Vocabulary Word of the Day - Where the Red Fern Grows

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dormant - Lying asleep or as if asleep; inactive
(Page 3 - It's strange indeed how memories can lie dormant in a man's mind for so many years.)

grieve - To mourn or sorrow for; feel sad; be upset
(Page 9 - I never saw a boy grieve like that.)

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festered - To be or become an increasing source of irritation or poisoning; irritate; make bitter; aggravate
(Page 17 - Every time I'd see a coon track down in our fields, or along the riverbanks, the old sore would get all festered up and start hurting again.)

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provisions - A stock of necessary supplies, especially food; rations; necessities
(Page 28 - At the outskirts of town, I hid my flour sack and provisions, keeping the gunny sack.)

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trance - A soothing, comatose or overexcited state; dream; daze; stupor; daydream
(Page 49- The booming voice of my father shook me from my trance.
Page 62 - The movement of the boy pup shook me from my trance.)

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main idea (Tennessee Vocabulary) - The main idea of a paragraph tells the topic of the paragraph. The topic tells what all or most of the sentences are about.

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submerge - To place under water; go under water; sink
(Page 59 -All along the river large sycamore logs lay partly submerged  in the clear blue water.)

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riffle - A rocky sandbank or sandbar lying just below the surface of a waterway.
(Page 75 - I was hurrying along looking for a shallow riffle so I could wade across, when the voices of my dogs stopped. - - - A rocky shoal or sandbar lying just below the surface of a waterway.)

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implied (Tennessee Vocabulary)  - to suggest without being stated

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limber - Capable of moving, bending, or contorting easily; nimble; flexible
(Page 92 - If I know anything about swinging an ax, it won't be long before he's limber as a rag.)

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belligerent - Inclined or eager to fight; hostile or aggressive; quarrelsome; spoiling for a fight.
(Page 102 -  He strutted around with a belligerent and tough attitude.)

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resistance - power or capacity to withstand; fight; battle
(page 139 - That took the last resistance out of me.)

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foliage - A cluster of leaves; plants; shrubbery
(Page 147 - As I passed under the branches of the bur oak tree, I looked up into the dark foliage.

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jubilant -   joyful and proud especially because of triumph or success; triumphant; thrilled; ecstatic; delighted; over the moon
(page 158 - "That's six days from now," he said in a jubilant voice.)

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jinx - A condition or period of bad luck that appears to have been caused by a specific person or thing; curse; plague
(On pages 172-173 Billy hears two owls screeching at once. This is considered bad luck. .....Papa laughed, and said, ""These mountains are full of that jinx stuff."

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coordinating conjunctions (Tennessee Vocabulary)  - words that specialize in joining together or connecting words for, and, nor, but, or, yet, and so (FANBOYS)

Coordinating conjunctions may join single words, or they may join groups of words, but they must always join similar elements: e.g. subject + subject, verb phrase + verb phrase, sentence + sentence.

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lull - A relatively calm gap; quiet period; stillness; silence
(Page 199 - Once during a momentary lull in the storm, I thought I heard the baying of a hound.)

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haggard - Appearing worn and exhausted; gaunt; fatigued; worn-down
(Page 180 - The first one to reach us was Mr. Kyle. He looked haggard and tired.)

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jugular - One of the large veins which return the blood from the head to the heart through two chief trunks, an external and an internal, on each side of the neck
(Page 226 - The big cat had Old Dan by the throat. I knew he was seeking to cut the all-important vein, the jugular.)