New words 211

lantern /'læntɚn/

dense, adjective, /dɛns/

1 made of or containing a lot of things or people that are very close together SYN  thick.

dense undergrowth/forest/woodland/jungle etc

A narrow track wound steeply up through dense forest.

the city's dense population.

2 difficult to see through or breathe in.

dense fog/smoke/cloud

dense black smoke

3 not able to understand things easily SYN  stupid.

Am I being dense? I don’t quite understand.

4 a dense piece of writing is difficult to understand because it contains a lot of information or uses complicated language.

5 a substance that is dense has a lot of mass in relation to its size.

Water is eight hundred times denser than air.

— densely, adverb, /ˈd ɛnslɪ/

a densely populated area.

— denseness, noun, /'densnis/

pierce, verb, /pɪrs/

1 to make a small hole in or through something, using an object with a sharp point.

Steam the corn until it can easily be pierced with a fork.

Rose underwent emergency surgery after a bullet pierced her lung.

pierce a hole in/through something

Pierce small holes in the base of the pot with a hot needle.

2have your ears/nose etc piercedto have a small hole made in your ears, nose etc so that you can wear jewellery through the hole.

I had my belly-button pierced.

pierced ears.

3 if sound or light pierces something, you suddenly hear or see it.

The darkness was pierced by the beam from the lighthouse.

A sudden scream pierced the silence.

pierce through

The men’s lanterns pierced through thedensemist.

4pierce somebody’s heart to make someone feel a strong emotion such as pain, sadness, or love:

Her memories sometimes pierced her heart.

5[transitive] to force a way through something:

Leicester rarely threatened to pierce the Manchester United defence.

shriek, verb, /ʃrik/

1 to make a very high loud sound, especially because you are afraid, angry, excited, or in pain SYN  scream.

They were dragged from their homes, shrieking and weeping.

He shrieked in agony.

shriek with

A group of students were shrieking with laughter.

2 to say something in a high loud voice because you are excited, afraid, or angry SYN  scream.

‘I’m pregnant!’ she shrieked.

shriek at

‘I’ll kill you!’ Anne shrieked at him.

shriek, noun, /ʃrik/

a loud high sound made because you are frightened, excited, angry etc SYN  scream.

shriek of

a shriek of laughter.

with a shriek

With a shriek ofdelight, JeanhuggedMaggie.

give/let out a shriek

Ella let out apiercingshriek.