by Homer
noggin NOUN a noggin is a small mug or a wooden cup you’ll bring me one noggin of rum (Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson)
none ADJ neither none can die (The Good-Morrow by John Donne)
notices NOUN observations Arch are his notices (The Prelude by William Wordsworth)
occiput NOUN occiput means the back of the head saw off the occiput of each couple (Gulliver’s Travels by Jonathan Swift)
officiously ADV kindly the governess who attended Glumdalclitch very officiously lifted me up (Gulliver’s Travels by Jonathan Swift)
old salt PHRASE old salt is a slang term for an experienced sailor a “true sea-dog”, and a “real old salt” (Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson)
or ere PHRASE before or ere the Hall was built (The Prelude by William Wordsworth)
ostler NOUN one who looks after horses at an inn The bill paid, and the waiter remembered, and the ostler not forgotten, and the chambermaid taken into consideration (Great Expectations by Charles Dickens)
ostry NOUN an ostry is an old word for a pub or hotel lest I send you into the ostry with a vengeance (Doctor Faustus 2.2 by Christopher Marlowe)
outrunning the constable PHRASE outrunning the constable meant spending more than you earn but I shall by this means be able to check your bills and to pull you up if I find you outrunning the constable. (Great Expectations by Charles Dickens)
over ADV across It is in length six yards, and in the thickest part at least three yards over (Gulliver’s Travels by Jonathan Swift)
over the broomstick PHRASE this is a phrase meaning “getting married without a formal ceremony” They both led tramping lives, and this woman in Gerrard-street here, had been married very young, over the broomstick (as we say), to a tramping man, and was a perfect fury in point of jealousy. (Great Expectations by Charles Dickens)
own VERB own means to admit or to acknowledge It’s my old girl that advises. She has the head. But I never own to it before her. Discipline must be maintained (Bleak House by Charles Dickens)
page NOUN here page means a boy employed to run errands not my feigned page (On His Mistress by John Donne)
paid pretty dear PHRASE paid pretty dear means paid a high price or suffered quite a lot I paid pretty dear for my monthly fourpenny piece (Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson)
pannikins NOUN pannikins were small tin cups of lifting light glasses and cups to his lips, as if they were clumsy pannikins (Great Expectations by Charles Dickens)
pards NOUN pards are leopards Not charioted by Bacchus and his pards (Ode on a Nightingale by John Keats)
parlour boarder NOUN a pupil who lived with the family and somebody had lately raised her from the condition of scholar to parlour boarder (Emma by Jane Austen)
particular, a London PHRASE London in Victorian times and up to the 1950s was famous for having very dense fog–which was a combination of real fog and the smog of pollution from factories This is a London particular … A fog, miss (Bleak House by Charles Dickens)
patten NOUN pattens were wooden soles which were fixed to shoes by straps to protect the shoes in wet weather carrying a basket like the Great Seal of England in plaited straw, a pair of pattens, a spare shawl, and an umbrella, though it was a fine bright day (Great Expectations by Charles Dickens)
paviour NOUN a paviour was a labourer who worked on the street pavement the paviour his pickaxe (Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens)
peccant ADJ peccant means unhealthy other peccant humours (Gulliver’s Travels by Jonathan Swift)
penetralium NOUN penetralium is a word used to describe the inner rooms of the house and I had no desire to aggravate his impatience previous to inspecting the penetralium (Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë)
pensive ADV pensive means deep in thought or thinking seriously about something and she was leaning pensive on a tomb-stone on her right elbow (The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain)
penury NOUN penury is the state of being extremely poor Distress, if not penury, loomed in the distance (Tess of the D’Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy)
perspective NOUN telescope a pocket perspective (Gulliver’s Travels by Jonathan Swift)
phaeton NOUN a phaeton was an open carriage for four people often condescends to drive by my humble abode in her little phaeton and ponies (Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen)
phantasm NOUN a phantasm is an illusion, something that is not real. It is sometimes used to mean ghost Experience had bred no fancies in him that could raise the phantasm of appetite (Silas Marner by George Eliot)
