dots-menu
×

Home  »  Guy Mannering, or the Astrologer  »  Glossary

Sir Walter Scott. (1771–1832). Guy Mannering.
The Harvard Classics Shelf of Fiction. 1917.

Glossary

a secretis, lit. ‘officer of the secrets’; as one acquainted with the secrets.
ab hora questionis, from the very beginning.
acromion, the outer extremity of the shoulder-blade.
aiblins, perhaps.
ance errand, on purpose.
aut quocunque allo nomine vocaris, or by whatever other name you are called.
awmous, alsm.
ballant, ballad.
banes, bones.
barken, harden.
barrow-tram, shaft of a wheel-barrow.
baulks, banks, ridges of land, and the uncultivated spaces between.
beau garcon, gallant, man of the world.
bedral, beadle, grave-digger.
ben the house, into the inner room.
berlings, vessels.
bested, troubled, beset.
bields, shelters.
big, build.
biggit, built.
birling, drinking.
bit, small.
bittled, beaten with a wooden bat.
black be his cast, evil be his fate.
blate, diffident, bashful.
blearing your ee, throwing dust in your eye.
blumen-garten, flower garden.
blunker, calico-printer.
boddle, small copper coin.
bogles, bogies, goblins.
bonhomie, kindliness, simplicity.
bountith, bounty, amount given above the stipulated wages.
bourtree-bush, elder-bush.
bow, boll (dry measure).
brocks, badgers.
brod, plate.
brood mare, a mare kept for breeding.
buirdly, strong, active.
bully-huff, a boasting fellow, a bully.
cabriole, a small one-horse carriage.
caird, tinker.
callant, lad.
canny, fortunate, careful, safe.
canty, lively, cheerful.
capuchin, cloak with a hood.
change-houses, small alehouses.
cheerer, a glass of hot spirits and water.
chield, fellow.
circumduce, draw a circle round, limit.
clashes, gossip, tittle-tattle, scandal.
clavicle, the collar-bone.
clod, to, to throw violently.
clour, a blow, a bump on the head from a blow.
coena, supper, late dinner.
coft, bought.
collie shangies, quarrels.
congoes, bows
conjuro, abjuro, contestor, atque viriliter impero tibi, I command, I adjure, I invoke and mightily put forth authority over thee. (Abjuro is an error for adjuro.)
Conjuro te, scelestissima—nequissima—spurcissima—iniquissima—atque miserrima—conjuro te!—I command thee, most infamous, most wicked, most foul, most shameful, and most unhappy woman, I command thee!
corps de logis, block of buildings.
cottar, cottager.
cot-house, cottage.
coup, upset.
coup de main, sudden action.
coup d’æil, glance, view.
cracks, gossip.
craig, rock, neck.
cranking, twisting, winding.
crappit-heads, stuffed haddock-heads.
cuddy, donkey.
cusser, stallion.
custos rotulorum, keeper of the rolls or records of a court.
cutlugged, crop-eared.
cutty, a short horn spoon.
das schmecket, that tastes good.
dead-thraw, death-agony.
defeat, tired out.
deil-be-lickit, devil be blowed.
dies inceptus, a day begun.
ding, beat, knock.
disponing, assigning.
donnert, stupid.
dooket, pigeon-house.
dooms, very.
doos, doves or pigeons.
dow, to be able, to like.
dree, endure.
drumming, to expel from a place with sound of drum.
dust, disturbance.
