by John Buchan
black gentleman NOUN this was another word for the devil for she is as impatient as the black gentleman (Emma by Jane Austen)
boot-jack NOUN a wooden device to help take boots off The speaker appeared to throw a boot-jack, or some such article, at the person he addressed (Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens)
booty NOUN booty means treasure or prizes would be inclined to give up their booty in payment of the dead man’s debts (Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson)
Bow Street runner PHRASE Bow Street runners were the first British police force, set up by the author Henry Fielding in the eighteenth century as would have convinced a judge or a Bow Street runner (Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson)
brawn NOUN brawn is a dish of meat which is set in jelly Heaped up upon the floor, to form a kind of throne, were turkeys, geese, game, poultry, brawn, great joints of meat, sucking-pigs (A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens)
bray VERB when a donkey brays, it makes a loud, harsh sound and she doesn’t bray like a jackass (The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain)
break VERB in order to train a horse you first have to break it “If a high-mettled creature like this,” said he, “can’t be broken by fair means, she will never be good for anything” (Black Beauty by Anna Sewell)
bullyragging VERB bullyragging is an old word which means bullying. To bullyrag someone is to threaten or force someone to do something they don’t want to do and a lot of loafers bullyragging him for sport (The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain)
but PREP except for (this) but this, all pleasures fancies be (The Good-Morrow by John Donne)
by hand PHRASE by hand was a common expression of the time meaning that baby had been fed either using a spoon or a bottle rather than by breast-feeding My sister, Mrs. Joe Gargery, was more than twenty years older than I, and had established a great reputation with herself … because she had bought me up ‘by hand’ (Great Expectations by Charles Dickens)
bye-spots NOUN bye-spots are lonely places and bye-spots of tales rich with indigenous produce (The Prelude by William Wordsworth)
calico NOUN calico is plain white fabric made from cotton There was two old dirty calico dresses (The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain)
camp-fever NOUN camp-fever was another word for the disease typhus during a severe camp-fever (Emma by Jane Austen)
cant NOUN cant is insincere or empty talk “Man,” said the Ghost, “if man you be in heart, not adamant, forbear that wicked cant until you have discovered What the surplus is, and Where it is.” (A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens)
canty ADJ canty means lively, full of life My mother lived til eighty, a canty dame to the last (Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë)
canvas VERB to canvas is to discuss We think so very differently on this point Mr Knightley, that there can be no use in canvassing it (Emma by Jane Austen)
capital ADJ capital means excellent or extremely good for it’s capital, so shady, light, and big (Little Women by Louisa May Alcott)
capstan NOUN a capstan is a device used on a ship to lift sails and anchors capstans going, ships going out to sea, and unintelligible sea creatures roaring curses over the bulwarks at respondent lightermen (Great Expectations by Charles Dickens)
case-bottle NOUN a square bottle designed to fit with others into a case The spirit being set before him in a huge case-bottle, which had originally come out of some ship’s locker (The Old Curiosity Shop by Charles Dickens)
casement NOUN casement is a word meaning window. The teacher in Nicholas Nickleby misspells window showing what a bad teacher he is W-i-n, win, d-e-r, der, winder, a casement.’ (Nicholas Nickleby by Charles Dickens)
cataleptic ADJ a cataleptic fit is one in which the victim goes into a trancelike state and remains still for a long time It was at this point in their history that Silas’s cataleptic fit occurred during the prayer-meeting (Silas Marner by George Eliot)
cauldron NOUN a cauldron is a large cooking pot made of metal stirring a large cauldron which seemed to be full of soup (Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll)
cephalic ADJ cephalic means to do with the head with ink composed of a cephalic tincture (Gulliver’s Travels by Jonathan Swift)
chaise and four NOUN a closed four-wheel carriage pulled by four horses he came down on Monday in a chaise and four to see the place (Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen)
