard: looking exhausted and unwell, especially from fatigue, worry, or suffering.
- Haori: a loose outer garment worn over the kimono.
- Heedlessly: carelessly
- Her face the colour of sulphur: sulphur is a yellow coloured element. The clause means that her face became pale – yellowish in colour.
- Hesitated: paused in indecision before saying or doing something.
- Horizon: the line at which the earth’s surface and the sky appear to meet, skyline
- Hypodermic: needle, syringe, injection
- Impulsive: sudden, thoughtless
- impulsively: to do something suddenly without thinking
- Incisions: surgical cuts
- Inclined: bent towards one side
- Indispensable: necessary
- Inert: motionless
- Infected: affected
- Influenza: a highly contagious viral infection of the respiratory passages causing fever
- Kerchief: square piece of cloth
- Kimono: a traditional Japanese garment.
- Knelt: sat on her knees
- Leaned: bent forward
- Leaped: jumped
- Manchuria: Manchuria (Northeast China) is the homeland of the Manchu people. To the Chinese, the region is simply known as the Northeast. Manchuria is made up of China’s three north-eastern most provinces: Liaoning, Jilin, and Heilongjiang.
- Marred: spoiled
- Menace: danger, threat
- Miserable: in poor condition
- Mistress: a woman in a position of authority or control
- Moaned: a low cry in pain
- Moaned: made low, soft sounds due to pain
- Modern: relating to the present or recent times as opposed to the remote past.
- Moss: a very small soft green plant
- Muttered: spoke
- Nodded: lower and raise one’s head slightly and briefly, especially in greeting, assent, or understanding, or to give someone a signal.
- Nursed him: taken care of him
- Nursery: a room in a house for the special use of young children.
- Overwhelmed: full of emotions
- Paid no heed: did not pay attention to
- Pallor: an unhealthy pale appearance
- Partitions: structures dividing a room into parts
- Patriotism: love for one’s country
- Pawnshop: a store that lends money in exchange for a valuable thing that they can sell if the person leaving it does not pay an agreed amount of money by an agreed time
- Peculiar: strange
- Pine needles: very thin, sharp leaves that grow on pine trees
- Piteously: causing you to feel sad and sympathetic
- Porcelain: a white vitrified translucent ceramic also called China used for making utensils, pottery, etc.
- Post: pole
- Precise: accurate
- Prejudice: preconceived idea or opinion
- Prick: slightest amount
- Probed: searched
- Profound: very great or intense
- Pulse: heartbeat
- Pulse: heartbeat
- Pulse: heartbeat
- Quivered: shivered, trembled
- Raw: uncooked
- Reason: an idea backed by common sense
- Refrain: a sound that is repeated time and again
- Repulsion: a strong dislike
- Repulsive: awful, terrible
- Resistance: the refusal to accept or comply with something
- Retching: vomiting
- Rose: stood up
- Rugs: blanket
- Runs out: finishes
- Rustling: the sound made by footsteps
- Ruthless: harsh, merciless
- Ruthlessness: harshness
- Saturate: wet
- Scars: marks
- Sea moss: a kind of seaweed
- Sentimentality: being emotional
- Shaggy: hairy
- Slatternly: dirty, untidy
- Solemn: serious and concerned
- South pacific: the part of the Pacific Ocean that lies in the southern hemisphere.
- Southern sunshine: the door of the office which opened into the garden faced the South direction. This means that the sunshine which entered the office was not direct and bright instead it was a shady sunshine.
- Spiked: covered with sharp points
- Springs:
- Staggered: walk unsteadily as if about to fall
- Stanch: stop or restrict (a flow of blood) from a wound.
- Sterilized: disinfected
- Stoop: bend forward
- Stout: fat, big
- Strain: stress
- Strewed: to be scattered untidily over a place or area
- Stubbly: unshaven, bearded
- Stubbornness: firm determination
- Stupor: a state of unconsciousness
- Submerged: here, sink into the sea
- Sulphur: a chemical element used as a disinfectant
- Summon: to gather
- Sun drops: the Sun sets
- Superficial: existing or occurring at or on the surface
- Superstitious: irrational beliefs
- Supper: an evening meal, typically a light or informal one.
- Suspected: doubted
- Sustained: continued
- Tended: cared for, looked after
- The General was in the palm of his hand: he had control of the general
- There was a faint colour in his cheeks: his pale yellow coloured cheeks were turning pinkish in colour which indicated that he was recovering
- Thrust: pushed
- Timid: showing lack of courage or confidence
- Tokonoma alcove: The word ‘toko’ literally means “floor” or “bed”; ‘ma’ means “space” or “room.” In English, tokonoma is usually called alcove. It is a part of a room where things are displayed.a niche or an alcove in a Japanese home for displaying a flower arrangement, kakemono, or other piece of art.
