The Thirty-Nine Steps (49 page)

reverie
NOUN
a reverie is a day dream
I can guess the subject of your reverie
(
Pride and Prejudice
by Jane Austen)

revival
NOUN
a religious meeting held in public
well I’d ben a-running’ a little temperance revival thar’ bout a week
(
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
by Mark Twain)

revolt
VERB
revolt means turn back or stop your present course of action and go back to what
you were doing before
Revolt, or I’ll in piecemeal tear thy flesh
(
Doctor Faustus 5.1
by Christopher Marlowe)

rheumatics/rheumatism
NOUN
rheumatics [rheumatism] is an illness that makes your joints or muscles stiff and
painful
a new cure for the rheumatics
(
Treasure Island
by Robert Louis Stevenson)

riddance
NOUN
riddance is usually used in the form good riddance which you say when you are pleased
that something has gone or been left behind
I’d better go into the house, and die and be a riddance
(
David Copperfield
by Charles Dickens)

rimy
ADJ
rimy is an ADJective which means covered in ice or frost
It was a rimy morning, and very damp
(
Great Expectations
by Charles Dickens)

riper
ADJ
riper means more mature or older
At riper years to Wittenberg he went
(
Doctor Faustus chorus
by Christopher Marlowe)

rubber
NOUN
a set of games in whist or backgammon
her father was sure of his rubber
(
Emma
by Jane Austen)

ruffian
NOUN
a ruffian is a person who behaves violently
and when the ruffian had told him
(
Treasure Island
by Robert Louis Stevenson)

sadness
NOUN
sadness is an old term meaning seriousness
But I prithee tell me, in good sadness
(
Doctor Faustus 2.2
by Christopher Marlowe)

sailed before the mast
PHRASE
this phrase meant someone who did not look like a sailor
he had none of the appearance of a man that sailed before the mast
(
Treasure Island
by Robert Louis Stevenson)

scabbard
NOUN
a scabbard is the covering for a sword or dagger
Girded round its middle was an antique scabbard; but no sword was in it, and the ancient
sheath was eaten up with rust
(
A Christmas Carol
by Charles Dickens)