The Prisoner of Zenda (30 page)

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 Huckleberry Finn
by Mark Twain)