"Lob's Girl" by Joan Aiken : Thinkmap Visual Thesaurus

At the same moment a large body struck her forcibly in the midriff and she was covered by flying sand.

Instinctively she shut her eyes and felt the sand being wiped off her face by something that seemed like a warm, rough, damp flannel.

atone

The verb is a combination of "at" and "one"--atonement is making up for a wrong so that there would no longer be any hard feelings that could separate two people; they would be reunited as one. This is often used in a religious sense between sinful humans and a forgiving God, but here, it is used to describe the beginning of a different kind of devoted relationship between a dog and a girl.

But Lob, as if trying to atone for the surprise he had given her, went on licking the sand off Sandy's face, wagging his tail so hard while he kept on knocking up more clouds of sand.

glance

But with Sandy, too, it was love at first sight, and when, after a lot more stick-throwing, she and the twins joined Father and Don to go home for tea, they cast many a backward glance at Lob being led firmly away by his master.

reluctant

"I wonder how he found his way here," Mrs. Pengelly said, when the reluctant Lob had been led whining away and Sandy had explained about their afternoon's game on the beach.

resolution

So they dutifully took no notice of him the next day until he soiled their good resolutions by dashing up to them with joyful barks, wagging his tail so hard that he winded Tess and knocked Tim's legs from under him.

accompany

She saw Mr. Dodsworth get on the train, accompanied by an unhappy-looking Lob with drooping ears and tail.

melancholy

Then she saw the train slide away out of sight around the next headland, with a melancholy wail that sounded like Lob's last goodbye.

frenzy

Compare with "agitated"--the definitions for both words sound negative, but here, Lob agitates ("cause to be excited or roused") the Pengelly household with a crashing sound, which leads to Sandy's frenzy of joy. Her joy is not dangerously violent, but it is so intense that it makes her cheeks flush red and her eyes shine bright like stars.

With flushed cheeks and eyes like stars she had darted into the kitchen, where she and Lob were hugging one another in a frenzy of joy.

objection

Lob was very grateful for the drink and the meal, and made no objection to having his feet washed.

limp

In ten days' time Lob was back--limping this time, with a torn ear and a patch missing out of his furry coat, as if he had met and tangled with an enemy or two in the course of his four-hundred-mile walk.

intimate

The definition is for a verb. But the word is most often used as an adjective ("marked by close acquaintance, association or familiarity" or "innermost or essential"), and it can also be a noun ("someone to whom private matters are confided"). Although Lob goes on walks with his old owner each summer, he intimates through his behavior that his intimate desire is to be intimate only with Sandy and her family.

His place, he intimated, was definitely with the Pengellys.

devoted

He and Sandy still loved one another devotedly.

hurtle

The verb also means "throw forcefully." This is not how it is used here, but the Pengellys later find out that the truck hurtled Sandy and hurt her with its hurtling speed. Compare this example sentence to the first one in the list: in both situations, a large object hits Sandy and Lob's involvement affects Sandy's life.

the Pengellys did not hear the truck hurtle down the hill and crash against the post office wall a few minutes later.

intention

By that afternoon it became noticeable that a dog seemed to have taken up position outside the hospital, with the fixed intention of getting in.

beseech

Sometimes the guard at the main entrance gave him a pat or offered him a bit of sandwich--he looked so wet and beseeching and desperate.

agitated

Just as she reached the main entrance the guard was gently but forcibly shoving out a large, agitated, soaking-wet Alsatian dog.

bristle

Do you know," she went on, bristling, "that dog has walked the length of England--twice--to be with that girl?

dislodge

Every now and then he shook his head, as if to dislodge something heavy that was tied around his neck.

exception

"It's strictly against every rule, but as it's such a serious case we are making an exception," he said to her quietly.

strain

The verb also means "become stretched or tense." Both definitions fit, since Lob is trying to stretch towards Sandy, but Granny Pearce's grip on his collar holds him back. This exertion of energy seems to be the opposite of the previous sentence: "All Lob's attention was riveted on the bed"--something that is riveted is fastened down so that it doesn't move. But the two descriptions together emphasize how much Lob loves Sandy and wants to be near her.

He strained toward it, but Granny Pearce clasped his collar firmly.

plead

Compare with "beseech"--the words are both verbs, but they are turned into participial adjectives in the example sentences to go with the adjectives "desperate" and "anxious" to describe how much Lob wants to be with Sandy. Although Lob makes a faint whining sound, he is not seen as whiny here, because he pleads and beseeches to be with Sandy, not only because he loves her, but because he knows she needs him.

Lob let out a faint whine, anxious and pleading.

dangle

Sandy moved her left arm--the one that was not broken--from below the covers and let her hand dangle down, feeling, as she always did in the mornings, for Lob's furry head.

grope

She looked at the smile on her granddaughter's face as the groping fingers found Lob's wet ears and gently pulled them.

concrete

The word is used as a noun here, but as an adjective, it means "capable of being perceived by the senses." This definition is suggested by the situation: Lob had died in the accident and was buried at sea with concrete, so he should not have been a concrete presence at the hospital. The fact that he managed to come back one last time to save Sandy's life shows how supernaturally strong his love is.

he and Will Hoskins rowed a half mile out to sea and sank the dog with a lump of concrete tied to his collar.

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"Lob's Girl" by Joan Aiken

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