The Prisoner of Zenda (41 page)

highwaymen
NOUN
highwaymen were people who stopped travellers and robbed them
We are highwaymen
(
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
by Mark Twain)

hinds
NOUN
hinds means farm hands, or people who work on a farm
He called his hinds about him
(
Gulliver's Travels
by Jonathan Swift)

histrionic
ADJ
if you refer to someone's behaviour as histrionic, you are being critical of it because it is dramatic and exaggerated
But the histrionic muse is the darling
(
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
by Mark Twain)

hogs
NOUN
hogs is another word for pigs
Tom called the hogs ‘ingots'
(
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
by Mark Twain)

horrors
NOUN
the horrors are a fit, called delirium tremens, which is caused by drinking too much alcohol
I'll have the horrors
(
Treasure Island
by Robert Louis Stevenson)

huffy
ADJ
huffy means to be obviously annoyed or offended about something
They will feel that more than angry speeches or huffy actions
(
Little Women
by Louisa May Alcott)

hulks
NOUN
hulks were prison-ships
The miserable companion of thieves and ruffians, the fallen outcast of low haunts, the associate of the scourings of the jails and hulks
(
Oliver Twist
by Charles Dickens)

humbug
NOUN
humbug means nonsense or rubbish
“
Bah,” said Scrooge. “Humbug!”
(
A Christmas Carol
by Charles Dickens)

humours
NOUN
it was believed that there were four fluids in the body called humours which decided the temperament of a person depending on how much of each fluid was present
other peccant humours
(
Gulliver's Travels
by Jonathan Swift)

husbandry
NOUN
husbandry is farming animals
bad husbandry were plentifully anointing their wheels
(
Silas Marner
by George Eliot)

huswife
NOUN
a huswife was a small sewing kit
but I had put my huswife on it
(
Emma
by Jane Austen)

ideal
ADJ
ideal in this context means imaginary
I discovered the yell was not ideal
(
Wuthering Heights
by Emily Brontë)