- Traitor: a person who betrays his country
- Twig: branch of tree
- Twilighted: at the time of twilight i.e. sunset or sunrise.
- Unaccustomed labour: not used to perform hard work
- Vial: a small container, typically cylindrical and made of glass, used especially for holding liquid medicines.
- Vitality: energy, life
- Wail: cry loudly
- Washed: bathed
- Weary: tired
- Whence: where
- Wistaria wine: a flowering plant used for decoration
- Yonder: at some distance in the direction pointed at
- Zeal: great energy or enthusiasm in pursuit of a cause or an objective
Chapter 5 – Should Wizard Hit Mommy
- Agitation: anxiety or nervous excitement.
- Apprehensive: fearful that something bad or unpleasant will happen.
- Astounded: shock or greatly surprise.
- Awful: very bad or unpleasant.
- Celery: a cultivated plant of the parsley family
- Cranky: bad-tempered; irritable.
- Crick: A small river.
- Curtly: rudely brief in speech or abrupt in manner
- Custom: tradition, trend
- Eager: keenly expectant or interested.
- Emphasis: special value given to something.
- Enormous: very large in size
- Eventually: in the end, finally
- Fatiguing: cause (someone) to feel exhausted.
- Foreseen: be aware of beforehand
- Fright: a sudden intense feeling of fear.
- Fuss: to show excessive excitement
- Futile: pointless.
- Gingerly: in a careful or cautious manner.
- Grin: smile broadly.
- Heave: produce a sigh.
- Humiliation: make (someone) feel ashamed and foolish by injuring their dignity and pride.
- Lima Beans: an edible flat whitish bean.
- Magic Spell: a form of words used as a magical charm.
- Nap: a short sleep, especially during the day.
- Narrative: a story.
- Nostrils: either of two external openings of the nose.
- Pennies: a small sum of money.
- Pretense: an attempt to make something that is false, to appear true.
- Rapped: strike (a hard surface) with a series of rapid audible blows, especially in order to attract attention.
- Rapt: completely fascinated or absorbed by what one is seeing or hearing.
- Rare: not occurring very often.
- Relapsed: return to a less active or a worse state.
- Rite: a social custom, practice, or conventional act.
- Rumbled: make a continuous deep sound.
- Scraped: drag or pull a hard or sharp implement
- Shone: past participle of shine.
- Skittered: move lightly and quickly
- Skunk: A small cat sized animal.
- Solemnly: with deep sincerity.
- Spank: slap with one’s open hand
- Stinky: having a strong or unpleasant smell.
- Stirred: move or cause to move slightly.
- Stroking: move one’s hand with gentle pressure
- Supper: an evening meal, typically a light or informal one.
- Swamp: an area of low-lying, uncultivated ground where water collects; a bog or marsh.
- Tensely: unable to relax because of nervousness, anxiety, or stimulation.
- Tiptoed: walk quietly
- Underbrush: shrubs and small trees
- Weariness: extreme tiredness
- Wizard: a man who has magical powers.
- Woodland: land covered with trees.
- Zest: great enthusiasm and energy.