chamberlain NOUN the main servant in a household In those times a bed was always to be got there at any hour of the night, and the chamberlain, letting me in at his ready wicket, lighted the candle next in order on his shelf (Great Expectations by Charles Dickens)
characters NOUN distinguishing marks Impressed upon all forms the characters (The Prelude by William Wordsworth)
chary ADJ cautious I should have been chary of discussing my guardian too freely even with her (Great Expectations by Charles Dickens)
cherishes VERB here cherishes means cheers or brightens some philosophic song of Truth that cherishes our daily life (The Prelude by William Wordsworth)
chickens’ meat PHRASE chickens’ meat is an old term which means chickens’ feed or food I had shook a bag of chickens’ meat out in that place (Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe)
chimeras NOUN a chimera is an unrealistic idea or a wish which is unlikely to be fulfilled with many other wild impossible chimeras (Gulliver’s Travels by Jonathan Swift)
chines NOUN chine is a cut of meat that includes part or all of the backbone of the animal and they found hams and chines uncut (Silas Marner by George Eliot)
chits NOUN chits is a slang word which means girls I hate affected, niminy-piminy chits! (Little Women by Louisa May Alcott)
chopped VERB chopped means come suddenly or accidentally if I had chopped upon them (Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe)
chute NOUN a narrow channel One morning about day-break, I found a canoe and crossed over a chute to the main shore (The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain)
circumspection NOUN careful observation of events and circumstances; caution I honour your circumspection (Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen)
clambered VERB clambered means to climb somewhere with difficulty, usually using your hands and your feet he clambered up and down stairs (Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson)
clime NOUN climate no season knows nor clime (The Sun Rising by John Donne)
clinched VERB clenched the tops whereof I could but just reach with my fist clinched (Gulliver’s Travels by Jonathan Swift)
close chair NOUN a close chair is a sedan chair, which is an covered chair which has room for one person. The sedan chair is carried on two poles by two men, one in front and one behind persuaded even the Empress herself to let me hold her in her close chair (Gulliver’s Travels by Jonathan Swift)
clown NOUN clown here means peasant or person who lives off the land In ancient days by emperor and clown (Ode on a Nightingale by John Keats)
coalheaver NOUN a coalheaver loaded coal onto ships using a spade Good, strong, wholesome medicine, as was given with great success to two Irish labourers and a coalheaver (Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens)
coal-whippers NOUN men who worked at docks using machines to load coal onto ships here, were colliers by the score and score, with the coal-whippers plunging off stages on deck (Great Expectations by Charles Dickens)
cobweb NOUN a cobweb is the net which a spider makes for catching insects the walls and ceilings were all hung round with cobwebs (Gulliver’s Travels by Jonathan Swift)
coddling VERB coddling means to treat someone too kindly or protect them too much and I’ve been coddling the fellow as if I’d been his grandmother (Little Women by Louisa May Alcott)
coil NOUN coil means noise or fuss or disturbance What a coil is there? (Doctor Faustus 4.7 by Christopher Marlowe)
collared VERB to collar something is a slang term which means to capture. In this sentence, it means he stole it [the money] he collared it (The Adventures of Huc
kleberry Finn by Mark Twain)
colling VERB colling is an old word which means to embrace and kiss and no clasping and colling at all (Tess of the D’Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy)
colloquies NOUN colloquy is a formal conversation or dialogue Such colloquies have occupied many a pair of pale-faced weavers (Silas Marner by George Eliot)
comfit NOUN sugar-covered pieces of fruit or nut eaten as sweets and pulled out a box of comfits (Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll)
coming out VERB when a girl came out in society it meant she was of marriageable age. In order to ‘come out’ girls were expecting to attend balls and other parties during a season The younger girls formed hopes of coming out a year or two sooner than they might otherwise have done (Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen)
commit VERB commit means arrest or stop Commit the rascals (Doctor Faustus 4.7 by Christopher Marlowe)
commodious ADJ commodious means convenient the most commodious and effectual ways (Gulliver’s Travels by Jonathan Swift)