èclaircissement, explanation, declaration.
eilding, fuel.
empressement, eagerness.
en croupe, behind the saddle.
enfant trouvè, foundling.
es spuckt do it haunts there.
et puis, and then.
ex cathedra, from the chair; with authority.
exorciso te, I exorcise thee.
fair-strae death, natural death.
far yaud, a cry of encouragement to a sheep-dog.
fa’s, falls, befalls.
fash, trouble.
faste, display.
fauld-dike, wall of a sheep-fold.
feck, part.
feifteen, the judges of the supreme court of session.
fell, skin.
fell chield, terrible fellow.
feras consumere nati, born to destroy wild beasts.
ferme ornèe, amateur farm.
fiar, one who has the reversion of property.
fie man, a man seized by that madness which overcomes those predestined to death.
fient a haet, devil a bit.
fiking, fidgeting.
firlot, a fourth part of a boll of corn.
fit, foot, step.
flisking, flitting.
friar’s chicken, eggs boiled with chicken broth.
fumarts, polecats.
gaedown, a drinking bout.
galls the kibe, treads on the chilblain.
gangrel, vagrant.
gar, compel.
gate, gait, way, manner.
gauger, exciseman.
gey bit, a considerable way.
giff-gaff, tit for tat.
gliffing, gliff, an instant, a glimpse.
glim, light.
goose’s gazette, cock-and-bull story.
gowans, daisies.
greet, cry.
grew, shudder.
griego, a short cloak.
guisarding, mumming.
gumphions, funeral banners.
gyre-carlings, witches, weird sisters.
hafflin, half-grown.
hallan, a partition between the door of a cottage and the fireplace.
hansel Monanday, the Monday following New Year’s Day.
hansels, gifts.
hantle, great many, great deal.
hap, cover up, tuck in.
hauden, held.
heckle, to hackle, to separate the coarse part of hemp from the fine.
heesie, hoist.
hinney, honey (a term of endearment).
hirsel, a flock of sheep, to creep down.
hizzie, hussy.
hold mich der deyvil, ich bin ganz gefroren, Devil take me, I am absolutely frozen.
homme d’affaires, man of business.
horse-coupers, horse-dealers.
houdie, midwife.
howk, to dig.
howm, flat ground, hollow.
humdudgeon, noise, outcry.
hunt-the-gowk, wild-goose chase.
ich bin ganz gefroren, I am absolutely frozen.
in praesentia, in presence.
in rerum natura, in the world of things, alive.
indicia, information, evidence.
ingans, onions.
inner-house, a Scottish court of law.
inter nos, between ourselves.
jaw-hole, sink.
jo, joe, sweetheart.
jurisconsult, lawyer.
kibe, chilblain.
killogie, fire-place of a lime-kiln.
kilt, to upset, to tuck up.
kinchin, child, baby.
kinder, children.
kist, chest, trunk, coffin.
kittle, ticklish, capricious.
knevelled, beaten, kneaded.
lachesse, idleness, carelessness.
lair, learning.
land-louper, vagabond, runigate.
lang-lugged limmer, long-eared wench.
latch, mire.
letter-gae, church precentor, clerk.
lippen, trust.
lith, a joint, a limb.
loan, lane, pathway.
loon, young man or young woman of doubtful character.
loup, leap.
low, flame.
lugs, ears.
l’un vaut bien l’autre, one is as good as the other.
lunt, blaze, burn.
lust-haus, pleasure-house.
lykewake, watch kept over a dead body.
major vis, greater strength.
make not, do not interfere.
malefica, evildoing.
maroon war, guerilla war (Maroon =an escaped negro slave).
maundering, talking idly, palavering.
messan, a cur, a small dog.
mirk Monanday, black Monday.
moidores, a Portuguese coin, worth about 37s.
monitoire, summons read in church for information about a crime on pain of excommunication.
moonshie, instructor.
mortis causa, in prospect of death.
mortmain, settlement by a deceased person.
multa sunt in moribus dissentanea, multa sine ratione, there are many contradictory, many unreasonable things in customs.
mutchkin, the fourth part of the old Scots pint, or about three-quarters of an imperial pint.
ne accesseris in consilium antequam voceris, do not come to the council till you are summoned.
ne moveas Camerinam, do not move Camerina.
neque semper arcum tendit Apollo, nor does Apollo always keep his bow bent.
niffering, bargaining.
niff-naffy, troublesome, fastidious.
no canny, not lucky.
noctes coenaeque, nights and suppers.