Chapter-6 On the face of it
- Crab apples: a small sour apple
- Creak: a harsh sound of wood
- Daft: silly, foolish
- Dribble: to fall slowly
- Fuss: show of anger, worry
- Hive: dome shaped structure in which bees live
- Monstrous: horrible
- Occasional: sometimes
- Panting: quick breaths
- Peculiar: strange, unusual
- Pretend: fake, make as if
- Rustling: whisper, low sound
- Scrump: steal from garden
- Signify: be a sign of
- Stare: to look at
- Startled: feeling a sudden shock
- Steady: stable
- Strike; hit
- Swish: a hissing sound
- Tentatively: hesitant
- Tresspassing: enter without permission
- Underneath: directly below
- Weed: unwanted plant
- Whispered: To say something very slow
- Windfalls: unexpected gain, jackpot
Chapter 7- Evans tries an O – level
- Absolutely: completely
- Academic: educational
- Admire: praise
- Allergic: sensitive
- Amateurish: beginner
- Amiable: friendly
- Apprehensive: worried, anxious
- Askew: tilted, angled
- Authentication: verify
- Awash: flooded, covered
- awkward: unease
- Awkward: uneasy
- Bargain: here thought or planned for
- Battered: worn out
- Belated: late, overdue
- Bewilderment: confusion
- Blither: long-winded talk with no real substance
- Bobble: small ball attached to a hat
- Bother: concerned about
- Bound: tied up
- Bug: a small microphone
- Bunk: narrow bed attached to the wall
- Burly: large and strong man
- Caked; coated
- Card: a witty or eccentric person
- Cell: lockup
- Chisel: a long bladed hand tool
- Chuckled: laughed quietly
- Clambered: climb
- Clanging: make a sound
- Clotting: harden
- Compassion: pity, sympathy
- Conceal: hide
- Conceded: admit
- Concert: Musical Performance
- Congenital: Natural, inherited
- Contemptuous: disrespectful
- Convince: assure
- Cost him a packet: to cost a lot of money
- Cackled: crack, sizzle
- Cradled: rested, placed back
- Crescendo: the loudest point of a sound
- Crimson: a rich red color turning purple
- Curtly: short, brief
- Danke Schon: German language word for ‘Thank you very much’ or ‘Thank you kindly’
- Darted: moved quickly
- Demeanour: manner, attitude
- Despair: hopelessness
- Desperately: hopeless
- Detective: investigator
- Distempered: painted with distemper
- Distinguished: differentiate
- Dredge: clear
- Drip: drop
- Drizzle: light shower of rain
- Embarrass: unease, awkward
- Erupt: flare up
- Escape: run away, get free
- Establishment: setting up, building
- Feeble: weak
- Fiddling: petty annoying thing
- Filthy: dirty
- Fishy: doubtful thing
- Foster: support
- Frisk: check, search
- Frowned: make a face
- Gagged: stopped
- Genuine: real, actual
- Glimpse: quick look
- Gnawed: chew
- Good for a giggle: for a laugh
- Gorgon: fierce
- Governor: chief, administrator
- Grace: bring honour or credit to (someone or something) by one’s attendance or participation.
- Grand: royal
- Grasp: hold, grip
- Gravel: stones
- Grim: distant
- Grin: smile
- Groggy: weak
- Grubby: dirty
- Guild: association
- Gullible: over trustful
- Guten gluck: German language word for ‘good luck’
- Haemorrhoids: a swollen vein or a group of veins
- Handcuffed; shackled
- Haven’t a cat in hell’s chance: to be completely unable to achieve something
- Hawk: a bird of prey with broad rounded wings and long tail
- Haystack: a packed pile of hay (dried grass)
- Herr: German language word for ‘mister
- Hitherto: earlier, previous
- Hoax: prank
- Hostage: captive
- Illusion: mirage, imagination
- Imitation: copying
- Immense: massive, enormous
- Impersonating: pretend to be another person
- Incommunicado: not able to or allowed to communicate with other people
- Invigilate: supervise
- Jack-knife: a large knife with a folding blade
- Keep one’s eyes skinned: be on the alert; watch carefully or vigilantly for something
- Kleptomania: a very strong wish to steal that you cannot control
- Kleptomaniac: a person suffering from kleptomania
- Laddy: referred to boy
- Lathering: to form foam with soap
- Leaned: bent
- Leap: jump over
- Leered: watched, stared
- Loathe: hate
- Lodge: gate house, cottage
- Magistrate: civil officer who administers law
- Manicured: well cared, tidy
- Meticulously: carefully
- Moan: cry
- Muddle: confuse, jumble
- Mug: a person’s face
- Murmur: whisper
- Nagging: here, irritation
- Nail scissors: nail cutter
- Objections: complaint
- Panic: fear, alarm
- Paper knife: blunt knife for cutting paper
- Paraded: here, lined
- Paraphernalia: things, stuff
- Pardon: a request to a speaker to repeat something because one did not hear or understand it.
