Little Women (Barnes & Noble Classics Series) (80 page)

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Authors: Louisa May Alcott

BOOK: Little Women (Barnes & Noble Classics Series)

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Magical potion.

Long locks of hair, fashionable for seventeenth- and eighteenth-century men.

Popular 1853 novel, by English writer Charlotte M. Yonge, about intrigue, self-sacrifice, and repentance in a scheme to disinherit the title character.

Reflection of the formal nineteenth-century manner of address: The eldest daughter is called by her surname, and the younger ones by their first names.

Dull brown or grayish cloth.

Very good; smart.

That is, the burnt width of fabric.

Primp, or careful grooming.

Formal men’s shoes with a low instep.

That is, Vevey; a beautiful district of Switzerland on Lake Geneva and a popular tourist resort.

Studying hard or frolicking.

City in southwestern Germany; site of the University of Heidelberg, one of the oldest European universities.

Rubber overshoes, such as galoshes.

Fast eastern European folk dance.

Medicinal herb.

Old man from the tale “Sinbad the Sailor” in The
Thousand and One Nights,
who climbs onto Sinbad’s shoulders and refuses to get down; Sinbad frees himself by getting the old man drunk.

Work hard.

That is, just officially presented to society, or “debuted.”

Reference to British political writer William Belsham’s
Essays, Philosophical, Historical, and Literary
(1789-1790).

Coal scuttle, a metal pail for carrying coal.

Reference to master Italian Renaissance painter Raphael Sanzio (1483-1520).

Extremely popular 1766 novel by English writer Oliver Goldsmith, about the trials of a reverend and his family after they lose their fortune.

That is, “Think of your mercies, children!” Chloe is the plantation cook and wife of the slave Uncle Tom in Harriet Beecher Stowe’s 1852 antislavery novel
Uncle Tom’s Cabin.

Woman’s loose-fitting dress or coat; also spelled “sacque” later in the novel.

Scottish author Sir Walter Scott’s popular 1819 novel of medieval romance; characters include Locksley (Robin Hood) and King Richard I.

Milky, gelatinous dessert.

Deeply upholstered armchairs.

Two references to
The Pilgrim’s Progress
(see endnote 1): Wicket Gate, which leads to the Celestial City, bears the words “Knock and it shall be opened unto you”; lions guard the Palace Beautiful, a place of rest for Christian.

That is,
lapsus linguae,
Latin for “slip of the tongue.”

Punish by striking on the hand with a flat piece of wood.

Disciplinarian schoolmaster from Charles Dickens’s novel
Dombey and Son
(1846-1848).

Puffed up proudly, with head high in an insolent manner.

Contemptuous term for paper money.

Not a recognized title; perhaps imagined for its fanciful sound.

Fredrika Bremer (1801-1865): Swedish domestic novelist; Sir Walter Scott ( 1771-1832): prolific, popular Scottish poet, novelist, historian, and inventor of the historical novel; Maria Edgeworth (1767-1849): Irish novelist who wrote chiefly of Irish life.

Hockey stick.

Sheer cotton fabric.

Dress up beyond their station.

Little bit (French).

Ruffle.

Charming, very pretty (French).

Reference to an Aesop’s fable in which a plain jackdaw dresses in peacock feathers and puts on airs, but is rejected by both jackdaws and peacocks.

Crisply curled.

Intricate couples’ dance composed of various styles.

Silence to the death (French).

Based on Dickens’s first novel,
Pickwick Papers
(1836-1837).

Pickwick’s Cockney-accented servant in
Pickwick Papers.

Pan filled with hot coals and used to warm a bed.

Birdhouse with several small entry holes for purple martins (a type of swallow).

Francis Bacon (1561-1626): English practical philosopher, court lawyer, chancellor, and author; John Milton (1608-1674): English religious and pastoral poet, political pamphleteer, and author of the epic poem
Paradise Lost.

Neckties, or neckbands.

In Dickens’s novel
Martin Chuzzlewit
(1843-1844), Sairey Gamp is a fat, selfish nurse who does more to ensure her own comfort than that of her patients.

Toiling.

Best-selling first novel (1850) by American writer Susan Warner (pseudonym Elizabeth Wetherell), about the tribulations of a young girl whose mother has died.

In the poem “Nothing to Wear,” by American lawyer and author William Allen Butler (1825-1902), Miss Flora McFlimsey of Madison Square is a young woman with many clothes but “nothing to wear.”

Boaz is the biblical husband of Ruth; Amy actually means “the patience of a Job,” another biblical figure who suffers yet remains faithful to God; Miss Malaprop, in Irish playwright Richard Sheridan’s 1775 comedy
The Rivals,
habitually misuses words.

Sodium bicarbonate, used to make dough rise.

Sooty.

Arranged with the nicest ones on top; reference to the hypocrisy of some church-men.

