Love Across the Salt Desert

Rann: The name comes from hindi word meaning ‘salt marsh’

Chunks: A substantial amount

Embedded: planted, engrafted

Crust: The outer layer of the Earth

Emaciated: Very thin especially from disease or hunger or cold

Wineskins: An animal skin (usually a goatskin) that forms a bag and is

used to hold and dispense wine

Cinnamon: Tropical Asian tree with aromatic yellowish-brown bark; source

of the spice cinnamon

Timbre: (music) the distinctive property of a complex sound (a voice or

noise or musical sound)

Wisps: A small person ("a mere wisp of a girl")

Capped: Covered as if with a cap or crown especially of a specified kind

Basalt: The commonest type of solidified lava

Trudged: Walk heavily and firmly, as when weary, or through mud

Reclusive: Withdrawn from society; seeking solitude

Vulpine: Resembling or characteristic of a fox

Nocturnal: Belonging to or active during the night

Stunted: Inferior in size or quality

Sere: (used especially of vegetation) having lost all moisture

Tapering: Gradually decreasing until little remains

Diffidence: Lack of self-confidence

Introvert: (psychology) a person who tends to shrink from social contacts

and to become preoccupied with their own thoughts

Bravado: A swaggering show of courage

Squander: Spend thoughtlessly; throw away

Wily: Marked by skill in deception

Trek: A journey by ox wagon (especially an organized migration by a group

of settlers), Any long and difficult trip

Tinge: A slight but appreciable amount, A pale or subdued color

Rogue: A deceitful and unreliable scoundrel

Cussed: Stubbornly persistent in wrongdoing

Obscenities: The trait of behaving in an obscene manner

Slurred: Spoken as if with a thick tongue

Grotesque: Distorted and unnatural in shape or size; abnormal and hideous

Reckless: Marked by defiant disregard for danger or consequences

Dizzy: Having or causing a whirling sensation; liable to falling

Cramp: A painful and involuntary muscular contraction, A clamp for

holding pieces of wood together while they are glued

Straining: An intense or violent exertion, The act of distorting something so

it seems to mean something it was not intended to mean
Sulking: Be in a huff and display one's displeasure

Foray: A sudden short attack, An initial attempt (especially outside your

usual areas of competence)

Chagrin: Cause to feel shame; hurt the pride of

Gauntlet: To offer or accept a challenge, A form of punishment in which a

person is forced to run between two lines of men facing each other and
armed with clubs or whips to beat the victim

Fledgling: Young and inexperienced

Carrion: The dead and rotting body of an animal; unfit for human food

Crouching: Bend one's back forward from the waist on down

Cowering: Show submission or fear

Flaked: Come off in flakes or thin small pieces

Mica: Any of various minerals consisting of hydrous silicates of aluminum

or potassium etc. that crystallize in forms that allow perfect cleavage into
very thin leaves; used as dielectrics because of their resistance to electricity,
isinglass

Shambling: Walking with a slow dragging motion without lifting your feet

Palisade: Surround with a wall in order to fortify

Stunted: Check the growth or development of

Grove: Garden consisting of a small cultivated wood without undergrowth

Writhe: To move in a twisting or contorted motion, (especially when

struggling)

Anvil: A heavy block of iron or steel on which hot metals are shaped by
hammering, incus
Whiff: A short light gust of air

Tangy: Tasting sour like a lemon

Corrugated: Fold into ridges

Substantial: Providing abundant nourishment

Harnessed: Exploit the power of

Chequered: Marked by changeable fortune

Succumbed: Consent reluctantly

Strayed: Wander from a direct course or at random

Binocular: Relating to both eyes

Sleek: Having a smooth, gleaming surface reflecting light, Well-groomed

and neatly tailored; especially too well-groomed

Shimmer: A weak and tremulous light

Lumbering: The trade of cutting or preparing or selling timber

Leviathan: The largest or most massive thing of its kind

Trance: Attract

Flopping: Fall suddenly and abruptly

Daze: The feeling of distress and disbelief that you have when something
bad happens accidentally

Scrape: Scratch repeatedly

Callus: An area of skin that is thick or hard from continual pressure or

friction (as the sole of the foot)
Scarred: Deeply affected or marked by mental or physical pain or injury

Agonizing: Extremely painful

Palpitated: Cause to throb or beat rapidly

Hobbling: Walk impeded by some physical limitation or injury

Odyssey: A long wandering and eventful journey

Doe: Mature female of mammals of which the male is called 'buck'

Sardonically: In a sarcastic manner

Rattle: Make short successive sounds

Tumbler: A gymnast who performs rolls and somersaults and twists etc.

Prowling: Loiter about, with no apparent aim

Wretched: Of very poor quality or condition, Very unhappy; full of misery

Dragging: Marked by a painfully slow and effortful manner

Urchins: Poor and often mischievous city child

Hounded: Pursue or chase relentlessly

Assent: Agreement with a statement or proposal to do something

Lurch: Walk as if unable to control one's movements

Outskirt: A part of the city far removed from the center

Smear: An act that brings discredit to the person who does it

Sandpapered: sanded
Nimbus: An indication of radiant light drawn around the head of a saint,
aura

Reverberating: Ring or echo with sound, Have a long or continuing

effect, "The discussions with my teacher reverberated throughout my adult
life"

Hurled: Throw forcefully, Make a thrusting forward movement, Utter with

force; utter vehemently, "hurl insults"

Unlatched: unlocked

Steeled: Get ready for something difficult or unpleasant

Ushered: Take (someone) to their seats, as in theaters or auditoriums, "he

ushered us to our seats"