THE CAY
VOCABULARY CHAPTERS 13 - 19
TREACHEROUS
Definition: adj. dangerously unstable and unpredictable
• But I knew that lurking in the tide pools were
the treacherous sea urchins.
CREVICE
Definition: n. a long narrow depression in a surface
• Every two feet, Timothy had driven a piece of driftwood
deep into the coral crevices so that I could feel them as
I went along.
SENSATION
Definition: n. an unelaborated elementary awareness of
stimulation
• If you are blind, the sensation of falling can be terrifying.
UNRAVEL
Definition: v. become undone by separating the fibers or
threads of
• He’d unraveled a life line from the raft to make single
strands for the fishing line.
FASCINATION
Definition: n. the state of being intensely interested
• He’d listen in fascination, almost speechless.
IMPRESSED
Definition: adj. deeply or markedly affected or influenced
• Timothy was very impressed, and I felt good that I’d
been able to tell him something.
BLURT
Definition: v. utter impulsively
• I think it was the fifth afternoon of this week that
I blurted out to Timothy, “I’ll climb the palm now."
STURDY
Definition: adj. substantially made or constructed
• Next he took the remaining rope that we had and tied it
securely around the same sturdy tree.
LAUNCH
Definition: v. propel with force
• He said we might never see it again, or else it might
wash up the hill so that it would be impossible to launch.
ERECT
Definition: adj. upright in position or posture
• We could hear the surf beginning to crash as the wind
drove waves before it and Timothy ducked back inside to
stand in the opening of the hut, his big body stretched so
that he could hang onto the overhead frame, keeping the
hut erect as long as possible.
BARELY
Definition: adv. in a sparse or scanty way
• We stayed flat on the ground for almost two hours,
taking the storm’s punishment, barely able to breathe in
the driving rain.
RECEDE
Definition: v. pull back or move away or backward
• When the water receded, it would tug at us, and
Timothy’s strength would fight against it.
PELT
Definition: v. attack and bombard with or as if with missiles
• We sat down on the ground beside it, still
being pelted with rain, to wait for the eye to pass.
EERIE
Definition: adj. inspiring a feeling of fear; strange and
frightening
• It was strange and eerie in the eye of the hurricane.
FURY
Definition: n. the property of being wild or turbulent
• Almost within seconds, the full fury of the storm hit the
cay once more.
ASIDE
Definition: adv. not taken into account or excluded from
consideration
• Aside from him, I was blind and alone on a forgotten
cay.
DEBRIS
Definition: n. the remains of something that has been
destroyed
• Feeling it everywhere under my feet I knew that the cay
was littered with debris.
INSPECT
Definition: v. look over carefully
• Then make a shelter of some kind, fish the hole on the
reef, inspect the palm trees to see if any coconuts were
left—I didn’t think any could be up there—and search the
whole island to discover what the storm had deposited.
PRECISE
Definition: adj. sharply exact or accurate or delimited
• Without Timothy’s eyes, I was finding that in my world,
everything had to be very precise; an exact place for
everything.
SCOUR
Definition: v. examine minutely
• On the fifth day after the storm, I began to scour the
island to find out what had been cast up.
ACCOMPLISH
Definition: v. to gain with effort
• It was exciting, and I knew it would take days or weeks
to accomplish.
EXPLORE
Definition: v. examine minutely
• It was on the sixth day after the storm, when I
was exploring on south beach, that I heard the birds.
NIP
Definition: v. give a small sharp bite to
• Another dived down, screaming at me, and his
bill nipped the side of my head.
SNARL
Definition: v. utter in an angry, sharp, or abrupt tone
• I heard Stew Cat snarling and felt him leap up on my
back, his claws digging into my flesh.
TREAD
Definition: v. put down or press the foot, place the foot
• Holding the sharpened stick in my right hand, I slipped
into the warm water, treading for a moment, waiting to
see if anything came up.
TENSE
Definition: adj. taut or rigid; stretched tight
• His body was tense; his head pointed toward the sound.
ALTITUDE
Definition: n. elevation above sea level or above the
earth's surface
• Thinking any moment the plane would dive and I would
hear the roar of its engines across the cay at
low altitude, I stood with Stew Cat a few feet from the
sloshing surf.
CONSIST
Definition: v. be composed of
• But I knew that the wood floating up on the
beach consisted mostly of branches or stumps that had
been in the water for weeks or months.
NATIVE
Definition: n. an indigenous person who was born in a
particular place
• The pilot had flown away, perhaps thinking I was just
another native fisherman waving at an aircraft.
PRIORITY
Definition: n. status established in order of importance or
urgency
• The captain told someone to get a priority radio
message off to the naval commander at Willemstad and
then asked, "How did you get on that little island?"
STOB
Definition: n. a broken branch or a stump
• I’d feel my way along his driftwood stobs, find the hole,
pry a mussel loose, and then fish.
FLAYED
Definition: v. to peel off the skin
• It had flayed his back and his legs until there were very
few places that weren’t cut.
GROPED
Definition: v. to feel about with the hands and search
blindly or uncertainly
• In the afternoon, I groped west along the hill.
LEE
Definition: n. the side of something that is sheltered from
the wind
• I followed it around to the lee side with my fingers. And
there they were!