Revenger (57 page)

cousin, cozen, cozenage, cozener:
to dupe or cheat

cresset:
iron basket (usually on top of a pole) in which pitch or oil is burned for light

crossbiter, crossbiting:
swindler, swindling

culverin:
long-range cannon with bore of about five inches, firing shot of seventeen to twenty pounds

cunning man:
a sort of local detective; someone possessing keen intelligence or magical knowledge

daub:
mud for building

dell:
young vagrant girl, a wench

doddypoll:
fool

dogswain:
sort of makeshift covers or bedding

doublet:
close-fitting jacket, with or without sleeves

doxy:
loose woman, a vagrant’s wench

drab:
low, sluttish woman, a whore

drink-penny:
tip, gratuity

drolleries:
comic entertainment of a fantastical kind

ducat:
Spanish gold coin, eighth of an ounce. A silver ducat was worth five shillings six pence; a gold ducat, seven shillings.

electuary:
medicine, a medicinal conserve or paste mixed with honey or syrup

Essex’s cheap knights:
those he knighted after failed sorties such as Azores

factor:
collecting agent

fain:
to be inclined, compelled

fairy, faerie:
spirit, often evil

fall in:
to copulate

figure caster:
astrologer

Flota:
Spanish treasure fleet from the New World

flowers:
menstruation, period

foreign officer:
parish official charged with seeking out vagrants

foreparts:
stomachers, ornamental clothing for women

frantic:
insane

freebooter:
plunderer

French hood:
fashionable hood for women

French marbles, pox, crown, welcome:
venereal disease

frenzy:
madness

gage of booze:
quart of ale

gamekeeper:
keeper of whores

garnish:
bribe, especially in prison

gentry cove:
upper-class man

gentry mort:
upper-class woman

gibbet:
gallows, especially one where the dead criminal was left to rot

glaziers:
eyes

gong:
a privy or its contents

gong farmers, night-soil men:
sewage collectors

gossip:
friend, especially female, perhaps godparent

greased priest:
Catholic priest (anointed with oil)

groat:
coin worth four pence

guarded:
trimmed with lace or braid, as in “guarded coat”

hair o’ the same wolf:
hair of the dog—a hangover cure

halberd, halberdier:
long-staffed weapon with a point, axe on one side and billhook on the other

halek:
astrologer and physician Simon Forman’s secret word for copulation

hand-fasting:
betrothal, solemnizing of wedding vows

headborough:
parish officer, petty constable

headsman:
executioner (with axe)

hedge-priest:
itinerant preacher

hewing and punching:
slashing the neck followed by a stab in the belly

hogshead:
large cask containing 52.5 gallons

hole:
worst prison cell

hornbook:
board with letters or prayers with thin, transparent horn covering

hospitaller:
man in charge of admissions and discharges from
hospital and of seeing that funds and supplies were accounted for and that valuables brought in by patients were safeguarded

instrument:
male member

intelligencer:
spy

intrigant:
one who intrigues

jakes, jaques, house of easement:
privy, toilet

jerkin:
close-fitting jacket, often leather

jet:
to strut about, swagger

jetty:
protruding story of house

ken:
house, especially one where villains lodge or meet

kennel:
surface street gutter

kern:
Irish warrior, foot soldier, one of the poorer class of the Irish

kersey:
worsted cloth, coarse and narrow, woven from long wool and usually ribbed

kine:
cattle

king pest:
the plague

kirtle:
outer petticoat or skirt; the garment under the mantle

knell:
bell-tolling to mark a death

languishing sickness:
depression or any illness where energy is lost

lawn:
a fine linen, resembling cambric

lewd:
immoral and worthless

light-heeled:
wanton, loose

link:
torch made of tow and pitch (or wax and tallow), carried in the street at night

linsey-woolsey:
thin flax-wool material, usually of inferior quality, or a dress made of the material

