Never Let Me Go - Vocabulary

WORD/PHRASE ENGLISH DEFINITION SPANISH DEFINITION ORIGINAL SENTENCE

Waste of space (adj) A person regarded as useless Inútil. And I can think of one carer at least who went on for all of fourteen
or incompetent. years despite being a complete waste of space.
By and large (expr) Generally; in general; on the En (líneas) generales. But then I do know for a fact they’ve been pleased with my work, and
hole. by and large, I have too.
Snap out of it (v) To move on. To stop being Levantar el ánimo. I know when to hang around and comfort them, when to leave them
upset or unhappy. To return Recuperarse rápido. to themselves; when to listen to everything they have to say, and
quickly to normal. when just to shrug and tell them to snap out of it.
Bedsit (n) The one-room flat you rent. Cuarto de alquiler; habitación If you’re one of them, I can understand how you might get resentful-
amueblada en renta. about my bedsit, my car, above all, the way I get to pick and choose
who I look after.
To get people’s backs To make somebody angry. Hacer enfadar. And I’m a Hailsham student – which is enough by itself sometimes to
up (v) get people’s backs up.
Blotch (n) A blemish. Mancha en la piel When I was making conversation to keep his mind off it all, and I
Grimace (n) A facial expression that Mueca, gesto (de dolor) asked where he’d grown up, he mentioned some place in Dorset and
indicates pain. his face beneath the blotches went into a completely new kind of
grimace.
Rounders (n) A game similar to baseball. Juego similar al béisbol. About our guardians, about how we each had our own collection
chests under our beds, the football, the rounders, the little path that
that took you all round the outside of the main house.
Pavilion (n) A light, usually open building Pabellón, estructura. Sometimes he’d make me say things over and over; things I’d told him
used for shelter, concerts, only the day before, he’d ask about like I’d never told him. “Did you
exhibits, etc., as in a park or have a sports pavilion?”
fair.
Veranda (n) Open-air porch Galería, porche. In the Summer, a third group could hang about out on the veranda.
Jockey (v) To compete, tostruggle. Competir, pelearse por algo. But ideally, you and your friends wanted the place just to yourselves,
so there was often jockeying and arguing.
Wilting (adj) Coward. Cobarde, pusilánime. I wasn’t exactly the wilting type myself, but I suppose it was really
because of Ruth we got in there as often as we did.
Unwind (v) To relax. Relajarse. Mostly, it was a way to unwind for a while with your closest friends.
Full pelt (adj) With a lot of energy, as fast as Enérgico, a toda velocidad; The other boys where all moving around the field in that deliberately

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 possible. con todas las pilas. languorous way they have when they’re warming up, but Tommy, in
his excitement, seemed already to be going full pelt.
Quip (n) Short wittyremark. Réplica asesina. This time Ruth heard me, but she must have thought I’d meant it as
some kind of joke, because she laughed half-heartedly, then made
some quip of her own.
Eggsbon (v) Toencourage. Alentar a alguien. I didn’t keep glancing round at Laura, though, because I was watching
Tommy; I only knew what she was doing because the others kept
laughing and egging heron.
Snigger (v) Reír disimuladamente, … and all the boys began sniggering…
burlarse.
(Temper) Tantrum (n) A burst of bad temper,a Berrinche, rabieta, pataleta. We’d all seen plenty of Tommy’s tantrums by then, so we came down
violent demonstration of rage off our stools and spread ourselves around the room.
or frustration.
Worksb up (v) Toteasesb. Burlarse, molestar. “The way they always work him up like that. But it’s his own fault. If
Keepsb’scool (v) Tostay/remaincalm. Mantener la calma. he learnt to keep his cool, they’d leave him alone.”
Layabout (n) An idle person. A lazy person, Inútil, haragán, vago. “They’d still keep on at him,” Hannah said. “Graham K.’s temper’s just
a good for nothing. as bad, but that only makes them all the more careful with him. The
reason they go for Tommy’s because he’s a layabout.
To rile sb (v) Toannoy, toirritate. Irritar, sacar de quicio. And although we hadn’t had any part in this latest plan to rile Tommy,
we had taken out ringside seats, and we were starting to feel guilty.
Sheepishly (adv) Avergonzadamente. He looked at me sheepishly.
Pipe down (v) To calm down. Calmarse. “At least you got him to pipe down.”
Grind to a halt (v) To stop completely, to hold Detenerse. He glanced upwards and sure enough the flight above was already
still. grinding to a halt.
Hold it against sb (v) To bear a grudge Estarresentido con alguien. I don’t hold it against you one tiny bit.
(resentimiento, rencor).
Heaveover (v) Tirar, revolear. Tommy was supposed to have heaved over two desks in Room 14,
spilling all the contents on the floor.
Exhibition-cum-sale (n) A mixture of one thing and the Unamezcla de. Four times a year we had a kind of big exhibition-cum-sale of all the
other. things we’d been creating in the three months since the last
Exchange.
Aerials (n) A radio or television antenna. Antenas de TV. You could see lots of aerials and satellite dishes, and sometimes, right
over in the distance, a glistening line that was the sea.
Meandering talks (n An aimless conversation/ Hablar de huellesperdidos. I loved visiting her there, loved those meandering talks we had,

