The Thirty-Nine Steps (59 page)

wherry
NOUN
wherry is a small swift rowing boat for one person
It was flood tide when Daniel Quilp sat himself down in the wherry to cross to the
opposite shore
. (
The Old Curiosity Shop
by Charles Dickens)

whether
PREP
whether means which of the two in this example
we came in full view of a great island or continent
(
for we knew not whether)
(
Gulliver’s Travels
by Jonathan Swift)

whetstone
NOUN
a whetstone is a stone used to sharpen knives and other tools
I dropped pap’s whetstone there too
(
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
by Mark Twain)

wibrated
VERB
in Dickens’s use of the English language ‘w’ often replaces ‘v’ when he is reporting
speech. So here ‘wibrated’ means ‘vibrated’. In Pickwick Papers a judge asks Sam Weller
(who constantly confuses the two letters) ‘Do you spell is with a ‘v’ or a ‘w’?’ to
which Weller replies ‘That depends upon the taste and fancy of the speller, my Lord’
There are strings
…
in the human heart that had better not be wibrated’
(
Barnaby Rudge
by Charles Dickens)

wicket
NOUN
a wicket is a little door in a larger entrance
Having rested here, for a minute or so, to collect a good burst of sobs and an imposing
show of tears and terror, he knocked loudly at the wicket;
(
Oliver Twist
by Charles Dickens)

without
CONJ
without means unless
You don’t know about me, without you have read a book by the name of The Adventures
of Tom Sawyer
(
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
by Mark Twain)

wittles
NOUN
vittles is a slang word which means food
I live on broken wittles – and I sleep on the coals
(
David Copperfield
by Charles Dickens)
See
wibrated

woo
VERB
courts or forms a proper relationship with
before it woo
(
The Flea
by John Donne)

words
,
to have
PHRASE
if you have words with someone you have a disagreement or an argument
I do not want to have words with a young thing like you
. (
Black Beauty
by Anna Sewell)

workhouse
NOUN
workhouses were places where the homeless were given food and a place to live in
return for doing very hard work
And the Union workhouses? demanded Scrooge. Are they still in operation?
(
A Christmas Carol
by Charles Dickens)