maling cord:
rope for tying packs onto horses

malkin:
a kitchen slut or an effeminate man

manchet:
high-quality wheaten bread flour or a small round loaf of the same

mark:
monetary unit—two-thirds of a pound

maund:
to beg

maunderer:
professional beggar

meet:
suitable, appropriate

mercer:
dealer in textiles, especially expensive ones

miasma:
foul vapors, unwholesome air carrying disease

mistress of the game:
prostitute, brothel madam

mittimus:
letter from a justice of the peace or other authorized official committing a person into custody (an arrest warrant)

mixen, midden:
dunghill

mooncalf:
born fool, simpleton

mortbell:
funeral bell

motion-man:
puppet-master

murrain:
plague

murrey:
dark, blood red

musket:
long-barreled weapon, fired using a stand and capable of penetrating armor. A heavier version of the arquebus, using same matchlock principle.

Mussulman:
Muslim

netherstocks:
stockings, tights, hose

occupy:
euphemism for
copulate

ordinary:
eating house, pub

ostler:
person who attends horses at an inn

pack-saddle:
saddle for carrying goods

palfrey:
lady’s horse

palliasse:
straw mattress

pantoufles:
slippers

petronel:
heavy pistol carried in the belt, used especially by cavalry

philtrous powder, philter:
love potion or charm

pike, pikestaff:
long-handled weapon with a sharp point

pikeman:
man who carries a pike

pizzle:
male member

platter:
flat dish of pewter or wood

poniard:
small, slim dagger

postern:
back door or gate; small private door—distinct from the main entrance

powder:
gunpowder

powder corns:
grains of gunpowder

prigger of prancers:
horse thief

projector:
agent provocateur

puckrel:
witch’s familiar spirit; imp

pursuivant:
state officer with power to enforce warrants

pynner:
coif with two long strips on either side for fastening (worn by women of quality)

quean:
slut, whore

quent merchant:
pimp

reiver:
plunderer from across the border. From
reave—to
rob (archaic Scots).

revenger:
one who takes vengeance

rich-guarded:
richly embroidered

roarer:
one who swears a lot; a loudmouth, bully, roisterer

ruffler:
sturdy beggar or rogue claiming to be an ex-soldier

runagate:
vagabond, fugitive, renegade

rutter:
navigators’ chart showing prominent coastal features; or a swindler

scarlet whore of Babylon:
Roman Catholic church (as seen by Protestants)

sconce:
(1) small fortress; (2) lantern or candlestick with screen to keep from wind; (3) a bracket candlestick fixed to the wall

scryer:
crystal-ball gazer, fortune-teller

scutes:
small fishing boats

searcher, Searcher of the Dead:
pathologist (person appointed to view dead bodies and to make report upon the cause of death)

seminary:
Catholic priest from one of the European seminaries

smock:
(1) shift or under-petticoat; (2) wench, derogatory term for a woman

snaphaunce:
early flintlock weapon from Germany

snout-fair:
handsome

solar:
upper room with large window to let in sunlight

sotweed:
tobacco—worth its weight in silver, says the seventeenth-century historian John Aubrey

souse:
pickled pork, especially ears and trotters

sovereign:
gold coin of varying values up to thirty shillings

stairs, water-stairs:
landing stage on river

stayed him:
stopped him in his tracks

stew:
brothel

Stilliard, Steelyard:
London premises of the Hanseatic merchants, from German
Stalhof
(warehouse)

stomacher:
ornamental covering for chest or abdomen, worn under the lattice of a bodice (also called foreparts)

stones:
testicles

stow you:
shut up

stranger:
foreigner, immigrant

strumpet:
loose woman

subtlety:
exquisite, sugary dish, often ornamental

sumpter:
packhorse or mule; beast of burden

swain:
young man; a lover or suitor, particularly rustic

swive:
to copulate

tables:
backgammon

tallow:
cheap, smelly, smoky candle wax made of sheep fat

tilt-boat:
large rowing boat with an awning (tilt)—a river taxi

tipstaff:
sheriff’s officer; constable or bailiff

Tom o’Bedlam:
madman or ex-inmate of Bedlam