commons NOUN commons is an old term meaning food shared with others his pauper assistants ranged themselves behind him; the gruel was served out; and a long grace was said over the short commons. (Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens)
complacency NOUN here complacency means a desire to please others. To-day complacency means feeling pleased with oneself without good reason. Twas thy power that raised the first complacency in me (The Prelude by William Wordsworth)
complaisance NOUN complaisance was eagerness to please we cannot wonder at his complaisance (Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen)
complaisant ADJ complaisant means polite extremely cheerful and complaisant to their guest (Gulliver’s Travels by Jonathan Swift)
conning VERB conning means learning by heart Or conning more (The Prelude by William Wordsworth)
consequent NOUN consequence as avarice is the necessary consequent of old age (Gulliver’s Travels by Jonathan Swift)
consorts NOUN concerts The King, who delighted in music, had frequent consorts at Court (Gulliver’s Travels by Jonathan Swift)
conversible ADJ conversible meant easy to talk to, companionable He can be a conversible companion (Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen)
copper NOUN a copper is a large pot that can be heated directly over a fire He gazed in stupefied astonishment on the small rebel for some seconds, and then clung for support to the copper (Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens)
copper-stick NOUN a copper-stick is the long piece of wood used to stir washing in the copper (or boiler) which was usually the biggest cooking pot in the house It was Christmas Eve, and I had to stir the pudding for next day, with a copper-stick, from seven to eight by the Dutch clock (Great Expectations by Charles Dickens)
counting-house NOUN a counting house is a place where accountants work Once upon a time – of all the good days in the year, on Christmas Eve – old Scrooge sat busy in his counting house (A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens)
courtier NOUN a courtier is someone who attends the king or queen – a member of the court next the ten courtiers; (Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll)
covies NOUN covies were flocks of partridges and will save all of the best covies for you (Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen)
cowed VERB cowed means frightened or intimidated it cowed me more than the pain (Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson)
cozened VERB cozened means tricked or deceived Do you remember, sir, how you cozened me (Doctor Faustus 4.7 by Christopher Marlowe)
cravats NOUN a cravat is a folded cloth that a man wears wrapped around his neck as a decorative item of clothing we’d’a’ slept in our cravats to-night (The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain)
crock and dirt PHRASE crock and dirt is an old expression meaning soot and dirt and the mare catching cold at the door, and the boy grimed with crock and dirt (Great Expectations by Charles Dickens)
crockery NOUN here crockery means pottery By one of the parrots was a cat made of crockery (The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain)
crooked sixpence PHRASE it was considered unlucky to have a bent sixpence You’ve got the beauty, you see, and I’ve got the luck, so you must keep me by you for your crooked sixpence (Silas Marner by George Eliot)
croquet NOUN croquet is a traditional English summer game in which players try to hit wooden balls through hoops and once she remembered trying to box her own ears for having cheated herself in a game of croquet (Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll)
cross PREP across The two great streets, which run cross and divide it into four quarters (Gulliver’s Travels by Jonathan Swift)
culpable ADJ if you are culpable for something it means you are to blame deep are the sorrows that spring from false ideas for which no man is culpable. (Silas Marner by George Eliot)
cultured ADJ cultivated Nor less when spring had warmed the cultured Vale (The Prelude by William Wordsworth)
cupidity NOUN cupidity is greed These people hated me with the hatred of cupidity and disappointment. (Great Expectations by Charles Dickens)
curricle NOUN an open two-wheeled carriage with one seat for the driver and space for a single passenger and they saw a lady and a gentleman in a curricle (Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen)
cynosure NOUN a cynosure is something that strongly attracts attention or admiration Then I thought of Eliza and Georgiana; I beheld one the cynosure of a ballroom, the other the inmate of a convent cell (Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë)
dalliance NOUN someone’s dalliance with something is a brief involvement with it nor sporting in the dalliance of love (Doctor Faustus Chorus by Christopher Marlowe)
