The Thirty-Nine Steps (43 page)

or ere
PHRASE
before
or ere the Hall was built
(
The Prelude
by William Wordsworth)

ostler
NOUN
one who looks after horses at an inn
The bill paid, and the waiter remembered, and the ostler not forgotten, and the chambermaid
taken into consideration
(
Great Expectations
by Charles Dickens)

ostry
NOUN
an ostry is an old word for a pub or hotel
lest I send you into the ostry with a vengeance
(
Doctor Faustus 2.2
by Christopher Marlowe)

outrunning the constable
PHRASE
outrunning the constable meant spending more than you earn
but I shall by this means be able to check your bills and to pull you up if I find
you outrunning the constable
. (
Great Expectations
by Charles Dickens)

over
ADJ
across
It is in length six yards, and in the thickest part at least three yards over
(
Gulliver’s Travels
by Jonathan Swift)

over the broomstick
PHRASE
this is a phrase meaning ‘getting married without a formal ceremony’
They both led tramping lives, and this woman in Gerrard-street here, had been married
very young, over the broomstick
(
as we say), to a tramping man, and was a perfect fury in point of jealousy
. (
Great Expectations
by Charles Dickens)

own
VERB
own means to admit or to acknowledge
It’s my old girl that advises. She has the head. But I never own to it before her.
Discipline must be maintained
(
Bleak House
by Charles Dickens)

page
NOUN
here page means a boy employed to run errands
not my feigned page
(
On His Mistress
by John Donne)

paid pretty dear
PHRASE
paid pretty dear means paid a high price or suffered quite a lot
I paid pretty dear for my monthly fourpenny piece
(
Treasure Island
by Robert Louis Stevenson)

pannikins
NOUN
pannikins were small tin cups
of lifting light glasses and cups to his lips, as if they were clumsy pannikins
(
Great Expectations
by Charles Dickens)

pards
NOUN
pards are leopards
Not charioted by Bacchus and his pards
(
Ode on a Nightingale
by John Keats)

parlour boarder
NOUN
a pupil who lived with the family
and somebody had lately raised her from the condition of scholar to parlour boarder
(
Emma
by Jane Austen)