physic NOUN here physic means medicine there I studied physic two years and seven months (Gulliver’s Travels by Jonathan Swift)
pinioned VERB to pinion is to hold both arms so that a person cannot move them But the relentless Ghost pinioned him in both his arms, and forced him to observe what happened next. (A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens)
piquet NOUN piquet was a popular card game in the C18th Mr Hurst and Mr Bingley were at piquet (Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen)
plaister NOUN a plaister is a piece of cloth on which an apothecary (or pharmacist) would spread ointment. The cloth is then applied to wounds or bruises to treat them Then, she gave the knife a final smart wipe on the edge of the plaister, and then sawed a very thick round off the loaf: which she finally, before separating from the loaf, hewed into two halves, of which Joe got one, and I the other. (Great Expectations by Charles Dickens)
plantations NOUN here plantations means colonies, which are countries controlled by a more powerful country besides our plantations in America (Gulliver’s Travels by Jonathan Swift)
plastic ADJ here plastic is an old term meaning shaping or a power that was forming A plastic power abode with me (The Prelude by William Wordsworth)
players NOUN actors of players which upon the world’s stage be (On His Mistress by John Donne)
plump ADV all at once, suddenly But it took a bit of time to get it well round, the change come so uncommon plump, didn’t it? (Great Expectations by Charles Dickens)
plundered VERB to plunder is to rob or steal from These crosses stand for the names of ships or towns that they sank or plundered (Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson)
pommel VERB to pommel someone is to hit them repeatedly with your fists hug him round the neck, pommel his back, and kick his legs in irrepressible affection! (A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens) NOUN a pommel is the part of a saddle that rises up at the front He had his gun across his pommel (The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain)
poor’s rates NOUN poor’s rates were property taxes which were used to support the poor “Oh!” replied the undertaker; “why, you know, Mr. Bumble, I pay a good deal towards the poor’s rates.” (Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens)
popular ADJ popular means ruled by the people, or Republican, rather than ruled by a monarch With those of Greece compared and popular Rome (The Prelude by William Wordsworth)
porringer NOUN a porringer is a small bowl Of this festive composition each boy had one porringer, and no more (Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens)
postboy NOUN a postboy was the driver of a horse-drawn carriage He spoke to a postboy who was dozing under the gateway (Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens)
post-chaise NOUN a fast carriage for two or four passengers Looking round, he saw that it was a post-chaise, driven at great speed (Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens)
postern NOUN a small gate usually at the back of a building The little servant happening to be entering the fortress with two hot rolls, I passed through the postern and crossed the drawbridge, in her company (Great Expectations by Charles Dickens)
pottle NOUN a pottle was a small basket He had a paper-bag under each arm and a pottle of strawberries in one hand … (Great Expectations by Charles Dickens)
pounce NOUN pounce is a fine powder used to prevent ink spreading on untreated paper in that grim atmosphere of pounce and parchment, red-tape, dusty wafers, ink-jars, brief and draft paper, law reports, writs, declarations,
and bills of costs (David Copperfield by Charles Dickens)
pox NOUN pox means sexually transmitted diseases like syphilis how the pox in all its consequences and denominations (Gulliver’s Travels by Jonathan Swift)
prelibation NOUN prelibation means a foretaste of or an example of something to come A prelibation to the mower’s scythe (The Prelude by William Wordsworth)
prentice NOUN an apprentice and Joe, sitting on an old gun, had told me that when I was ’prentice to him regularly bound, we would have such Larks there! (Great Expectations by Charles Dickens)
presently ADV immediately I presently knew what they meant (Gulliver’s Travels by Jonathan Swift)
pumpion NOUN pumpkin for it was almost as large as a small pumpion (Gulliver’s Travels by Jonathan Swift)
punctual ADJ kept in one place was not a punctual presence, but a spirit (The Prelude by William Wordsworth)
quadrille NOUN a quadrille is a dance invented in France which is usually performed by four couples However, Mr Swiveller had Miss Sophy’s hand for the first quadrille (country-dances being low, were utterly proscribed) (The Old Curiosity Shop by Charles Dickens) NOUN quadrille was a card game for four people to make up her pool of quadrille in the evening (Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen)