darkling ADV darkling is an archaic way of saying in the dark Darkling I listen (Ode on a Nightingale by John Keats)
delf-case NOUN a sideboard for holding dishes and crockery at the pewter dishes and delf-case (Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë)
determined VERB here determined means ended and be out of vogue when that was determined (Gulliver’s Travels by Jonathan Swift) VERB determined can mean to have been learned or found especially by investigation or experience All the sensitive feelings it wounded so cruelly, all the shame and misery it kept alive within my breast, became more poignant as I thought of this; and I determined that the life was unendurable (David Copperfield by Charles Dickens)
Deuce NOUN a slang term for the Devil Ah, I dare say I did. Deuce take me, he added suddenly, I know I did. I find I am not quite unscrewed yet. (Great Expectations by Charles Dickens)
diabolical ADJ diabolical means devilish or evil and with a thousand diabolical expressions (Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson)
direction NOUN here direction means address Elizabeth was not surprised at it, as Jane had written the direction remarkably ill (Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen)
discover VERB to make known announce or the Emperor would discover the secret while I was out of his power (Gulliver’s Travels by Jonathan Swift)
dissemble VERB hide or conceal Dissemble nothing (On His Mistress by John Donne)
dissolve VERB dissolve here means to release from life, to die Fade far away, dissolve, and quite forget (Ode on a Nightingale by John Keats)
distrain VERB to distrain is to seize the property of someone who is in debt in compensation for the money owed for he’s threatening to distrain for it (Silas Marner by George Eliot)
Divan NOUN a Divan was originally a Turkish council of state – the name was transferred to the couches they sat on and is used to mean this in English Mr Brass applauded this picture very much, and the bed being soft and comfortable, Mr Quilp determined to use it, both as a sleeping place by night and as a kind of Divan by day. (The Old Curiosity Shop by Charles Dickens)
divorcement NOUN separation By all pains which want and divorcement hath (On His Mistress by John Donne)
dog in the manger PHRASE this phrase describes someone who prevents you from enjoying something that they themselves have n
o need for You are a dog in the manger, Cathy, and desire no one to be loved but yourself (Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë)
dolorifuge NOUN dolorifuge is a word which Thomas Hardy invented. It means pain-killer or comfort as a species of dolorifuge (Tess of the D’Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy)
dome NOUN building that river and that mouldering dome (The Prelude by William Wordsworth)
domestic PHRASE here domestic means a person’s management of the house to give some account of my domestic (Gulliver’s Travels by Jonathan Swift)
dunce NOUN a dunce is another word for idiot Do you take me for a dunce? Go on? (Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll)
Ecod EXCLAM a slang exclamation meaning ‘oh God!’ “Ecod,” replied Wemmick, shaking his head, “that’s not my trade.” (Great Expectations by Charles Dickens)
egg-hot NOUN an egg-hot (see also ‘flip’ and ‘negus’) was a hot drink made from beer and eggs, sweetened with nutmeg She fainted when she saw me return, and made a little jug of egg-hot afterwards to console us while we talked it over. (David Copperfield by Charles Dickens)
encores NOUN an encore is a short extra performance at the end of a longer one, which the entertainer gives because the audience has enthusiastically asked for it we want a little something to answer encores with, anyway (The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain)
equipage NOUN an elegant and impressive carriage and besides, the equipage did not answer to any of their neighbours (Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen)
exordium NOUN an exordium is the opening part of a speech “Now, Handel,” as if it were the grave beginning of a portentous business exordium, he had suddenly given up that tone (Great Expectations by Charles Dickens)
expect VERB here expect means to wait for to expect his farther commands (Gulliver’s Travels by Jonathan Swift)
familiars NOUN familiars means spirits or devils who come to someone when they are called I’ll turn all the lice about thee into familiars (Doctor Faustus 1.4 by Christopher Marlowe)
fantods NOUN a fantod is a person who fidgets or can’t stop moving nervously It most give me the fantods (The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain)