Class XI NCERT Hornbill Book Chapter wise difficult word meanings
Here, the difficult words and their meanings of all the Chapters of CBSE Class 11 English Hornbill 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 Hornbill book for CBSE NCERT Class 11 English. The difficult words’ meanings have been explained in an easy language so that every student can understand easily.
Class 11 English Lessons Word Meaning from Hornbill Book
- Chapter 1 The Portrait of a Lady
- Chapter 2 We’re Not Afraid to Die… If We Can All Be Together
- Chapter 3 Discovering Tut: The Saga Continues
- Chapter 4 Landscape of the Soul
- Chapter 5 The Ailing Planet: The Green Movement’s Role
- Chapter 6 The Browning Version
- Chapter 7 The Adventure
- Chapter 8 Silk Road
- Hornbill Book Poem Word Meaning
- Snapshots Book Word Meaning
- Hornbill Book Lesson Explanation
- Snapshots Book Lesson Explanation
Word meaning of Chapter 1 The Portrait of a Lady
- A veritable bedlam of chirrupings – refers to the noise and confusion caused by the chirrupings of the sparrows
- Absurd – Illogical
- Accepted her seclusion with resignation- the grandmother accepted a lonely life as she accepted the separation from her grandson without objection
- An expanse of pure white serenity – refers to the calm, relaxed and peaceful character of the author’s grandmother
- Beads – a small piece of glass or stone threaded with others to make a rosary or necklace
- Bedlam – confusion
- Blaze – a very large burning fire
- Bothered- to be concerned
- Cherished – hold something dear
- Chirrupings – the noise of a small bird
- Clasped – hold tightly
- Contentment – a state of happiness and satisfaction
- Corpse- dead body
- Courtyard- verandah
- Cremated – dispose of or burn a body after it is dead
- Criss- cross – a pattern of intersecting straight lines
- Crude – in a natural state, roughly made
- Customary – traditional
- Dilapidated – in a state of despair or ruin
- Distressed – suffer from extremely sorrow, anxiety or pain
- Earthen- made of baked or fired clay
- Fables- fictitious stories with a moral teaching
- Fetch – go for and then bring back something for someone
- Frivolous – not having any serious purpose, light-hearted
- Frivolous rebukes – light hearted scoldings
- Gentlefolk – People of noble birth
- Growling – making a low guttural sound in the throat
- Harlots – Prostitutes
- Hobbled – walked in an awkward way
- Imprint – impression or stamp
- Inaudible- unable to be heard
- Lewd Association – Indecent or Obscene
- Locks- hair
- Mantelpiece- a structure of wood, marble, or stone above and around a fireplace.
- Moist- wet
- Monotonous – dull and boring
- Omitted – leave out or exclude something
- Overstraining- overdoing something
- Pallor – an unhealthy pale appearance
- Perched – alight or rest on something
- Persuade – to talk someone into doing something, request
- Plastered- covered with a layer of plaster
- Portrait- painting or picture
- Prophets- saints
- Protested – express an objection against something or someone
- Puckered – a face contract into wrinkles
- Rebuke – disapproval of something or someone
- Revolting – unpleasant
- Rosary- a string of beads for keeping count of number of chants made of a religious prayer
- Sagging – sinking downwards
- Scattered – disorganized
- Scriptures – the sacred writings of a religion
- Seclusion – the state of being private and away from the people
- Sentimental – a feeling of nostaglia, sadness or tenderness; an emotional feeling
- Serenity – the state of being peaceful and calm
- Shooed – make a person or animal go away by shouting or saying ‘shoo’
- Shroud – a piece of cloth used to wrap a dead person
- Slate- a flat plate of slate formerly used for writing on in schools
- Snapped- break suddenly and completely
- Spinning-wheel – a household machine with a wheel attached to it for spinning yarn
- spotless white – she wore clean, white coloured dresses
- Stale- no longer fresh and pleasant to eat; hard, musty, or dry.