quality NOUN gentry or upper-class people if you are with the quality (The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain)
quick parts PHRASE quick-witted Mr Bennet was so odd a mixture of quick parts (Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen)
quid NOUN a quid is something chewed or kept in the mouth, like a piece of tobacco rolling his quid (Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson)
quit VERB quit means to avenge or to make even But Faustus’s death shall quit my infamy (Doctor Faustus 4.3 by Christopher Marlowe)
rags NOUN divisions Nor hours, days, months, which are the rags of time (The Sun Rising by John Donne)
raiment NOUN raiment means clothing the mountain shook off turf and flower, had only heath for raiment and crag for gem (Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë)
rain cats and dogs PHRASE an expression meaning rain heavily. The origin of the expression is unclear But it’ll perhaps rain cats and dogs to-morrow (Silas Marner by George Eliot)
raised Cain PHRASE raised Cain means caused a lot of trouble. Cain is a character in the Bible who killed his brother Abel and every time he got drunk he raised Cain around town (The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain)
rambling ADJ rambling means confused and not very clear my head began to be filled very early with rambling thoughts (Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe)
raree-show NOUN a raree-show is an old term for a peep-show or a fairground entertainment A raree-show is here, with children gathered round (The Prelude by William Wordsworth)
recusants NOUN people who resisted authority hardy recusants (The Prelude by William Wordsworth)
redounding VERB eddying. An eddy is a movement in water or air which goes round and round instead of flowing in one direction mists and steam-like fogs redounding everywhere (The Prelude by William Wordsworth)
redundant ADJ here redundant means overflowing but Wordsworth also uses it to mean excessively large or too big A tempest, a redundant energy (The Prelude by William Wordsworth)
reflex NOUN reflex is a shortened version of reflexion, which is an alternative spelling of reflection To cut across the reflex of a star (The Prelude by William Wordsworth)
Reformatory NOUN a prison for young offenders/criminals Even when I was taken to have a new suit of clothes, the tailor had orders to make them like a kind of Reformatory, and on no account to let me have the free use of my limbs. (Great Expectations by Charles Dickens)
remorse NOUN pity or compassion by that remorse (On His Mistress by John Donne)
render VERB in this context render means give. and Sarah could render no reason that would be sanctioned by the feeling of the community. (Silas Marner by George Eliot)
repeater NOUN a repeater was a watch that chimed the last hour when a button was pressed–as a result it was useful in the dark And his watch is a gold repeater, and worth a hundred pound if it’s worth a penny. (Great Expectations by Charles Dickens)
repugnance NOUN repugnance means a strong dislike of something or someone overcoming a strong repugnance (Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson)
reverence NOUN reverence means bow. When you bow to someone, you briefly bend your body towards them as a formal way of showing them respect made my reverence (Gulliver’s Travels by Jonathan Swift)
reverie NOUN a reverie is a daydream I can guess the subject of your reverie (Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen)
revival NOUN a religious meeting held in public well I’d ben a-running’ a little temperance revival thar’ bout a week (The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain)
revolt VERB revolt means turn back or stop your present course of action and go back to what you were doing before Revolt, or I’ll in piecemeal tear thy flesh (Doctor Faustus 5.1 by Christopher Marlowe)
rheumatics/rheumatism NOUN rheumatics [rheumatism] is an illness that makes your joints or muscles stiff and painful a new cure for the rheumatics (Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson)
riddance NOUN riddance is usually used in the form good riddance which you say when you are pleased that something has gone or been left behind I’d better go into the house, and die and be a riddance (David Copperfield by Charles Dickens)
rimy ADJ rimy is an adjective which means covered in ice or frost It was a rimy morning, and very damp (Great Expectations by Charles Dickens)
riper ADJ riper means more mature or older At riper years to Wittenberg he went (Doctor Faustus chorus by Christopher Marlowe)
