All 4 Uses of
mêlée
in
The Kite Runner
- A chapandaz, a highly skilled horseman usually patronized by rich aficionados, has to snatch a goat or cattle carcass from the midst of a melee, carry that carcass with him around the stadium at full gallop, and drop it in a scoring circle while a team of other chapandaz chases him and does everything in its power—kick, claw, whip, punch—to snatch the carcass from him.†
p. 20.9melee = disorganized mass of people
- His body was tossed and hurled in the stampede like a rag doll, finally rolling to a stop when the melee moved on.†
p. 21.5
- I heard footfalls, shouts, an approaching melee of kite runners.
p. 55.3 *
- Behind us, kids were scampering, and a melee of screaming kite runners was chasing the loose kite drifting high above the trees.†
p. 371.1
Definition:
a disorganized mass of people -- especially engaged in hand-to-hand combat, or rioting, or all going different directions and bumping into each other