- Stoop – bend one’s body forward
- The sagging skins of the dilapidated drum- The loose surface of the worn out drum
- The thought was almost revolting- it was very hard for the author to believe
- Thumped- hit
- Undignified- disrespectful
- Untidily – not neat
- Veritable – use to describe something which is very interesting or unusual
- Wrinkled- having lines or folds
- Years rolled by- time passed
Chapter 2 We’re Not Afraid to Die… If We Can All Be Together Word Meaning
- Abated – something unpleasant to become less intense
- Aft – near the stern of the ship
- Anchored – moor a ship to the sea bottom
- Ashore – on the shore of the land
- Atrocious – bad; of a very poor quality
- Auxiliary engine – small secondary engine used to board ships to operate a windlass in the ship
- Bashed – strike hard; hit
- Bleak – an area of land lacking vegetation
- Boom – pole that controls the angle and shape of the sail
- Bulged – swell
- Bunk – bed
- Canvas – a strong unbleached cloth
- Capsizing – be overturned in the water
- Caricatures – picture of a person; cartoon
- Crest – reach the top of a wave
- Debris – rubbish
- Deck – a floor of a ship
- Deflected: turned aside
- Deteriorate – get worse
- Dinghies – a small boat for recreation with mast or sail
- Donned – put on, wore
- Dozed off – went off to sleep
- Enormous – a very large size
- Forestay – a rope to support ship’s foremast
- Frightful – very unpleasant or shocking
- Gales – A very strong wind
- Gigantic – huge; of a big size
- Hatch – door
- Heave to – to raise or lift with effort
- Honing – sharpen, improving
- Honing our seafaring skills – improving the skills required to travel by sea
- Hull – the framework of the vessel
- Hurled – throw with a great force
- Impending – about to happen
- Jib – a triangular staysail set forward the mast in a ship
- Keel – steel structure along the base of the ship
- Knots – a unit of speed equal to one nautical mile per hour, used especially of ships, aircraft, or winds
- Lashed – to hit with a lot of force
- Leisure – free time
- Loop – a shape produced that bends round and crosses; bent
- Mast – a tall upright structure on a boat or ship
- Mayday calls –words used to signal ships stuck in a disastrous situation through radio
- Mooring – the ropes, chains, or anchors by or to which a boat, ship, or buoy is moored
- Offshore – situated at the sea some distance from the shore
- Oilskins – heavy cotton cloth waterproofed with oil
- Ominous silence – unpleasant or threatening silence
- Optimistic – hopeful and confident
- Paraffin – colorless flammable oil liquid
- Pinpricks – a prick caused by a pin
- Pinpricks in the vast ocean – the two small islands in the vast ocean were very tiny like the prick caused by a pin
- Respite – a short period of rest
- Rigging – the ropes and wires supporting the structure of the ship
- Scrambled – climb; claw one’s way
- Seafaring – regularly traveling by sea
- Sextant – an instrument with graduated arc of 60 degrees for taking altitudes and navigation
- Shook – past tense of shake (vibrate)
- Sloshed – move through liquid with a splashing sound.
- Smashed – badly broken
- Smashed – shattered or violently broken
- Starboard – side of a ship which is on the right side when one is facing forward
- Stark – sharply defined
- Stern – the back part of a ship or a boat
- Taut – stretched or pulled tightly
- Timbers – wood board used in building of a ship
- Torrent – a fast moving stream of water
- Tousled head – disarranged hair of the narrator’s son, Jonathan
- Tremendous – very great in amount
- Voyage – a long journey by sea or space
- Wooden-hulled – a watertight body of a ship
- Wrenched – pull suddenly, removed
Chapter 3 Discovering Tut: The Saga Continues Word meaning
- Adorned – decorated
- Adornments – ornaments
- Afterlife- life after death, based on the belief that the essential part of an individual’s identity continues to the next life after the death of the physical body
- Aftermath – after-effects of an unpleasant event
- Amulet – an ornament or small piece of jewellery thought to give protection against evil, danger, or disease.
- Anatomy – the branch of science which deals with the bodily structure of humans, animals or other living beings
- Antiquity – age, oldness
- Apron – a protective garment worn over the front of one’s clothes and tied at the back.
- Astonishing – amazing
- Blazing – very hot
- Budged – moved or shifted; a slight movement
- Burial – burying the dead
- Casket- a small ornamental box or chest for holding jewels, letters, or other valued objects.
- Casket grey – It means that the grey clouds were like a grey coloured casket which contained the stars. The stars are like jewels which are kept in a casket.
- Cemetery- a large burial ground
- Chiselled away – to cut something with a chisel
- Circumvented – find a way around; thieves would have found a way to tackle the guards and remove the gold from the tomb
- Computed Tomography – Also called a CT scan, it is a three-dimensional scan of a body with the help of hundreds of X-Rays in cross-section together
- Concealed- hid
- Cramped – very small to fit into
- Dark-bellied – dark in colour
- Death rattle – the gurgling sound produced in the throat of a person who is about to die
- Demise – death
- Descended – moved or gathered
- Eerie detail – strange image of Tut’s head as visible with the help of CT scan
- Forensic Reconstruction – the process of recreating the face of an individual
- Forensics – the application of the scientific method to investigate a crime
- Funerary Treasures – the valuable things with which the king was buried
- Futile – pointless; incapable of producing the result of something
- Garlands of willow – a wreath of flowers and leaves
- Gazed – to look in surprise or in admiration
- Ghostly – eerie and unnatural; unreal
- Gilded – covered with a thin sheet or coating of gold
- Glided – quite, continuous motion
- Hastily – fast; swiftly
- Heir – Inheritor, successor
- Hydraulic lift – a lift that uses a machine to lift or move heavy objects with a pressure
- Iconic – something or someone who is a symbol or it represents some other thing
- Inlaid – a decorative pattern on a surface
- Intervening – occur in the time between events
- Intriguing – to arouse one’s curiosity
- Laden – loaded
- Legitimate – reasonable
- Lingering – long-lasting
- Mummy- a body of a human being or animal that has been ceremonially preserved by removal of the internal organs, treatment with natron and resin, and wrapping in bandages.
- Murals – a painting or other artwork executed directly on the wall
- Pallbearers – a person who helps to escort a coffin at a funeral
- Pharaoh- a ruler in ancient Egypt
- Pixels – a pixel is a single point in a graphic image
- Pondering – think about something carefully
- Probe – to investigate, find out
- Ransacked – raid; go through a place to steal or damage something
- Resins – a sticky flammable substance that is insoluble in water
- Resting place- here, the grave
- Resurrection – restoration to life
- Ritual – here, the resins used in the ceremony of mummification
- Rock-cut – made in a rock by cutting it
- Scudded across – moving quickly; it refers to the movement of the dark-bellied clouds
- Sheaths – a close-fitting cover
- Shrine – holy place
- Shroud – a length of cloth in which a dead person is wrapped
- Speculated- form a theory without evidence
- Sprinted – ran at a high speed
- Spun – to turn around
- Startling – unexpected or surprising
- Stirred – move or cause to move slightly
- Striking- prominent
- Swirling – to spin or twist
- Three nested coffin- three coffins placed one in another in order of decreasing size. The innermost coffin houses the body of the deceased.
- Tomb- an enclosure to bury the dead
- Veiling – to cover something
- Vertebrae – series of small bones which form a backbone
- Wacky –amusing in a slightly odd way
- Whisper- to speak in a low voice
Word meaning of Chapter 4 Landscape of the Soul
- Anecdote – a short interesting story of a real person
- Antwerp – a city of northern Belgium
- Apprentice – trainee; learner
- Astonished – greatly surprised or impressed
- Conceptual Space – relation with an abstract representation
- Conduit – channel; tube
- Daoism – a Chinese philosophy based on the writings of Lao-Tzu
- Delicate Realism – the quality of art that makes it seem real
- Disciple – a follower or a pupil of a leader, teacher
- Dwells – live; stay
- Figurative painting – metaphoric representation of an art
- Flanders – a medieval country in Western Europe
- Illusionistic Likeness – an illusion created which resembles something
- Leisurely – unhurried or relaxed
- Lofty – tall or high
- Oppressed – burdened; worried
- Splendid – very impressive; superb
- Swat – hit or crush something
- Void – empty; vacant
Word meaning of Chapter 5 The Ailing Planet: The Green Movement’s Role
- Ailing – in poor health
- Anguish – pain; suffering
- Barren wastelands – barely inhabitable piece of land
- Beget – give life to
- Casteism – discrimination on the grounds of caste
- Catalogued – classify; characterise
- Catastrophic Depletion – a harmful reduction in a number of something
- Coercion – force
- Condemns – find guilty of something
- Dawned – begin
- Decimated – to reduce in number
- Decisively – clear and definitive
- Demise – death
- Deprives – prevent a person from using something
- Deteriorate – become progressively worse; decline
- Distorting – deform; disfigure
- Endeavour – trying hard to achieve something
- Ethical Obligation – when someone is required to do something based on a righteous standard of rules
- Felicitous – well-chosen
- Freehold – permanent tenure of land or property
- Green Movement – It is a movement which stresses people to follow environmentally friendly practices.
- Gripped – clutch; hold
- Holistic and Ecological View – It means a view for the preservation of the environment. It also refers to the understanding of importance of earth’s resources for the use of future generations
- Hutments – collection of huts
- Ignominious darkness – disgraced as no one has knowledge about them
- Impaired – weakened or damaged
- Impoverished – made poor
- Inter Alia – among other things
- Irrevocably – in a way that cannot be changed or reversed
- Languish – lose or lack of vitality of a person or plant or animal; grow weak
- Metabolic needs – needs of a living organism that enables them to have a chemical process that causes food to be used for growth and energy
- Patrimony – property inherited from father or ancestor
- Perpetuation – keep going
- Precede – come before in order or position
- Procure – obtain with care or effort
- Reckon – calculate
- Revolutionary – evolving a complete change
- Scorched – burn the surface with heat of fire
- Sterilised – make free from bacteria or other micro organisms
- Stewards – manage or to look after
- Sustainable Development – economic development without depletion of natural resources
- Synthetics – artificial substance
- Tenancy – possession of the land
- Transcending Concern – a concern that existed for a very long time and has passed down from one generation to another
- Ushered – guide someone somewhere
- Voluntary – done or given of one’s free will
Chapter 6 The Browning Version Word meaning
- Aeschylus – he was an ancient Greek tragedian who is referred to as ‘Father of Tragedy’
- Agamemnon – he was the king of Mycenae in Greek mythology
- Chap – a man who you know and like
- Criterion – a standard by which something is judged
- Cut – stop doing something undesirable
- Envy – Jealousy
- Exaggerating – represent something as being worse than it really is
- Excerpt – a short extract from writing, movie or music
- Frantically – desperately
- Got carried away – to become overly excited or to take things too far
- Imitating – copying
- Indeed – Truly
- Infinitely – to a great extent
- Kept in – to make someone stay in a place, especially in school as a punishment
- Latter – denoting the second-mentioned person of the two people
- Muck – useless; which is of no good or use
- Pardon – the action of being forgiven for error or offense; forgiveness
- Remove – a division in British schools
- Sadist – a person who derives pleasure by giving pain or humiliation to others
- Shrivelled up – having no feelings
- Slackers – lazy students who are not motivated
- Strung together – to combine two different things into something useful
Chapter 7 The Adventure difficult word meaning
- Amok – to behave uncontrollably
- Armour – shell
- Assertion – a confident statement of a fact
- Astute – smartness; quick-witted
- Avidly – with great interest
- Bifurcation – division
- Blow – by – blow account – a detailed account
- Catastrophe theory – it is a branch of mathematics concerned with systems displaying discontinuous changes
- Converged – met
- De facto – existing in fact with or without any lawful authority
- Determinism – a doctrine that all the events are caused by the external will
- Dismay – shock
- Disparity – difference
- Doctored accounts – manipulated accounts related to history
- Dumbfounded – amazed
- Emerged – developed; begin
- Expansionist – a follower of the policy of territorial or economic expansion
- Figurehead – a carving; image
- Flourishing – to grow successfully
- Frugal – less costly and simple
- Gave vent to – to express one’s feelings
- Grave – serious
- Hostile – unfriendly
- Ignoramus – an ignorant person
- Impetus – the force with which body moves
- Imposing – Impressive
- Inadvertently – unintentionally
- Manifestation – the action of showing something; demonstration
- Marshall – to gather something
- Melee – a confused fight
- Morale booster – anything which boosts self- confidence
- Outpost – a small military camp used as a guard
- Permits – authorize to do something
- Political acumen – political smartness
- Precise – error-free; correct
- Precise – exact; accurate
- Proclaimed – to announce something officially
- Quantum theory – a theory of matter and energy based on quantum mechanics.
