The Thirty-Nine Steps (35 page)

headstall
NOUN
the headstall is the part of the bridle or halter that goes around a horse’s head
I had of course long been used to a halter and a headstall
(
Black Beauty
by Anna Sewell)

hearken
VERB
hearken means to listen
though we sometimes stopped to lay hold of each other and hearken
(
Treasure Island
by Robert Louis Stevenson)

heartless
ADJ
here heartless means without heart or dejected
I am not heartless
(
The Prelude
by William Wordsworth)

hebdomadal
ADJ
hebdomadal means weekly
It was the hebdomadal treat to which we all looked forward from Sabbath to Sabbath
(
Jane Eyre
by Charlotte Brontë)

highwaymen
NOUN
highwaymen were people who stopped travellers and robbed them
We are highwaymen
(
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
by Mark Twain)

hinds
NOUN
hinds means farm hands, or people who work on a farm
He called his hinds about him
(
Gulliver’s Travels
by Jonathan Swift)

histrionic
ADJ
if you refer to someone’s behaviour as histrionic, you are being critical of it because
it is dramatic and exaggerated
But the histrionic muse is the darling
(
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
by Mark Twain)

hogs
NOUN
hogs is another word for pigs
Tom called the hogs ‘ingots’
(
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
by Mark Twain)

horrors
NOUN
the horrors are a fit, called delirium tremens, which is caused by drinking too much
alcohol
I’ll have the horrors
(
Treasure Island
by Robert Louis Stevenson)

huffy
ADJ
huffy means to be obviously annoyed or offended about something
They will feel that more than angry speeches or huffy actions
(
Little Women
by Louisa May Alcott)

hulks
NOUN
hulks were prison-ships
The miserable companion of thieves and ruffians, the fallen outcast of low haunts,
the associate of the scourings of the jails and hulks
(
Oliver Twist
by Charles Dickens)

humbug
NOUN
humbug means nonsense or rubbish
“Bah,” said Scrooge. “Humbug!”
(
A Christmas Carol
by Charles Dickens)