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phrase) change of topics in through the summer to the early autumn, sitting on that balcony
conversations. together, talking about Hailsham, the Cottages, whatever else drifted
into our thoughts.
To boss someone To tell someone what to do, to Mandonear, darordenes. Christy had this great reputation for poetry, and we all looked up to
around (verb) give orders. her for it. Even you, Ruth, you didn’t dare boss Christy around. All
because we thought she was good at poetry.
Daft (adj) Stupid, silly. Tonto, bobo. I can’t thing why else I’d have bought his poems. They’re just
hysterically daft. Takes himself so seriously.
Come home to To suddenly see. To come Caer en la cuenta, dares But it was when she said what she did that it occurred to me, as I lay
someone (expr) down on sb. cuenta, ocurrirse. there, that this whole notion of his deliberately not trying was one
that had been doing the rounds from as far back as the Juniors. And it
came home to me, with a kind of chill…
Get (a bit of) a telling To get a reprimand. Comerse un reto, una Had it been either of those two, Tommy would have got a bit of a
off (v ph) reprimenda, un regaño. telling off, he could have done his smirk, and the worst the others
Smirk (v) (n) To smile in an offensively self- Sonreír con superioridad. would have thought was that it was a feeble joke.
satisfied way.
Get stick (v) To receive a lot of criticism. Recibirmuchascríticas. And probably guessing Tommy was in danger of getting stick from the
others, she went too far the other way, actually finding things to
praise, pointing them out to the class. That was how the resentment
started.
Fail to lose someone’s own temper No perdió la calma. Fail to/failure to: dummy verbs.
Mystified (adj) To be very confused, not Perplejo, desconcertado. I was pleased about all these developments, but also mystified.
understand what’s going on. There’d been no real change in Tommy’s work –his reputation for
“creativity” was as low as ever.
Put your finger on (v To identify, to spot, to be able Dar en el clavo. I could see that an end to the tantrums was a big help, but what
expr) to recognize. seemed to be the key factor was harder to put your finger on.
Probe (v) To test, to assess, to evaluate, Investigar, averiguar, evaluar. I was mystified, and decided to probe him a bit the next time we could
investigate. talk in private. The chance came along before long, when I was lining
up for lunch and spotted him a few places ahead in the queue.
Hubbub (n) Commotion, disturbance. Murmullo, alboroto, barullo. The lunch queue at Hailsham was one of the best places to have a
private talk. It was something to do with the acoustics in the Great
Hall; all the hubbub and the high ceilings meant that you had a fair
chance of not being overheard.
Jump the queue (v) To push in line. Colarse. Queue jumper: So when I saw Tommy a few places ahead of me, I waved him over –
colado. the rule being that though you couldn’t jump the queue going

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 forwards, it was fine to go back.
Nosy (adj) Overly inquisitive. Nosey. Entrometido, metiche, ‘Kath, you’re so nosy. Okay, I suppose there is something.’
chusma.
To be taken into one’s To trust sb. Confiar en alguien. I was genuinely angry, because I thought he was lying to me, just
confidence (exp) when I deserved to be taken into his confidence.
Bewildered (adj) Taken aback, surprised, Desconcertado, perplejo, Spotting a girl I knew a few places back, I went over to her, leaving
confused. apabullado. Tommy standing. I could see he was bewildered and crestfallen, but
Crestfallen (adj) Discouraged, downhearted. Alicaído, decaído, Cabisbajo, after the months I’d spent worrying about him, I felt betrayed, and
de capa caída. didn’t care how he felt.
Still life Kind of painting. Naturaleza muerta. Plural: Stilllifes.
Commandeer (v) To take sth without consulting Incautar. We were using charcoal, and because someone had commandeered
others. all the easels, we were having to work with our boards propped up on
Easel (n) Artist's tripod or support. Caballete, atril. our laps.
Prop sth up (v) To place, to support, to steady. Apoyar.
Throwaway manner In a casual way. Al pasar. She’d said it in a throwaway manner. But Cynthia was a perceptive
person, and the fact that she wasn’t part of our group just gave her
remark more weight.
Spare part (idm) Useless, good for nothing. Inútil, Bueno para nada. Maybe all Hannah had meant to do was point out how Tommy, since
splitting with Ruth, looked a bit of a spare part. But I couldn’t quite
buy this; I knew Hannah too well.
Back off (v) To withdraw, to retreat, to Retroceder, acobardarse. If he remembered me at all, I’d just be this daft girl who came up to
chicken down. him once, asked if he wanted sex, and then backed off. He must have
Tease (n) Flirt. Provocadora. been pretty mature for his age, because he didn’t get annoyed or go
round telling people I was a tease.
Orderly (n) Hospital worker. Camillero. I looked about, but whoever was his carer wasn’t even around. The
orderlies were impatient to get him to his room, so I didn’t talk to him
long.
Rare + to inf (v) Eager to do sth. To be very I suppose I must have assumed he was raring to go, that I had my
enthusiastic. work cut out just to hold him off.
To be a laughing stock To be an object of ridicule. To Ser el hazmereír. It must have looked pretty daft from his side, and if he hadn’t been
(expr) be the object of other’s such a decent type, I’d have been a laughing stock in no time.
amusement.
Take off (v) To become popular. To enjoy Saltar a la fama, tomar vuelo. As I say, the craze really took off that summer, and during the lunch
sudden success. breaks you’d see all these clusters of students lying about the grounds
around the Walkmans.

