The Thirty-Nine Steps (22 page)

bullyragging
VERB
bullyragging is an old word which means bullying. To bullyrag someone is to threaten
or force someone to do something they don’t want to do
and a lot of loafers bullyragging him for sport
(
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
by Mark Twain)

but
PREP
except for (this)
but this, all pleasures fancies be
(
The Good-Morrow
by John Donne)

by hand
PHRASE
by hand was a common expression of the time meaning that baby had been fed either
using a spoon or a bottle rather than by breast-feeding
My sister, Mrs. Joe Gargery, was more than twenty years older than I, and had established
a great reputation with herself
…
because she had bought me up ‘by hand’
(
Great Expectations
by Charles Dickens)

bye-spots
NOUN
bye-spots are lonely places
and bye-spots of tales rich with indigenous produce
(
The Prelude
by William Wordsworth)

calico
NOUN
calico is plain white fabric made from cotton
There was two old dirty calico dresses
(
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
by Mark Twain)

camp-fever
NOUN
camp-fever was another word for the disease typhus
during a severe camp-fever
(
Emma
by Jane Austen)

cant
NOUN
cant is insincere or empty talk
“Man,” said the Ghost, “if man you be in heart, not adamant, forbear that wicked cant
until you have discovered What the surplus is, and Where it is.”
(
A Christmas Carol
by Charles Dickens)

canty
ADJ
canty means lively, full of life
My mother lived til eighty, a canty dame to the last
(
Wuthering Heights
by Emily Brontë)

canvas
VERB
to canvas is to discuss
We think so very differently on this point Mr Knightley, that there can be no use
in canvassing it
(
Emma
by Jane Austen)

capital
ADJ
capital means excellent or extremely good
for it’s capital, so shady, light, and big
(
Little Women
by Louisa May Alcott)

capstan
NOUN
a capstan is a device used on a ship to lift sails and anchors
capstans going, ships going out to sea, and unintelligible sea creatures
roaring curses over the bulwarks at respondent lightermen
(
Great Expectations
by Charles Dickens)

case-bottle
NOUN
a square bottle designed to fit with others into a case
The spirit being set before him in a huge case-bottle, which had originally come out
of some ship’s locker
(
The Old Curiosity Shop
by Charles Dickens)