Sherlock Holmes Murder Most Foul (53 page)

[32]
’old yer ’orses = wait a moment

[33]
Ale = dark coloured beer

[34]
Be no lead in ’is pencil t’night = unable to achieve an erection

[35]
A knee-trembler = sexual intercourse in a public place, standing

[36]
Tanner = six pennies

[37]
Four pence = four pennies

[38]
Tu’pence = two pennies

[39]
Sling yer hook = be on your way

[40]
Crown Jewels = jewellery worn by Her Majesty Queen Victoria on state occasions and housed in the Tower of London

[41]
Innit? = isn’t

[42]
John Thomas = penis

[43]
Black ’Ole o’ Calcutta = the guard room in Fort William, Calcutta, India, where British prisoners were herded together after the capture of the fort in 1756

[44]
Copper = police constable

[45]
Swing = hanged for murder

[46]
Wot’s yer game, then? = suspicious of someone

[47]
Gawd! = God!

[48]
Rotten kipper = rancid herring fish

[49]
Tot o’ gin = small amount of a clear alchoholic drink

[50]
Penny-dreadful = cheap, lurid comic

[51]
Continent = Europe

[52]
Parisian brothel = Paris bordello

[53]
Beeton’s Christmas Annual = book containing fictional stories

[54]
Old Nichol gang = Whitechapel gang of men who extort money from prostitutes

[55]
Nipper = child

[56]
Ol’ pipes = lungs

[57]
Dozen bags in all = 12 bags

[58]
Shillin’ = 12 pennies

[59]
Bleedin’ peach = extremely charitable person

[60]
Chaise longue = reclinging sofa with a backrest at only one end

[61]
6, River Terrace = situated along the Old Woolwich Road, East Greenwich. A district in south-east London on the south bank of the River Thames

[62]
Wagner, Wilhelm = German composer

[63]
Mendlessohn’s Lieder = Felix Mendlessohn was a German composer, whose works included Lieder ohne worte (song without words)

[64]
Richard III = King of England from 1483 until his death two years later at the Battle of Bosworth Field

[65]
Union Jack = Union Flag of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, which is comprised of the crosses of St Andrew, St Patrick and St George

[66]
Colour Sergeant = non-commissioned officer who is responsible for the safekeeping of the 'Colours' of a regiment during battle

[67]
Hobnailed boots = laced ankle boots with hobnails protruding from leather soles

[68]
Atlantic = North Atlantic Ocean

[69]
Fleet Street = located in the City of London, where the majority of the national newspapers of the country have their offices.

[70]
Tower = Tower of London

[71]
Wellington, Duke of, Arthur Wellesley = commanded the allied forces which defeated the French army of Napoleon Bonaparte at the Battle of Waterloo in 1815

[72]
Ring a bell, does it? = asked to jolt a person’s memory

[73]
Kingston-upon-Thames = ten miles south-west of London

[74]
’Ung, drawn an’ quartered = hanged almost to the point of death and whilst barely alived, disembowelled and dismembered

[75]
Cocked it up, didn’t I? = ruin something by being incompetent or inefficient

[76]
Chopin, Frederic = Polish composer

[77]
Adelphi = theatre

Chapter Three: Mr Holmes Investigates

[78]
Cor Blimey = expressing surprise

[79]
Adam an’ Eve = believe

[80]
Shiner = black eye

[81]
Swiped = stole

[82]
Bun Penny = issued in 1860, this coin depicts the young face of Queen Victoria

[83]
Ulster overcoat = man’s overcoat with half cape covering the sleeves

[84]
Fat lot o’ good = not helpful or useful

[85]
Yid = offensive for Jew

[86]
Rats from the ’old = implying that some human beings are no better than vermin

[87]
Syphilis = chronic bacterial disease which attacks the central nervous system of the human body, eventually causing madness

[88]
Oh, my gawd = Oh, my God

[89]
Carmen = drivers of horse-drawn vehicles

[90]
Cape = half cape worn by a police constable, covering the shoulders and the arms

[91]
Hand-cart = two wheeled ambulance, pushed by hand

[92]
Billycock hat = toughened felt bowler

[93]
Costermonger’s barrow = two wheeled hand barrow from which fruit and vegetables are sold in the street, by men known as costermongers

[94]
Mother Nature = controlling force which affects humans and the world

[95]
Clairvoyant = ability to perceive events beyond the normal realm of sensory contact

[96]
Wicket door = small acces door built into a larger gate

[97]
Butchers = look

[98]
Harley Street = renowned for its London medical practitioners

[99]
Stitch you lip = shut up

[100]
Mite = small child

[101]
Cat’s got yer bleedin’ tongue, ain’t it = put to a person who is oddly silent, or had been rendered speechless momentarily

