The Thirty-Nine Steps (55 page)

thick with, be
PHRASE
if you are ‘thick with someone’ you are very close, sharing secrets – it is often
used to describe people who are planning something secret
Hasn’t he been thick with Mr Heathcliff lately?
(
Wuthering Heights
by Emily Brontë)

thimble
NOUN
a thimble is a small cover used to protect the finger while sewing
The paper had been sealed in several places by a thimble
(
Treasure Island
by Robert Louis Stevenson)

thirtover
ADJ
thirtover is an old word which means obstinate or that someone is very determined
to do want they want and can not be persuaded to do something in another way
I have been living on in a thirtover, lackadaisical way
(
Tess of the D’Urbervilles
by Thomas Hardy)

timbrel
NOUN
timbrel is a tambourine
What pipes and timbrels?
(
Ode on a Grecian Urn
by John Keats)

tin
NOUN
tin is slang for money/cash
Then the plain question is, an’t it a pity that this state of things should continue,
and how much better would it be for the old gentleman to hand over a reasonable amount
of tin, and make it all right and comfortable
(
The Old Curiosity Shop
by Charles Dickens)

tincture
NOUN
a tincture is a medicine made with alcohol and a small amount of a drug
with ink composed of a cephalic tincture
(
Gulliver’s Travels
by Jonathan Swift)

tithe
NOUN
a tithe is a tax paid to the church
and held farms which, speaking from a spiritual point of view, paid highly-desirable
tithes
(
Silas Marner
by George Eliot)

towardly
ADJ
a towardly child is dutiful or obedient
and a towardly child
(
Gulliver’s Travels
by Jonathan Swift)

toys
NOUN
trifles are things which are considered to have little importance, value, or significance
purchase my life from them bysome bracelets, glass rings, and other toys
(
Gulliver’s Travels
by Jonathan Swift)

tract
NOUN
a tract is a religious pamphlet or leaflet
and Joe Harper got a hymn-book and a tract
(
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
by Mark Twain)

train-oil
NOUN
train-oil is oil from whale blubber
The train-oil and gunpowder were shoved out of sight in a minute
(
Wuthering Heights
by Emily Brontë)

tribulation
NOUN
tribulation means the suffering or difficulty you experience in a particular situation
Amy was learning this distinction through much tribulation
(
Little Women
by Louisa May Alcott)