The Thirty-Nine Steps (53 page)

spondulicks
NOUN
spondulicks is a slang word which means money
not for all his spondulicks and as much more on top of it
(
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
by Mark Twain)

stalled of
VERB
to be stalled of something is to be bored with it
I’m stalled of doing naught
(
Wuthering Heights
by Emily Brontë)

stanchion
NOUN
a stanchion is a pole or bar that stands upright and is used as a buidling support
and slid down a stanchion
(
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
by Mark Twain)

stang
NOUN
stang is another word for pole which was an old measurement
These fields were intermingled with woods of half a stang
(
Gulliver’s Travels
by Jonathan Swift)

starlings
NOUN
a starling is a wall built around the pillars that support a bridge to protect the
pillars
There were states of the tide when, having been down the river, I could not get back
through the eddy-chafed arches and starlings of old London Bridge
(
Great Expectations
by Charles Dickens)

startings
NOUN
twitching or night-time movements of the body
with midnight’s startings
(
On His Mistress
by John Donne)

stomacher
NOUN
a panel at the front of a dress
but send her aunt the pattern of a stomacher
(
Emma
by Jane Austen)

stoop
VERB
swoop
Once a kite hovering over the garden made a swoop at me
(
Gulliver’s Travels
by Jonathan Swift)

succedaneum
NOUN
a succedaneum is a substitute
But as a succedaneum
(
The Prelude
by William Wordsworth)

suet
NOUN
a hard animal fat used in cooking
and your jaws are too weak For anything tougher than suet
(
Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland
by Lewis Carroll)

sultry
ADJ
sultry weather is hot and damp. Here sultry means unpleasant or risky
for it was getting pretty sultry for us
(
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
by Mark Twain)

summerset
NOUN
summerset is an old spelling of somersault. If someone does a somersault, they turn
over completely in the air
I have seen him do the summerset
(
Gulliver’s Travels
by Jonathan Swift)