The Prisoner of Zenda (52 page)

pottle
NOUN
a pottle was a small basket
He had a paper-bag under each arm and a pottle of
strawberries in one hand
… (
Great Expectations
by Charles Dickens)

pounce
NOUN
pounce is a fine powder used to prevent ink spreading on untreated paper
in that grim atmosphere of pounce and
parchment, red-tape, dusty wafers, ink-jars, brief and draft paper, law reports, writs, declarations, and bills of costs
(
David Copperfield
by Charles Dickens)

pox
NOUN
pox means sexually transmitted diseases like syphilis
how the pox in all its consequences and denominations
(
Gulliver's Travels
by Jonathan Swift)

prelibation
NOUN
prelibation means a foretaste of or an example of something to come
A prelibation to the mower's scythe
(
The Prelude
by William Wordsworth)

prentice
NOUN
an apprentice
and Joe, sitting on an old gun, had told me that when I was 'prentice to him regularly bound, we would have such Larks there!
(
Great Expectations
by Charles Dickens)

presently
ADV
immediately
I presently knew what they meant (
Gulliver's Travels
by Jonathan Swift)

pumpion
NOUN
pumpkin
for it was almost as large as a small pumpion
(
Gulliver's Travels
by Jonathan Swift)

punctual
ADJ
kept in one place
was not a punctual presence, but a spirit
(
The Prelude
by William Wordsworth)

quadrille
NOUN
a quadrille is a dance invented in France which is usually performed by four couples
However, Mr Swiveller had Miss Sophy's hand for the first quadrille (country-dances being low, were utterly proscribed)
(
The Old Curiosity Shop
by Charles Dickens)
NOUN
quadrille was a card game for four people
to make up her pool of quadrille in the evening
(
Pride and Prejudice
by Jane Austen)

quality
NOUN
gentry or upper-class people
if you are with the quality
(
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
by Mark Twain)