The Thirty-Nine Steps (58 page)

virtual
ADJ
here virtual means powerful or strong
had virtual faith
(
The Prelude
by William Wordsworth)

vittles
NOUN
vittles is a slang word which means food
There never was such a woman for givin’ away vittles and drink
(
Little Women
by Louisa May Alcott)

voided straight
PHRASE
voided straight is an old expression which means emptied immediately
see the rooms be voided straight
(
Doctor Faustus 4.1
by Christopher Marlowe)

wainscot
NOUN
wainscot is wood panel lining in a room so wainscoted means a room lined with wooden
panels
in the dark wainscoted parlor
(
Silas Marner
by George Eliot)

walking the plank
PHRASE
walking the plank was a punishment in which a prisoner would be made to walk along
a plank on the side of the ship and fall into the sea, where they would be abandoned
about hanging, and walking the plank
(
Treasure Island
by Robert Louis Stevenson)

want
VERB
want means to be lacking or short of
The next thing wanted was to get the picture framed
(
Emma
by Jane Austen)

wanting
ADJ
wanting means lacking or missing
wanting two fingers of the left hand
(
Treasure Island
by Robert Louis Stevenson)

wanting
,
I was not
PHRASE
I was not wanting means I did not fail
I was not wanting to lay a foundation of religious knowledge in his mind
(
Robinson Crusoe
by Daniel Defoe)

ward
NOUN
a ward is, usually, a child who has been put under the protection of the court or
a guardian for his or her protection
I call the Wards in Jarndcye. The
are caged up with all the others
. (
Bleak House
by Charles Dickens)

waylay
VERB
to waylay someone is to lie in wait for them or to intercept them
I must go up the road and waylay him
(
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
by Mark Twain)

weazen
NOUN
weazen is a slang word for throat. It actually means shrivelled
You with a uncle too! Why, I knowed you at Gargery’s when you was so small a wolf
that I could have took your weazen betwixt this finger and thumb and chucked you away
dead
(
Great Expectations
by Charles Dickens)

wery
ADV
very
Be wery careful o’ vidders all your life
(
Pickwick Papers
by Charles Dickens)
See
wibrated