Important Greek philosopher (c.428-c.347 B.C.) who studied under Socrates, taught Aristotle, and founded the Athenian Academy for the study of philosophy.

Ridiculous figure.

Light boat.

Turned the oars to reduce air resistance.

Durable, slightly ribbed fabric of cotton or silk.

Meaning he had used his final resource; a trump card is held in reserve to win a round.

Popular Victorian card game in which players collect cards representing the works of various authors.

Lively British folk dance, often performed by sailors.

Navy warship.

Moved.

Directly.

The English nation personified; a typical Englishman.

Principal play (1800) of premier German Romantic dramatist Friedrich von Schiller, about Mary, Queen of Scots.

Rotten Row in Hyde Park, a bridle path that was the place to see and be seen in Victorian London.

In The
Pilgrim’s Progress
(see endnote 1), the mountain range on which Christian and Hopeful stop to rest; shepherds there give them a fleeting view of the Celestial City.

Fern frond.

To steep.

Shepherd king of ancient Israel, renowned for his musical skill; reputed author of many biblical psalms.

Dutch oven, a type of covered pot.

He kills Hamlet with a poisoned sword in Shakespeare’s play.

Light, cylindrical boxes for storing small items of clothing.

Desirable.

In Greek myth, a speedy hunter who promises to marry the suitor who can defeat her in a race.

Debut novel (1778) of English writer Fanny Burney, first published anonymously, which won her early fame.

Also the title of Alcott’s first published story (1852).

That is, slapped the clay.

Long towel with the ends sewn together that hangs on a rolling cylinder; also called a roller towel.

In
The Pilgrim’s Progress
(see endnote I), one of the guides leading Christian’s wife, Christiana, and children to the Celestial City.

Drag, or trail.

Old Scottish ballad, adapted by poet Robert Burns (1759-1796); “Land of the Leal” refers to heaven (leal means “faithful”).

My dear Mama (French).

Pranks.

Virginia river flowing into Chesapeake Bay; during the Civil War, much fighting took place in the vicinity of the Rappahannock, including the battles of Fredericks burg and Chancellorsville.

Medicine containing arsenic.

Camphor is an aromatic liniment and pain reliever.

Poisonous plant, also called deadly nightshade; extracts derived from the plant were used to treat a multitude of ailments, including sore throats.

Jewel.

Abbreviation of videlicet, meaning “namely” (from the Latin).

Vest.

Used for ironing clothes.

Beautiful young woman in Maria Edgeworth’s novel
Patronage
(1814), known for her discretion and wise judgment; she listens to her suitor’s declaration of love with great composure, then rejects his proposal because she feels too young to marry.

That is, high-spirited people; a pepper pot is a peppershaker.

In Dickins’s novel
Little Dorrit
(1857), the governess Mrs. General advises Amy Dorrit to practice pronouncing words such as these to maintain an aristocratic, slightly puckered set to her lips.

Reference to
Life of Samuel Johnson
(1791), a biography of the iconic English author and lexicographer (1709-1784), by Scottish lawyer and author James Boswell.

Rasselas, Prince of Abyssinia
(1759), a romance by Samuel Johnson.

Periodical (1750-1752) largely written by Samuel Johnson.

The devil.

Maiden Maiden (German).

Highest mountain of the French Alps.

Boiling.

In
The Pilgrim’s Progress
(see endnote 1), Christian’s companion for much of his journey.

That is, the pilgrims of
The Pilgrim’s Progress.

Parian ware was a popular style of unglazed ceramic statuary—in this case, of the mythological figure of Psyche, a princess loved by Cupid, the Roman god of love.

Character from Richard John Raymond’s play
The Toodles
(1831), who buys profusely at auctions.

Messenger of the Roman gods.

Set of shelves for knickknacks.

Sleeveless, apronlike dress that fastens at the back.

Lustrous Lustrous patterned fabric.

Loose, flowing jacket.

Mrs. Gummidge, a “generally disconsolate” widow in Charles Dickens’s novel
David Copperfield
(1849-1850), throws a bucket of water at a ship’s cook when he proposes marriage to her.

Fabric with a wavy, shimmering pattern.

Oath combining the names of the chief Roman god and the biblical son of Lot.

Legendary hero of Greek myth, famous for his strength and labors.

Hebe is the Greek goddess of youth and cupbearer to the gods.

That is, sashayed in a sliding dance step.

Burning designs on wood with a heated implement.

Greek god of wine.

Tall flowering herb.

The point of sight is the line of sight an artist chooses when drawing in perspective; it is sometimes determined by squinting along the length of a string.

Seminal Italian Renaissance sculptor, painter, architect, and poet (1475-1564).

That is, a queenly air, referring to the powerful Austrian queen of Hungary and Bohemia (1717-1780) and mother of Marie-Antoinette (queen of Louis XVI of France).

Coach with benches for sightseeing.

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