The Thirty-Nine Steps Read online

  lighterman NOUN a lighterman is another word for sailor in and out, hammers going in ship-builders’ yards, saws going at timber, clashing engines going at things unknown, pumps going in leaky ships, capstans going, ships going out to sea, and unintelligible sea creatures roaring curses over the bulwarks at respondent lightermen (Great Expectations by Charles Dickens)

  livery NOUN servants often wore a uniform known as a livery suddenly a footman in livery came running out of the wood (Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll)

  livid ADJ livid means pale or ash coloured. Livid also means very angry a dirty, livid white (Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson)

  lottery-tickets NOUN a popular card game and Mrs. Philips protested that they would have a nice comfortable noisy game of lottery tickets (Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen)

  lower and upper world PHRASE the earth and the heavens are the lower and upper worlds the changes in the lower and upper world (Gulliver’s Travels by Jonathan Swift)

  lustres NOUN lustres are chandeliers. A chandelier is a large, decorative frame which holds light bulbs or candles and hangs from the ceiling the lustres, lights, the carving and the guilding (The Prelude by William Wordsworth)

  lynched VERB killed without a criminal trial by a crowd of people He’ll never know how nigh he come to getting lynched (The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain)

  malingering VERB if someone is malingering they are pretending to be ill to avoid working And you stand there malingering (Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson)

  managing PHRASE treating with consideration to think the honour of my own kind not worth managing (Gulliver’s Travels by Jonathan Swift)

  manhood PHRASE manhood means human nature concerning the nature of manhood (Gulliver’s Travels by Jonathan Swift)

  man-trap NOUN a man-trap is a set of steel jaws that snap shut when trodden on and trap a person’s leg “Don’t go to him,” I called out of the window, “he’s an assassin! A man-trap!” (Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens)

  maps NOUN charts of the night sky Let maps to others, worlds on worlds have shown (The Good-Morrow by John Donne)

  mark VERB look at or notice Mark but this flea, and mark in this (The Flea by John Donne)

  maroons NOUN A maroon is someone who has been left in a place which it is difficult for them to escape from, like a small island if schooners, islands, and maroons (Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson)

  mast NOUN here mast means the fruit of forest trees a quantity of acorns, dates, chestnuts, and other mast (Gulliver’s Travels by Jonathan Swift)

  mate VERB defeat Where Mars did mate the warlike Carthigens (Doctor Faustus Chorus by Christopher Marlowe)

  mealy ADJ Mealy when used to describe a face meant palid, pale or colourless I only know two sorts of boys. Mealy boys, and beef-faced boys (Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens)

  middling ADJ fairly or moderately she worked me middling hard for about an hour (The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain)

  mill NOUN a mill, or treadmill, was a device for hard labour or punishment in prison Was you never on the mill? (Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens)

  milliner’s shop NOUN a milliner’s sold fabrics, clothing, lace and accessories; as time went on they specialized more and more in hats to pay their duty to their aunt and to a milliner’s shop just over the way (Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen)

  minching un’ munching PHRASE how people in the north of England used to describe the way people from the south speak Minching un’ munching! (Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë)

  mine NOUN gold Whether both th’Indias of spice and mine (The Sun Rising by John Donne)

  mire NOUN mud Tis my fate to be always ground into the mire under the iron heel of oppression (The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain)

  miscellany NOUN a miscellany is a collection of many different kinds of things under that, the miscellany began (Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson)

  mistarshers NOUN mistarshers means moustache, which is the hair that grows on a man’s upper lip when he put his hand up to his mistarshers (Tess of the D’Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy)

  morrow NOUN here good-morrow means tomorrow and a new and better life And now good-morrow to our waking souls (The Good-Morrow by John Donne)

  mortification NOUN mortification is an old word for gangrene which is when part of the body decays or ‘dies’ because of disease Yes, it was a mortification – that was it (The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain)

  mought PARTICIPLE mought is an old spelling of might what you mought call me? You mought call me captain (Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson)

  move VERB move me not means do not make me angry Move me not, Faustus (Doctor Faustus 2.1 by Christopher Marlowe)

  muffin-cap NOUN a muffin cap is a flat cap made from wool the old one, remained stationary in the muffin-cap and leathers (Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens)

  mulatter NOUN a mulatter was another word for mulatto, which is a person with parents who are from different races a mulatter, most as white as a white man (The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain)

  mummery NOUN mummery is an old word that meant meaningless (or pretentious) ceremony When they were all gone, and when Trabb and his men – but not his boy: I looked for him – had crammed their mummery into bags, and were gone too, the house felt wholesomer. (Great Expectations by Charles Dickens)

  nap NOUN the nap is the woolly surface on a new item of clothing. Here the surface has been worn away so it looks bare like an old hat with the nap rubbed off (The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain)

  natural NOUN a natural is a person born with learning difficulties though he had been left to his particular care by their deceased father, who thought him almost a natural. (David Copperfield by Charles Dickens) ADJ natural meant illegitimate Harriet Smith was the natural daughter of somebody (Emma by Jane Austen)

  navigator NOUN a navigator was originally someone employed to dig canals. It is the origin of the word ‘navvy’ meaning a labourer She ascertained from me in a few words what it was all about, comforted Dora, and gradually convinced her that I was not a labourer – from my manner of stating the case I believe Dora concluded that I was a navigator, and went balancing myself up and down a plank all day with a wheelbarrow – and so brought us together in peace. (David Copperfield by Charles Dickens)

  necromancy NOUN necromancy means a kind of magic where the magician speaks to spirits or ghosts to find out what will happen in the future He surfeits upon cursed necromancy (Doctor Faustus chorus by Christopher Marlowe)

  negus NOUN a negus is a hot drink made from sweetened wine and water He sat placidly perusing the newspaper, with his little head on one side, and a glass of warm sherry negus at his elbow. (David Copperfield by Charles Dickens)

  nice ADJ discriminating. Able to make good judgements or choices consequently a claim to be nice (Emma by Jane Austen)

  nigh ADV nigh means near He’ll never know how nigh he come to getting lynched (The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain)

  nimbleness NOUN nimbleness means being able to move very quickly or skillfully and with incredible accuracy and nimbleness (Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson)

  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 ADJ 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 PH
RASE 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 ADJ 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 ADV 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)