Getting to Know the Vocabulary

Bluster (p. 44):  To blow in loud, violent gusts, as the wind during a storm.

Lurk (p. 44):  To lie in wait, as in ambush.

Cinch (p. 44): A sure thing; a certainty.

Drift (p. 45):  To wander from a set course or point of attention; stray.

Chaplain (p. 45):  A member of the clergy who conducts religious services for an institution, such as a prison or hospital or is connected with a royal court or an aristocratic household.

Tarry (p. 48):  To delay or be late in going, coming, or doing.

Banjo (p. 48): A usually fretted stringed instrument having a narrow neck and a hollow circular body with a covering of plastic or stretched skin on which the bridge rests.

Quibble (p. 51): To evade the truth or importance of an issue by raising trivial distinctions and objections.

Perk (p. 52): To regain or cause to regain one's good spirits or liveliness.

Chysanthemum (p. 40): Any of numerous, mostly Eurasian plants of the genus Chrysanthemum in the composite family, many of which are cultivated as ornamentals for their showy radiate flower heads.