The Thirty-Nine Steps (34 page)

hackney-cabriolet
NOUN
a two-wheeled carriage with four seats for hire and pulled by a horse
A hackney-cabriolet was in waiting; with the same vehemence which she had exhibited
in addressing Oliver, the girl pulled him in with her, and drew the curtains close
. (
Oliver Twist
by Charles Dickens)

hackney-coach
NOUN
a four-wheeled horse-drawn vehicle for hire
The twilight was beginning to close in, when Mr. Brownlow alighted from a hackney-coach
at his own door, and knocked softly
. (
Oliver Twist
by Charles Dickens)

haggler
NOUN
a haggler is someone who travels from place to place selling small goods and items
when I be plain Jack Durbeyfield, the haggler
(
Tess of the D’Urbervilles
by Thomas Hardy)

halter
NOUN
a halter is a rope or strap used to lead an animal or to tie it up
I had of course long been used to a halter and a headstall
(
Black Beauty
by Anna Sewell)

hamlet
NOUN
a hamlet is a small village or a group of houses in the countryside
down from the hamlet
(
Treasure Island
by Robert Louis Stevenson)

hand-barrow
NOUN
a hand-barrow is a device for carrying heavy objects. It is like a wheelbarrow except
that it has handles, rather than wheels, for moving the barrow
his sea chest following behind him in a hand-barrow
(
Treasure Island
by Robert Louis Stevenson)

handspike
NOUN
a handspike was a stick which was used as a lever
a bit of stick like a handspike
(
Treasure Island
by Robert Louis Stevenson)

haply
ADV
haply means by chance or perhaps
And haply the Queen-Moon is on her throne
(
Ode on a Nightingale
by John Keats)

harem
NOUN
the harem was the part of the house where the women lived
mostly they hang round the harem
(
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
by Mark Twain)

hautboys
NOUN
hautboys are oboes
sausages and puddings resembling flutes and hautboys (Gulliver’s Travels by Jonathan
Swift)

hawker
NOUN
a hawker is someone who sells goods to people as he travels rather than from a fixed
place like a shop
to buy some stockings from a hawker
(
Treasure Island
by Robert Louis Stevenson)

hawser
NOUN
a hawser is a rope used to tie up or tow a ship or boat
Again among the tiers of shipping, in and out, avoiding rusty chain-cables, frayed
hempen hawsers
(
Great Expectations
by Charles Dickens)