|
ablutioner: one who washes his hands and face
and for yam I should get toco: instead of something high-class I would get the dregs
allot (or her ...): dowry, property, etc. that comes with the bride
as all aver: as everyone declares
apostrophe: a poetic address to something inanimate, e.g. "Oh, matrimony!"
capstan: a revolving "barrel" around which an anchor cable or sail halyard would be wound.
cervical vertebrae: neck!
chaffing: teasing
con fuoco: Italian musical term meaning "with fire"
diminutioner: one who lessens something
effulgent: shining brightly
equipoise: equilibrium
fitless finger-stalls: protective covering for injured fingers that doesn't fit well
gambado: wild dancing celebration
genius tutelary: guardian spirit
Happy Dispatch: suicide (by the noble custom of Hari-Kari)
her anchor's a-trip: the ship's anchor has just been raised clear of the bottom
her helm's a-lee: the ship's helm has been put over to the protected side
lore-laden: full of wisdom
Lucius Junius Brutus (my father, the ... of his race): the first leader in Republican Rome, who ordered death to all royalists, even (when he discovered they were part of the plot to restore the king) his two sons. Nanki Poo suggests his father, the Mikado, is willing to be equally firm.
Madame Tussaud's waxwork: a reference to the world-famous wax models of famous people (who would be an appropriately unsympathetic audience for an amateur tenor, according to the Mikado)
madrigal: a form of musical song from Renaissance times, for multiple parts
Marine Parade: Seaside Promenade (not a musical instrument, as Yum Yum thinks)
masses and fugues and 'ops' by Bach interwoven with Spohr and Beethoven at classical Monday Pops: masses are music for this religious service; fugues are a type of music like a round; 'ops' are operas; Louis Spohr was once as celebrated a composer as the other two mentioned here; Monday Pops were popular concerts like those still performed by the Boston Pops, etc.
minion: a lowly servant
miscreant: villain
my buck: my good fellow
nisi prius: Latin for "unless first" but here symbolizing the legal system in general
o ni bikkuri shakkuri to!: Oh! Surprise and wonder!
on my own recognizances: with my personal guarantee to a magistrate
Parliamentary trains (ride on a buffer on ...): the kind of cheap, uncomfortable trains resulting from a Parliamentary decree that rail travel must be available to the lower classes; the buffer on trains is the apparatus at the front that deadens the blow of a collision.
persiflage: lighthearted bantering
put in your oar: add your two cents worth
rum below: sea-shanty standard phrase, referring to sailors' celebratory drink
serried ranks: close-set rows
snickersnee: long knife
spot that's always barred: a double meaning: prison cells have bars; but in billiards, a shot called the 'spot-stroke' was eventually declared illegal, and "spot-barred" matches adhered to this rule
tocsin: warning bell
to flirt is capital: a double meaning: flirting is punishable by death, but it is also a capital (very fine) thing to do
trammels: impediments to free action
verisimilitude: appearing to be true
|