rubber NOUN a set of games in whist or backgammon her father was sure of his rubber (Emma by Jane Austen)
ruffian NOUN a ruffian is a person who behaves violently and when the ruffian had told him (Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson)
sadness NOUN sadness is an old term meaning seriousness But I prithee tell me, in good sadness (Doctor Faustus 2.2 by Christopher Marlowe)
sailed before the mast PHRASE this phrase meant someone who did not look like a sailor he had none of the appearance of a man that sailed before the mast (Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson)
scabbard NOUN a scabbard is the covering for a sword or dagger Girded round its middle was an antique scabbard; but no sword was in it, and the ancient sheath was eaten up with rust (A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens)
schooners NOUN A schooner is a fast, medium-sized sailing ship if schooners, islands, and maroons (Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson)
science NOUN learning or knowledge Even Science, too, at hand (The Prelude by William Wordsworth)
scrouge VERB to scrouge means to squeeze or to crowd to scrouge in and get a sight (The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain)
scrutore NOUN a scrutore, or escritoire, was a writing table set me gently on my feet upon the scrutore (Gulliver’s Travels by Jonathan Swift)
scutcheon/escutcheon NOUN an escutcheon is a shield with a coat of arms, or the symbols of a family name, engraved on it On the scutcheon we’ll have a bend (The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain)
sea-dog PHRASE sea-dog is a slang term for an experienced sailor or pirate a “true sea-dog”, and a “real old salt,” (Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson)
see the lions PHRASE to see the lions was to go and see the sights of London. Originally the phrase referred to the menagerie in the Tower of London and later in Regent’s Park We will go and see the lions for an hour or two–it’s something to have a fresh fellow like you to show them to, Copperfield (David Copperfield by Charles Dickens)
self-conceit NOUN self-conceit is an old term which means having too high an opinion of oneself, or deceiving yourself Till swollen with cunning, of a self-conceit (Doctor Faustus chorus by Christopher Marlowe)
seneschal NOUN a steward where a grey-headed seneschal sings a f
unny chorus with a funnier body of vassals (Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens)
sensible ADJ if you were sensible of something you are aware or conscious of something If my children are silly I must hope to be always sensible of it (Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen)
sessions NOUN court cases were heard at specific times of the year called sessions He lay in prison very ill, during the whole interval between his committal for trial, and the coming round of the Sessions. (Great Expectations by Charles Dickens)
shabby ADJ shabby places look old and in bad condition a little bit of a shabby village named Pikesville (The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain)
shay-cart NOUN a shay-cart was a small cart drawn by one horse “I were at the Bargemen t’other night, Pip;” whenever he subsided into affection, he called me Pip, and whenever he relapsed into politeness he called me Sir; “when there come up in his shay-cart Pumblechook.” (Great Expectations by Charles Dickens)
shilling NOUN a shilling is an old unit of currency. There were twenty shillings in every British pound “Ten shillings too much,” said the gentleman in the white waistcoat. (Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens)
shines NOUN tricks or games well, it would make a cow laugh to see the shines that old idiot cut (The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain)
shirking VERB shirking means not doing what you are meant to be doing, or evading your duties some of you shirking lubbers (Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson)
shiver my timbers PHRASE shiver my timbers is an expression which was used by sailors and pirates to express surprise why, shiver my timbers, if I hadn’t forgotten my score! (Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson)
shoe-roses NOUN shoe-roses were roses made from ribbons which were stuck on to shoes as decoration the very shoe-roses for Netherfield were got by proxy (Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen)
singular ADJ singular means very great and remarkable or strange “Singular dream,” he says (The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain)
sire NOUN sire is an old word which means lord or master or elder She also defied her sire (Little Women by Louisa May Alcott)