The Prisoner of Zenda (49 page)

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)

particular, a London
PHRASE
London in Victorian times and up to the 1950s was famous for having very dense fog–which was a combination of real fog and the smog of pollution from factories
This is a London particular
…
A fog, miss'
(
Bleak House
by Charles Dickens)

patten
NOUN
pattens were wooden soles which were fixed to shoes by straps to protect the shoes in wet weather
carrying a basket like the Great Seal of England in plaited straw, a pair of pattens, a spare shawl, and an umbrella, though it was a fine bright day
(
Great Expectations
by Charles Dickens)

paviour
NOUN
a paviour was a labourer who worked on the street pavement
the paviour his pickaxe
(
Oliver Twist
by Charles Dickens)

peccant
ADJ
peccant means unhealthy
other peccant humours
(
Gulliver's Travels
by Jonathan Swift)