The Thirty-Nine Steps (28 page)

darkling
ADV
darkling is an archaic way of saying in the dark
Darkling I listen
(
Ode on a Nightingale
by John Keats)

delf-case
NOUN
a sideboard for holding dishes and crockery
at the pewter dishes and delf-case
(
Wuthering Heights
by Emily Brontë)

determined
VERB
here determined means ended
and be out of vogue when that was determined
(
Gulliver’s Travels
by Jonathan Swift)
VERB
determined can mean to have been learned or found especially by investigation or
experience
All the sensitive feelings it wounded so cruelly, all the shame and misery it kept
alive within my breast, became more poignant as I thought of this; and I determined
that the life was unendurable
(
David Copperfield
by Charles Dickens)

Deuce
NOUN
a slang term for the Devil
Ah, I dare say I did. Deuce take me, he added suddenly, I know I did. I find I am
not quite unscrewed yet
. (
Great Expectations
by Charles Dickens)

diabolical
ADJ
diabolical means devilish or evil
and with a thousand diabolical expressions
(
Treasure Island
by Robert Louis Stevenson)

direction
NOUN
here direction means address
Elizabeth was not surprised at it, as Jane had written the direction remarkably ill
(
Pride and Prejudice
by Jane Austen)

discover
VERB
to make known announce or
the Emperor would discover the secret while I was out of his power
(
Gulliver’s Travels
by Jonathan Swift)

dissemble
VERB
hide or conceal
Dissemble nothing
(
On His Mistress
by John Donne)

dissolve
VERB
dissolve here means to release from life, to die
Fade far away, dissolve, and quite forget
(
Ode on a Nightingale
by John Keats)

distrain
VERB
to distrain is to seize the property of someone who is in debt in compensation for
the money owed
for he’s threatening to distrain for it
(
Silas Marner
by George Eliot)