Vocabulary Words with The Cay

refinery - An industrial plant for purifying a crude substance, such as petroleum or sugar.

He said the refinery would have to close down within a day, and that meant precious gas and oil could not got to England, or to General Montgomery in the African desert.

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blackout - The concealment or extinguishment of lights that might be visible to enemy aircraft during an air raid.

We finished dinner just as it was getting dark, and my father went outside to look at our house. He wanted to see if the blackout curtains were working.

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navigate - To plan, record, and control the course and position of (a ship or aircraft).

navigation - The theory and practice of navigating, especially the charting of a course for a ship or aircraft

When the lifeboat had been swung out, the captain came down from the bridge. He was a small, wiry white-haired man and was acting the way I'd been told captains should act. He stood by the lifeboat in the fire's glow, very alert, giving orders to the crew. He was carrying a brief case and a navigation instrument I knew to be a sextant. On the other side of the ship, another lifeboat was being launched.

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schooner - A fore-and-aft rigged sailing vessel having at least two masts, with a foremast that is usually smaller than the other masts. Timothy chewed slowly on half a biscuit. "Today, young bahss, a schooner will pass. I'd bet a jum on dat."

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massive - Large or imposing, as in quantity, scope, degree, intensity, or scale

Timothy did not answer, but turned back, I guess, to watch the sea again. I could imagine those bloodshot eyes, set in that massive, scarred black face, sweeping over the sea.

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lurch - To roll or pitch suddenly or erratically

His feet touched the sand. In another few minutes, the raft lurched and I knew it had grounded.

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catchment - A structure, such as a basin or reservoir, used for collecting or draining water.

The rain sounded like bullets hitting on the dried palm frond roof. We ran out into it, shouting and letting the fresh water hit our bodies. It was cool and felt good. Timothy yelled that his catchment was working and had made a large trough that would catch the rain.

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connive - To scheme; plot.

"B'gettin' his own self a lizzard, mebbe, mebbe," he answered, but there was something conniving in his voice.

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treacherous - Marked by unforeseen hazards; dangerous or deceptive

But I knew that lurking in the tide pools were the treacherous sea urchins. Stepping on them invited a sharp spine in your foot, and Timothy had already warned me that, "dey veree poison, deg b'gibbin' you terrible pain."

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flay - To strip off the skin or outer covering of.

Timothy had been cut to ribbons by the wind, which drove the rain and tiny grains of sand before it. It had flayed his back and legs until there were very few places that weren't cut.

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debris - The scattered remains of something broken or destroyed; rubble or wreckage.

Feeling it everywhere under my feet, I knew that the cay was littered with debris. I started cleaning the camp area, or what was left of it. I piled all the palm fronds, frayed by the wind, in one place; sticks of wet driftwood in another.