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To be about evens (v) Estar a mano. “What I want is for us to make a fresh start. We’re about evens now,
To start afresh (v) To start from scratch. Empezar de nuevo, otravez, we’ve both done daft things just to hurt each other, but it’s enough
desde cero. Borrón y cuenta now.”
nueva.
To be in a corner (v) To be into a forced situation. Estar en aprietos, entre la How you’ve always got guts and how you always do what you say
espada y la pared, you’re going to do. He told me once if he was in a corner, he’d rather
acorralado. have you backing him than any of the boys.
What with one thing Expression used to introduce Por una cosa o por la otra. What with one thing and another, I didn’t get a chance to talk to
and another (expr) several reasons. Tommy for the next few days.
To get/have To annoy someone. To make Molestar, irritar. In other words, before we’d say anything, he’d already got my back
somebody’s back up (v) someone very angry. up.
Bonhomie (n) Friendliness, cordiality, Bonhomía, afabilidad. So now, to prove he was happy, here he was, trying to sparkle with
cheerfulness. bonhomie.
To get someone back To find the right track, to Encaminarse, reencaminarse. Look, you’ve got to grow up. And you’ve got to get yourself back on
on track (v) regain focus. track.
To put sb right about To tell someone the truth, Decir la verdad. ‘Tommy, I’ve made a mistake, when I said what I did to you. And I
sth (v) what is right. should have put you right about it long before now.’ Then she’s saying
Disservice (n) Something harmful or Perjuicio, daño. I should forget everything she told me before. That she’d done me a
desfavourable, Contraproducente (adj). big disservice telling me not to worry about being creative.
counterproductive (adj).
Negligible (adj) Insignificant, unimportant, ver Insignificante, desdeñable.
“If it wasn’t ‘rubbish’ it was something like it. Negligible, or
poor in quality. incompetent.’
To make up for lost Compensate for past inaction. Recuperar el tiempo perdido.
And that it wasn’t too late, I should start straight away, making up for
time (v) lost time.
Bright scarlet (adj) Bright red colour. Escarlata, rojo pasiòn. I was probably bright scarlet, what with her hugging me and
everything.
To call sth quits (v) To forget about sth. Ponerle punto final. You’ve got to get yourself sorted again, and there’s one thing you can
straighten out right now. Ruth told me she’s prepared to call it quits
and have you get back with her again.
To blow sth (v) To bungle. Arruinar, echar a perder. After we leave, if you’re with her, you won’t have to worry. She’s the
best, you’ll be fine so long as you’re with her. She’s saying she wants a
fresh start. So don’t blow it.
To be lost for what to Not to know what to say, to be No saber què decir. I was suddenly lost for what to say and just sat there tugging away at
say (v) lost for words. the clovers.
Heart-to-heart (expr) A very serious, intimate Hablar con el corazón en la I think the boys he’d been playing football with earlier came back, or

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 moment. A candid (false mano. Charla seria. maybe it was some students strolling by who came and sat down with
friend! Means honest) and us. Anyway, our little heart-to-heart was at an end and I came away
intimate conversation, frank feeling I hadn’t done what I’d set out to do.
discussion.
Keyed up (adj) Tense, nervous, very excited Tenso, nervioso. The sessions always got us excited and worried all at the same time,
before an important event. so we were pretty keyed-up anyway.Then, at the end of the lesson, as
we were filing out, Charlotte F. came rushing into the room and the
news about Mrs Lucy leaving Hailsham spread through in an instant.
To be in somebody’s Not to be sb’s enemy. Estar en la lista de amigos? I told her I probably hadn’t helped much, but she was having none of
good books (v) To be in sb’s bad books = lista that. I was most definitely in ther good books. And that was more or
negra. less the way things stayed throughout our last days al Hailsham.
To have none of sth (v) Not to buy sth, not to believe No creèrselo.
sth.