- Relegated to – assigned to a lower rank
- Riddle – mystery or puzzle
- Roared – to move at a high speed while making a loud noise
- Rout – a defeat
- Sacrilege – disrespect
- Seldom – not often
- Shoved – to push someone roughly
- Smugly – to show excess satisfaction
- Speculating – wondering
- Startling – surprising
- Stroll – to wander
- Suburban – residential area
- Supremacy – the condition of being superior to others
- Swarmed – move somewhere in a large number
- Throng – a large pack of crowd
- Townships – Towns or villages
- Trajectory – the path followed by a projectile flying
- Triumphant – Successful
- Triumphantly – to win a battle
- Valiantly – bravely
- Valour – great courage in battle
- Ventured – to say something that might be considered as an apology
- Viable – practical
Chapter 8 Silk Road meaning of difficult words
- Accumulated – gathered
- Arid – having little or no rain
- Ascent – climb on an upward slope
- Billowed – filled with air; swelled out
- Bounding – jump; hop; bounce
- Brackish – slightly salty water
- Brook – a small stream
- Cairn of rocks – the pile of stone on the top of the mountain, especially where someone is buried.
- Careered down – sinking the slope
- Cavernous – vast
- Clambered – move or climb in an awkward way
- Clung – hold tightly onto something
- Confinement – detention; captivity
- Cosmology – science about the origin and development of the universe
- Daubed – spread a thick sticky substance on a surface carelessly
- Derelict – ruined
- Devout – deep
- Drokba – Shepherd
- Ducking Back – going inside and then coming out
- En masse – in a group
- Encrusted – decorated with a hard surface layer
- Envisaged – predicted
- Evasive – slippery
- Ferocious – cruel or violent
- Festooned – decorated
- Filthy – dirty
- Flanks – sides
- Fling – throw
- Flocks – a group of birds
- Forge – put together; build-up
- Frown – to disapprove of something
- Galloping – progressing in an uncontrollable manner
- Gasping – breathlessness
- Gazelles – an African or Asian mammal with large eyes that moves quickly and hoofs
- Glinting – sparkle or twinkle
- Grim – ugly or grey
- Heaps – loads
- Herd – a large group of animal
- Incongruous – strange
- Kora – meditation performed by Buddhist believers
- Laden – loaded
- Lichen – a slow-growing plant which grows on walls, trees or rocks
- Loaves – bread shaped and baked in one piece which is usually sliced before being eaten
- Lurching – listing
- Manoeuvres – military exercises
- Mastiffs – a dog who is a strong breed with dropping ears saggy ears
- Meanders – to follow a winding course of a river or road
- Nibbling – take a small bite from
- Nocturnal – night time
- Paraphernalia – miscellaneous articles
- Pastures – land covered with grass
- Pellets – shots
- Petered out – to diminish gradually and stop
- Plumes – Trails
- Pockmarked – disfigured with a scar
- Pondering – thinking
- Propping – to hold up
- Prostrating – lying down
- Rag – scrap cloth
- Rickety – unstable
- Rudimentary – basic or primary
- Salt flats – thatched roof covered with snow
- Sanctity – pure
- Shaggy – bushy or hairy
- Size me up – to look at someone attentively
- Slither – to move smoothly over a surface
- Solitary – private
- Solitary – private
- Stark – plain
- Stout – firm
- Swathe – a long strip of land
- Swerve – change direction suddenly
- Throb – pulsate
- Tiresome – dull and boring
- Transpired – leaked
- Veering – to change direction suddenly
- Venerated – respected
- Vestiges – a trace of something that is disappearing
- Well-trodden – much frequented by travellers
- Wild ass – an animal who have ears shorter than a horse and smaller in size
- Wilderness – wasteland
- Wisp – a small amount of something
- Wreathed – twisted