codfish; god's wish
pelican - In reference to the fable that the pelican revives or feeds her young with her own blood.
bullpen - a pen or enclosure for bulls; spec. a square enclosure made of logs, freq. used in early times as a place of confinement; hence, a lock-up or prison. Also any enclosure or enclosed area.
Tartarism* - a Tartar state or condition
besser (d) - better; mettle - Of persons: Ardent or spirited temperament; spirit, courage.
forsake - deserted, left solitary or desolate
mumbo jumbo* - an object of unintelligent veneration; obscure or meaningless talk or writing; nonsense.
on the safe side* - with a margin of security against error
prussiate* - a salt of prussic acid, a cyanide
musk - an odoriferous, reddish-brown substance, secreted in a gland or sac by the male musk-deer. It has a very powerful and enduring odour, and is used as the basis of many perfumes, and in medicine as a stimulant and antispasmodic.
hashish* - the top leaves and tender parts of the Indian hemp (which in warm countries develop intoxicating properties) dried for smoking or chewing, in Arabia, Eqypt, Turkey, etc.
boneash - the mineral residue of bones burnt in contact with air, a white, porous, and friable substance, composed chiefly of phosphate of lime.
bauble - fig. A childish or foolish person, a silly trifler
tot - a very small drinking-vessel; titty - diminutive, insignificant.
wink - a moment of time, as being that occupied by a glance of the eyes.
tosser - one who tosses; A term of contempt or abuse for a person, a 'jerk'.
bogus - counterfeit, spurious, fictitious, sham
windbag* - fig. (contemptuous). An empty pretender, or something pretentious but unsubstantial; esp. a voluble and senseless talker.
burster - He who bursts (Of persons: To break out into sudden action or forcible expression of feeling).
tyre - a rubber cushion around the wheel of a bicycle, motor-car, etc.
lorette* - a courtesan of a class which at one time had its headquarters in the vicinity of the Church of Notre Dame de Lorette in Paris.
bucket brigade - a chain of persons acting to suppres a fire
plug - a piece of cake or twist tobacco cut off for chewing, etc.
touchant - touching
Arthur* - legendary British king
Round Table* - the table, celebrated in mediæval legend, round which Arthur and his chosen knights were supposed to have sat, and which was made round so that there might be no pre-eminence or rivalry.
Camelot* - in Arthurian legend, the seat of King Arthur's court.
Lyonnesse* - mythical "lost" land supposed once to have connected Cornwall in the west of England with the Scilly Isles lying in the English Channel. The name Lyonnesse first appeared in Sir Thomas Malory's late 15th-century prose account of the rise and fall of King Arthur, Le Morte Darthur, in which it was the native land of the hero Tristan. Arthurian legend, however, had long associated Tristan with Leonois--probably the region around Saint-Pol-de-Léon in Brittany--and this form is the source of Malory's Lyonnesse; loot - to plunder, sack.
Jacob* - Hebrew patriarch who was the grandson of Abraham, the son of Isaac and Rebekah, and the traditional ancestor of the people of Israel. According to the Old Testament, Jacob was the younger twin brother of Esau, who was the ancestor of Edom and the Edomites.
Esau* - name of the elder of the twin sons of the patriarch Isaac, who sold his birthright to his brother Jacob for 'a mess of pottage'.
sault = assault
sally - Of a warlike force: To issue suddenly from a place of defence or retreat in order to make an attack; spec. of a besieged force, to make a sortie.
single* - to pick out or distinguish from others, to pick or mark out.
sock - to beat, strike hard, hit; fig. (U.S.) To give a hard blow to.
cant - the special phraseology of a particular class of persons, or belonging to a particular subject.
hault = halt; haught
excerpt - a passage taken out of a printed book or manuscript; an extract, quotation, selection.
to buy a pig in a poke* - to purchase something which one has not examined; hence, to enter into an engagement in ignorance of the responsibilities incurred.
Lucan - pertaining to the evangelist St. Luke
jaunty - lively, brisk
diffuse - to spread widely, shed abroad, disperse, disseminate
scenery - the decoration of a theatre-stage, consisting of painted hangings, slides, etc., representing the scene of the action.
water; on this side the water - The reference is most commonly to the sea.
jinny - a name given in Long Island, U.S., to a bird, Strepsilas interpres, the Turnstone.
whither - to the place to (or in) which
wing - to use one's wings, take flight, fly
morepork* - a name given in New Zealand to an owl, the Spiloglaux novæ-zealandiæ, in Tasmania to the night-jar, Podargus cuvieri, and in Australia to other birds, as the Ninox boobook.
gang - a journey; a turn or spell at any work or exercise; gong - to sound a gong, to make a gong-like sound.