[102]
Entomologist = biological specialist, knowledgeable about insects

[103]
Fleas = wingless insects which feed on the blood of mammals and birds

Chapter 4: Unfortunates

[104]
Scrounger = persistently borrows food or money from people

[105]
Tomfoolery = foolish or silly behaviour

[106]
Graft = work

[107]
Charwomen = office or house cleaners

[108]
Consumption = pulmonary tuberculosis

[109]
Bronchitis = infection of the bronchial mucous membrane which causes severe coughing

[110]
Bruiser = aggressive man spoiling for a fight

[111]
Tan yer ’ide = beat a person repeatedly as a punishment

[112]
Blokes = men

[113]
Dose o’ the pox = bout of syphilis

[114]
Ol’ Father Thames – River Thames

[115]
Cat’s meat = portions of horse meat sold as food for pet cats

[116]
Blimey = used to express surprise or alarm

[117]
Summut = something

[118]
Mother o’ Mercy = predominantly an Irish exclamation of alarm

[119]
Blockhead = stupid

[120]
Guts = courage, toughness of character

[121]
Cardiff = capital of Wales

[122]
Knightsbridge = affluent west London district

[123]
Stepney = neighbourhood north of Spitalfields

[124]
Billingsgate Market = wholesale fish market in the City of London

[125]
Half-crown = 2 shillings 6 pennies

[126]
Ears firmly t’ the ground = alert as to what people may say or do

[127]
Whiter than white = faultless

[128]
Butcher = disembowel

[129]
Innards = entrails

[130]
Carbolic soap = disinfectant soap

[131]
Trap = mouth

[132]
Old woman = reference to a permanent female companion or wife

[133]
Bloke = man

[134]
Black an’ blue = badly beaten and bruised

[135]
Shakin’ like a bleedin’ leaf = petrified

[136]
Nark = inform on a person or persons to the police

Chapter 5: Femme Fatale

[137]
 

[138]
Earl of Rosebury, Archibald Philip Primrose = former Foreign Secretary

[139]
Great Fire of London = at the beginning of September 1666, an inferno, which had begun as a small fire in a bakery in Pudding Lane, raged for three days destroying most of the city

[140]
House = House of Commons

[141]
Saint John = John the Baptist

[142]
Sweet Jesus = predominantly Irish exclamation

[143]
Patch = neighbourhood territory

[144]
Ha’pennies = ½ pennies

[145]
Ol’ Lady o’ Threadneedle Street = Bank of England, Threadneedle Street, City of London

[146]
Sweatshop = where manual workers are employed at very low wages for long hours under poor conditions

[147]
Skilly = thin broth made from oatmeal, water and flavoured with meat

[148]
Young ’un = baby

[149]
Wring its neck = throttle

[150]
Windsor = some 20 miles from London and dominated by Windsor Castle

[151]
Whale o’ a time = enjoying oneself very much

[152]
Bleedin’ rich = indignation, scornful disbelief

[153]
Done fer = exhausted

[154]
Bareback = sitting astride the back of a naked woman and slapping her buttocks whilst she pretends to be a horse

[155]
Epsom = 18 miles from London and famously known for its racecourse

[156]
Pint = drinking glass which holds one eighth of a gallon of beer

[157]
Stand me a pint = buy me a pint

[158]
Pull the other leg, its got bells on = expressing disbelief

[159]
Splitting hairs = uttered by one person to another who is thought to be quibbling

[160]
Over my dead body = under no circumstances

[161]
Pop Goes the Weasel = implies a task will be done quickly

[162]
Professor Faulds, Henry = Scottish physician noted for his scientific study of fingerprinting

[163]
Buffoon = idiot

[164]
Leave no stone unturned = try every possible course of action

[165]
Beck and call = ready to comply with any wish or command

Chapter 6: The Mark of M

[166]
Takin’ the bleedin’ piss = abusing the goodwill of a person

[167]
Tick = credit

[168]
Rancid = smelling or tasting unpleasant

[169]
A slip of the tongue = unintentional remark

[170]
You’ve lost me = said when a person is bemused

[171]
Linsey-woolsey = strong coarse fabric

[172]
Gusset boots = ankle footwear with elasticated sides

[173]
Dark Annie = nickname for Annie Chapman

[174]
Nook an’ ctranny = Look everywhere

[175]
Sixes and sevens = befuddled, confused

[176]
Swine = awful person

[177]
Comeuppance = well deserved punishment

[178]
Skint = no money

[179]
Scratch me back = ask for or do a favour

[180]
Dregs = insignificant, worthless

[181]
An’ I don’t work the streets anymore = refers to a prostitute who openly plies her trade in the street

[182]
A slice of me on the side = sexual payment

[183]
Pawnbroker = lends money at interest on an item left behind as security

[184]
Sweet Mother o’ Mary = Irish exclamation of anguish

[185]
Tickled = amused

[186]
Ta = thank you

[187]
Mum’s the word = not a word of this to anyone

Chapter 7: Dear Boss

[188]
Geneva = second largest city in Switzerland

[189]
Cobwebs of the mind = wearisome thoughts