Rikki-tikki Vocabulary Test

What is the meaning of the word 'veranda' as it is used in the following excerpt?

They gave him a little piece of raw meat. Rikki-tikki liked it immensely, and when it was finished he went out into the veranda and sat in the sunshine and fluffed up his fur to make it dry to the roots. Then he felt better.

• A covered porch

• Showing bravery; courageous

• A young bird just able to fly

• To bring back to life or consciousness

What is the meaning of the word 'valiant' as it is used in the following excerpt?

“Nag is dead—is dead—is dead!” sang Darzee. “The valiant Rikki-tikki caught him by the head and held fast. The big man brought the bang-stick and Nag fell in two pieces! He will never eat my babies again.”

• A covered porch

• Showing bravery; courageous

• A young bird just able to fly

• To bring back to life or consciousness

What is the meaning of the word 'fledglings' as it is used in the following excerpt?

“Well,” said Rikki-tikki, and his tail began to fluff up again, “marks or no marks, do you think it is right for you to eat fledglings out of a nest?”

• A covered porch

• Showing bravery; courageous

• A young bird just able to fly

• To bring back to life or consciousness

What is the meaning of the word 'revived' as it is used in the following excerpt?

He found a little wisp of grass floating there, and clung to it till he lost his senses. When he revived, he was lying in the hot sun on the middle of a garden path, very draggled indeed, and a small boy was saying, “Here’s a dead mongoose. Let’s have a funeral.”

• A covered porch

• Showing bravery; courageous

• A young bird just able to fly

• To bring back to life or consciousness

What is the meaning of the word 'singed' as it is used in the following excerpt?

He was dizzy, aching, and felt shaken to pieces when something went off like a thunderclap just behind him. A hot wind knocked him senseless and red fire singed his fur. The big man had been wakened by the noise, and had fired both barrels of a shotgun into Nag just behind the hood.

• A covered porch

• Showing bravery; courageous

• A young bird just able to fly

• To burn or scorch

What is the meaning of the word 'gait' as it is used in the following excerpt?

Rikki-tikki’s eyes grew red again, and he danced up to Karait with the peculiar rocking, swaying motion that he had inherited from his family. It looks very funny, but it is so perfectly balanced a gait that you can fly off from it at any angle you please; and in dealing with snakes this is an advantage.

• A covered porch

• Showing bravery; courageous

• The way a person or animal walks/runs

• To burn or scorch

What is the meaning of the word 'cowered' as it is used in the following excerpt?

Darzee and his wife only cowered down in the nest without answering, for from the thick grass at the foot of the bush there came a low hiss—a horrid cold sound that made Rikki-tikki jump back two clear feet. Then inch by inch out of the grass rose up the head and spread hood of Nag, the big black cobra, and he was five feet long from tongue to tail.

• A covered porch

• Showing bravery; courageous

• The way a person or animal walks/runs

• To crouch in fear or shame

What is the meaning of the word 'consolation' as it is used in the following excerpt?

“The boy broke it with a stone!” shrieked Darzee’s wife. “Well! It may be some consolation to you when you’re dead to know that I shall settle accounts with the boy."

• A covered porch

• Something that brings comfort

• The way a person or animal walks/runs

• To crouch in fear or shame

What is the meaning of the word 'cunningly' as it is used in the following excerpt?

There, in the warm litter above the melons, very cunningly hidden, he found twenty-five eggs, about the size of a bantam’s eggs, but with whitish skin instead of shell.

• A covered porch

• Something that brings comfort

• Done in a clever or deceitful way

• To crouch in fear or shame

What is the meaning of the word 'savage' as it is used in the following excerpt?

“If I don’t break his back at the first jump,” said Rikki, “he can still fight; and if he fights—O Rikki!” He looked at the thickness of the neck below the hood, but that was too much for him; and a bite near the tail would only make Nag savage.

• Vicious or fierce

• Something that brings comfort

• Done in a clever or deceitful way

• To crouch in fear or shame