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noun mazes a set of lines or paths that twist and turn so much that it is very easy to lose your way The ground floor of the hotel was a maze of public rooms, all of them named in gold letters on the doors. —THE WITCHES
adjective Something that is mechanical has parts that move like a machine. 'What we need on this job,' he said, 'is machines . . . mechanical shovels. We'll have him out in five minutes with mechanical shovels.'—FANTASTIC MR FOX
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noun meadows A meadow is a field of grass and flowers. There are meadows made out of mint-flavoured sugar in Willy Wonka's chocolate factory. 'And do you like my meadows? Do you like my grass and my buttercups? The grass you are standing on, my dear little ones, is made of a new kind of soft, minty sugar that I've just invented!' —CHARLIE AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY
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noun meals the food that you eat at one time, such as breakfast, lunch, dinner, or tea But Grandmamma was small and tough,/And Wolfie wailed, 'That's not enough!/I haven't yet begun to feel/ That I have had a decent meal!'
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noun the flesh of animals that is cooked and eaten as food Mr Twit was furious . . . 'Boy Pie might be better than Bird Pie', he went on, grinning horribly. 'More meat and not so many tiny little bones!'—THE TWITS
noun If you show mercy to someone, you are kind and do not punish them. 'Save me!' screamed the Fleshlumpeater. 'Have mercy on this poor little giant! The beanstalk! He is coming at me with his terrible spikesticking beanstalk!' —THE BFG
mess
noun If something is a mess, like your room or your hair, it is very untidy. Everyone jumped, including Mr Wormwood. 'What the heck's the matter with you, woman?' he shouted. 'Look at the mess you've made on the carpet!' —MATILDA
noun medicines a special liquid or tablet that you take when you are ill to make you better 'I shall make her a new medicine, one that is so strong and so fierce and so fantastic it will either cure her completely or blow off the top of her head.' —
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verb melts, melting, melted When something like chocolate or ice cream melts, it becomes liquid because it has become warm. Place chocolate in very large cauldron and melt over red-hot furnace. When melted, lower the heat slightly so as not to burn the chocolate, but keep it boiling. —CHARLIE AND THE GREAT GLASS ELEVATOR
member
noun members someone who belongs to a club or group The Old-Green-Grasshopper became a member of the New York Symphony Orchestra, where his playing was greatly admired. —JAMES AND THE GIANT PEACH
memory
noun memories 1. Your memory is your ability to remember things.
noun messages a question or piece of information that one person sends to another A MESSAGE to Children Who Have Read This Book: When you grow up and have children of your own do please remember something important: a stodgy parent is no fun at all.—DANNY THE CHAMPION OF THE WORLD
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adjective messier, messiest Something messy is very untidy, like Mr Twit's facial hair. noun metals a hard substance that melts when it is heated, such as gold, silver, copper, and iron There was an aura of menace about her even at a distance, and when she came up close you could almost feel the dangerous heat radiating from her as from a red-hot rod of metal. —MATILDA
method
noun methods A method is the way in which you do something. Danny's father tells him his Secret Methods for catching pheasants. 'So that's Method Number One,' he said. 'What's Number Two?' I asked. 'Ah,' he said. 'Number Two's a real beauty. It's a flash of pure brilliance.' —DANNY THE CHAMPION OF THE WORLD
mice
noun plural of mouse
—THE BFG
microphone
noun microphones a device that you speak into when you want to record your voice or make it sound louder The President said a very rude word into the microphone and ten million children across the nation began repeating it gleefully and got smacked by their parents. —CHARLIE AND THE GREAT GLASS ELEVATOR
middle
noun middles The middle of something is the place or part that is at the same distance from all its sides or edges. 'Good heavens!' he said. 'I know what this is! I've come to the stone in the middle of the peach!' —JAMES AND THE GIANT PEACH
middle
adjective placed in the middle There was a big hole in the floor and another in the ceiling, and sticking up like a post between the two was the middle part of Grandma. —GEORGE'S MARVELLOUS MEDICINE
mideous
adjective (rhymes with hideous) A mideous place is horrible and nasty (but grobes still love living there). In the quelchy quaggy sogmire/In the mashy mideous harshland,/At the witchy hour of gloomness,/All the grobes come oozing home.—CHARLIE AND THE GREAT GLASS ELEVATOR
Whoppsy-good Writing: spoonerisms To make the phrase mideous harshland Roald Dahl swopped around the first two letters of hideous marshland. Dahl loved this type of word play, which is called spoonerism, and you can find lots of examples in his books. The BFG says catasterous disastrophe (not disasterous catastrophe) and tells Sophie that Nicholas Nickleby is written by Dahl’s Chickens (not Charles Dickens). The word spoonerism is named after a real person, William Spooner, who sometimes made mistakes like these.
There are mountains of metaphors in Roald Dahl. Read more on page 56.
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adjective meaner, meanest A mean person is unkind and does not like sharing things. They were rich men. They were also nasty men. All three of them were about as nasty and mean as any men you could meet. —FANTASTIC MR FOX SPLIFFLING SYNONYMS A word for a mean and nasty person is a rotrasper.
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noun The BFG says micies instead of mice as the plural of mouse. 'From now on, we is keeping as still as winky little micies,' he whispered.
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noun medals a piece of metal shaped like a coin, star or cross, given to someone who has won a competition or done something brave 'Her Majesty will be very pleased with me,' the Head of the Army said. 'I shall probably get a medal.' —THE BFG
CHAMPION OF THE WORLD
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The Meatdripper is one of the not-so-friendly giants in The BFG. The Meatdripper hunts human beans by disguising itself as a tree and luring them to picnic under its branches. Then it eats them. LOOK IT UP! Some other human-eating giants are the Bloodbottler and the Gizzardgulper.
2. A memory is something that you can remember. My father paused, and there was a gleam of pride in his eyes as he dwelt for a moment upon the memory of his own dad, the great poaching inventor. —DANNY THE
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noun mayors A mayor is the person in charge of the council of a town or city. A woman who is a mayor can also be called a mayoress. Once more, the Queen lifted the receiver. 'Get me the Lord Mayor of Baghdad,' she said. 'If they don't have a Lord Mayor, get me the next best thing.' —THE BFG
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