The Prisoner of Zenda (50 page)

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)