nolens volens, unwilling or willing.
non valens agere, not able to perform my part.
novus homo, a self-made man, a parvenu.
odd-come-shortly, some day or other in the near future.
on n’arrête pas dans un si beau chemin, one does not stop short in so pleasant a path.
oportet vivere, we must live.
orra, odd, unemployed.
os rotundum, sonorous voice.
paiks, blows, a beating.
pariahs, outcasts, those belonging to the lowest class in India.
peculium, private amount.
peenging, whining.
peine forte et dure, a great and lasting pain (viz. pressing to death with great weights).
periapts, charms.
pickle, small quantity.
pirn, a reel.
pit ower, last through.
plagium, kidnapping.
Plainte de Tournelle, a French chamber for rigorous inquiry into criminal cases.
pocks, pouch, bag.
post-nati, the later-born, the young people.
pouches, pockets.
powny, pony.
prigged, pleaded earnestly, haggled over a bargain.
proper, of the natural colour (heraldic).
prout de lege, according to law.
quean, a young woman, wench.
quorum, the justices, from a word in the commission appointing them.
randle-tree, a wild creature.
randy, wild, disorderly.
ranging and riping, scouring and searching.
rappee, snuff.
rectus in curia, cleared before the law.
redding his quarrel, taking part in his quarrel.
regis ad exemplar, after the king’s example.
reif, robbery.
reise, twig, branch.
ripe his pouches, search his pockets.
rottens, rats.
roturier, a plebeian.
roupit, sold by auction.
sain, to make the sign of the cross, to bless.
sark, shirt.
saugh, willow.
saulies, hired mourners.
savoir faire, resourcefulness.
scart, scratch.
sceleratissima, most wicked.
scelestissima, most infamous.
screed, a long tirade, a piece of cloth torn off, a frolic.
secundum artem, according to the rules of the art.
sederunt, a sitting (in the legal sense).
shake-rag, tatterdemalion.
shealings, cottages.
shears, divides.
sib, related by blood.
skeel, skill.
slack, a dry hollow, an opening between two hills.
slap, a breach.
slings, a rope or iron band for securing the centre of a yard to the mast.
slowhunds, sleuth-hounds.
smack, a paltry rogue, a silly fellow.
sort,manage, set to rights.
spac, to foretell.
span-counter, a game in which a piece of money is won by throwing another within a span of it.
spavin, swelling causing lameness in a horse.
spaw-well, a magic well.
speer, ask.
splores, frolics, riots.
sprug, sparrow.
spunk, a match, a fire.
standish, inkstand.
steek, a stitch, to close.
stickit stibbler, an unqualified clerical probationer.
stirks, young steers.
strafe much helle, an oath, Hell take me.
streik, stretch.
sture, stern, strong.
sui juris, a free man, lit. at one’s own disposal.
sunkie, stool.
suum cuique tribuito, give to each his due.
tailzie, deed of entail.
tait, a lock of wool.
take tent, give attention.
tass, cup, glass.
teind, tithe.
tempore Caroli Primi, in the time of Charles I.
tested, witnessed.
thrapple, throat.
threeps, declares, threatens.
tod, fox.
toom, empty.
tota re perspecta, all things considered.
troking, bartering, do business with.
Tros Tyriusve, Trojan or Tyrian.
tuilzie, a brawl, scrimmage.
tup, a ram.
tweel, web.
unca wark, a great ado.
unco, strange, very.
varium et mutabile, varying and changeful.
verbum nolens, an unintentional exclamation.
vis publica et privata, violence public and private.
wale, choice.
wame, stomach.
wa’s, walls.
water-kelpy, water-sprite.
weird’s dreed, fate is fulfilled.
weize, direct, guide.
wheen, whin, a number.
whigging, jogging, urging forward.
whinger, a hanger used as a knife at meals or in brawls.
whittrets, weasels.
worriecows, hobgoblins, scarecrows.
wuss, wish.
yards, playgrounds at the colleges.