- Parky: cold
- Parson: churchman
- Parsons: Churchman, priest
- Peep hole: keyhole, opening
- Perplexed: puzzled
- Persistent: continuous
- Pin ups: Posters
- Pints: unit of liquid
- Pleasantry: joke, a stuff to laugh
- Potential: possible
- Premises: building, site
- Presumably: to assume, believe
- Procedure: method, process
- Qualification: completion of some course
- Ramrod: here, a strict supervisor
- Recreation: relaxation, fun
- Recruited: appointed
- Reiterated: repeated
- Reluctant: unwilling
- Resist: withstand
- Reverend: a member of the church
- Revert: return to
- Riffle: turning pages quickly
- Rivet: here, fixed
- Ruefully: sorrow
- Ruffled: disarrange
- Scathing contempt: severe disrespect
- Scheduled: planned or fixed
- Scots: another term for scottish
- Scraping: to remove unwanted covering, here shaving
- Scraping: the sound of an action of rubbing
- Secretary: assistant
- Seeping: flowing
- Semi inflated: half filled with air
- Semi profile: partly turned
- Shaken: disturbed
- Shirley temple: An actress famous for her wavy hair
- Shrugged: disregarded, dismiss
- Smouldered: here, glowed with anger
- Smuggle: to take someone or something illegally
- Sorely: with a great intensity, strongly
- Spanner: a sharp tool
- Spattered: splash, spray
- Splash: A dashing sound of liquid
- Sprang: past of spring
- Sprawl: lie back
- spurt: spray
- Squeal: cry, scream
- Squelchy: a soft sucking sound made when pressure is applied to liquid or mud
- St. Mary Mags: St. Mary’s Magdalene, a church in England
- Staccato: a short musical note
- Stammer: mumble
- Stare: gaze
- Streaked: lined
- Strident: harsh
- Stroll: walk
- Suffocate: breathless
- Superimpose: place over another
- Superintendent: supervisor, manager
- Surly: bad-tempered and unfriendly.
- Swath: a broad strip or area of something
- Swung: wave
- Tarnished: stained
- Tempted: have an urge to do something
- Thrust: push
- Thudded: strike something with a heavy sound
- Trailed: stream
- Tucked: push
- Tufted: bunch
- Twang: a strong ringing sound
- Unusual: strange
- Unwittingly: unknowingly
- Vaguely: roughly
- Vanish: disappear
- Veiled: face covering
- Vigorously: strongly
- Whiplash: sudden movement
- Wreckage: remains
Chapter 8 Memories of Childhood
Story 1- The Cutting of My Long Hair by Zitkala – Sa
- Anguish: pain, agony
- Bare: uncovered
- Bedlam: uproar, unrest
- Belfry: part of a bell tower
- Braid: Hairs bind into a plait
- Capture: catch, arrest
- Clatter: bang, sound of heavy objects
- Clinging: tight (dress)
- Comfort: console, sympathy
- Coward: weakling
- Crashing: break through
- Crept: Crawl, move on hands and knees
- Dim: dark
- Drag: pull
- Fate: destiny, god’s will
- Gnaw: here, cut
- Herder: a person who looks after the live stock (herd of sheep)
- Huddled: holding arms and legs closely
- Immodest: indecent
- Indignities: shame, humiliation
- Moan: cry, wail
- Moccasins: slipper or shoe
- Mourners: a person at a funeral
- Mutterings: privately explained complaints
- Paleface: yellow face
- Peered: try to see
- Puppet: a wooden resemblance of humans or animals controlled with the help of strings
- Rear ranks: last
- Reasoned: here, discussed
- Rebel: Revolt
- Resist: hold out against
- Scratch: scrape
- Shingled: cutting of hair
- Shuddering: shiver, shake
- Spied: notice, spot
- Squeaking: making high pitched sound
- Stare: gaze
- Tossed: thrown
- Unskilled: untrained
- Venture: here, a risky task
- Whither: where
Story 2 – We too are human Beings by Bama
- Amused: finding something funny
- Community: group
- Cupping: holding hands together to catch something
- Dawdle: waste time, idle
- Demonstrate: to show
- Dignity: nobility
- Disgusting: unpleasant
- Double up: laugh out loud
- Errands: task, job
- Extend: hold out
- Fetch: bring, carry
- Frenzy: madness, mania
- Gaze: look
- Harangue: to give lecture
- Humiliated: insulted
- Iced lollies: piece of flavored ice on stick
- Indignities: humiliate, disrespect
- Infuriate: anger
- Instrument: tool
- Irrigation Tank: water pond made for watering fields
- Ledge: shelf
- Lemur: an animal
- Meekly: quietly, submissively
- Miracle: wonder
- Muzzled: a covering used to cover the mouth of an animal
- Novelties: newness, freshness
- Oddities: strange things
- Offerings: donation, gift
- Payasam: sweet dish made with rice and milk
- Polluted: impure, harmful
- Proceedings: events, activities
- Provoked: evoke, arouse
- Reverently: with deep respect
- Sack: bag
- Savoury: a salty or spicy dish
- Scraped: here, saved
- Shriek: burst out
- Snake Charmer: an entertainer who appears to make snakes move by playing music.
- Spur: encouragement
- Stain: Spot
- Strings: thread
- Terrible: horrible
- Tether: tie up
- Thambi: brother
- Threshing floor: A specially flattened outdoor surface to separate the grain from straw.
- Tread: walk
- Tumbler: Jug
- Wrap: cover
- Wretched: miserable, sad