The Prisoner of Zenda (53 page)

quick parts
PHRASE
quick-witted
Mr Bennet was so odd a mixture of quick parts
(
Pride and Prejudice
by Jane Austen)

quid
NOUN
a quid is something chewed or kept in the mouth, like a piece of tobacco
rolling his quid
(
Treasure Island
by Robert Louis Stevenson)

quit
VERB
quit means to avenge or to make even
But Faustus's death shall quit my infamy
(
Doctor Faustus 4.3
by Christopher Marlowe)

rags
NOUN
divisions
Nor hours, days, months, which are the rags of time
(
The Sun Rising
by John Donne)

raiment
NOUN
raiment means clothing
the mountain shook off turf and flower, had only heath for raiment and crag for gem
(
Jane Eyre
by Charlotte Brontë)

rain cats and dogs
PHRASE
an expression meaning rain heavily. The origin of the expression is unclear
But it'll perhaps rain cats and dogs to-morrow
(
Silas Marner
by George Eliot)

raised Cain
PHRASE
raised Cain means caused a lot of trouble. Cain is a character in the Bible who killed his brother Abel
and every time he got drunk he raised Cain around town
(
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
by Mark Twain)

rambling
ADJ
rambling means confused and not very clear
my head began to be filled very early with rambling thoughts
(
Robinson Crusoe
by Daniel Defoe)

raree-show
NOUN
a raree-show is an old term for a peep-show or a fairground entertainment
A raree-show is here, with children gathered round
(
The Prelude
by William Wordsworth)

recusants
NOUN
people who resisted authority
hardy recusants
(
The Prelude
by William Wordsworth)

redounding
VERB
eddying. An eddy is a movement in water or air which goes round and round instead of flowing in one direction
mists and steam-like fogs redounding everywhere
(
The Prelude
by William Wordsworth)

redundant
ADJ
here redundant means overflowing but Wordsworth also uses it to mean excessively large or too big
A tempest, a redundant energy
(
The Prelude
by William Wordsworth)