The Tale of Despereaux by Kate DiCamillo, Vocabulary List Chapters 19-24

able to hold a great deal

Roscuro, as he surfaced from the bottom of the queen's capacious bowl, could not help taking a few appreciative sips.

to prepare (as food) by putting several different things together

Cook's love and admiration for the queen and her palate moved the broth that she concocted from the level of mere food to a high art.

to put (someone) in a usually unpleasant place or situation

Gregory the jailer and those who were consigned to his domain did not laugh or smile or clink glasses with the person sitting next to them.

unpleasantly wet or moist

In a dank cell, the prisoner who had once had a red tablecloths and now had nothing, spent his days and nights weeping quietly.

very bad : causing great fear or worry

There were of course, dire consequences of Roscuro's behavior.

to improve in health : HEAL

There are those hearts, reader, that never mend again once they are broken.

to bring or combine together or with something else

The soup was a masterwork, a delicate mingling of chicken, watercress, and garlic.

decorated in a fancy way

There was, in the banquet hall, a most beautiful and ornate chandelier.

the sense of taste

Cook's love and admiration for the queen and her palate moved the broth that she concocted from the level of mere food to a high art.

a secret or surprising fact that is made known

The revelation hit Roscuro with such force, that it made him lose his grip on the chandelier.

to calm down : COMFORT

Making soup illegal, outlawing rats, these things soothes the poor king's heart.

an adult female pig

With that said, he begins a short history of the life and times of Miggery Sow, a girl born into this world many years before the mouse Despereaux and the rat Chiaroscuro, a girl born far from the castle, a girl named for her father's favorite prize-winning pig.

a heavy cloth that has designs or pictures woven into it and is used especially as a wall hanging

Imagine that late one spring day, you step out of the dark and into a world of bright windows and polished floors, winking copper pots, shining suits of armor, and tapestries sewn in gold.

unpleasant or offensive

Reader, in the spirit of honesty, I must utter a difficult and unsavory truth: Rats are not beautiful creatures.

to express in usually spoken words

Reader, in the spirit of honesty, I must utter a difficult and unsavory truth: Rats are not beautiful creatures.

to move or walk in a lively and confident manner

The rat waltzed happily from room to room until he found himself at the door to the banquet hall.