Vocabulary from Charles Dickens’ Era
Dover mail
A coach that carried letters and passengers.
Struggling
Moving with great difficulty.
Trudged
Walked with difficulty.
Wearily
Very tiredly.
Mist
Fog.
Highwaymen
Armed robbers who attacked coaches.
Blunderbuss
A very heavy gun.
Peered
Looked carefully.
Uneasily
Anxiously, worriedly.
Aimed
Pointed.
Stiffly
When you are stiff, your muscles hurt when you move them.
Plunged
Went deep.
To see about it
To deal with it.
Awkwardly
Embarrassedly.
Eagerly
Enthusiastically.
Keenly
Intently.
Distress
Mental suffering.
Faint
Loss of consciousness due to shock.
Seized
Grabbed, took hold of with force.
Smelling salts
Strong-smelling chemicals used to revive people who had fainted.
Stroking
Touching gently.
Fiercely
With great anger.
Mean
Narrow and ugly.
Ill-fed
Without enough to eat.
Spot
Place.
Scooping up
Taking with their hands.
Dipped
Put.
Scrawled
Wrote in an untidy and careless way.
Dismal
Miserable, depressing.
Frowned
Made a serious expression by bringing his eyebrows together.
Knitting
Clothing which is in the process of being made from wool.
Needles
Very thin pieces of metal used to knit.
Grimly
Very seriously.
Startled
Surprised and frightened.
Struggling
Trying.
Blank
Without expression.
Muttering
Talking quietly and indistinctly.
Settled
Made their home.
Nurse
Woman who looked after children.
Clerk
Office worker.
Old bailey
Famous court where serious criminal trials are held.
Trial
Meeting in a law court to decide if a person is guilty of a crime or not.
Grim
Ugly and depressing.
Forgery
Crime involving false documents or money.
Treason
Crime of doing something which betrays your country.
Quartering
Prisoners found guilty of treason were hanged until they were nearly unconscious, then they were pulled by horses, before being cut open with a knife.
Barbarous
Uncivilized.
Sternly
Seriously.
Dock
Box where the defendant stands during a trial.
Counsel
Lawyer.
Charges
Accusations.
Debtor’s prison
A special kind of prison for people who owed money.
Garrison town
A town where there is an army camp.
Barrister
A lawyer who has the qualification to argue cases in the higher courts of law.
Acquitted
Found innocent by the jury.
Napkin
A square piece of cloth used to clean your mouth and hands.
Out of favour
Not popular with the authorities.
Contemptuously
Arrogantly and insolently.
Shrugged
Made a dismissive movement with his shoulders.
Scruples
Moral principles.
Rotten
Morally disgusting.
Screeched
Cried out noisily.
Bitter
Unhappy and angry, cynical.
Sharp
Critical.
Uneasy
Worried.
Issuing
Giving out, emitting.
Roared
Shouted loudly.
Muskets
Old-fashioned firearms.
Loaded
Filled with bullets.
Clamouring
Demanding loudly.
Set upon
Attacked.
Dislodging
Knocking loose.
Bent
Leaned down.
Stream
Flow.
Premises
Office.
Roughly
Unpleasantly, without consideration.
Burst
Entered noisily and quickly.
Tribunal
A kind of court.
Trying
Making people appear in court and deciding if they are guilty of a crime.
Dreaded
Feared.
Tumbrils
Carts.
Regarded
Seen, considered.
Plead
Present, argue.
Jeering
Mocking, ridiculing.
Hissed
Made a noise indicating their disapproval.
Clapped her hands together
Hit her hands together to show happiness.
Fiercely
Angrily and aggressively.
Hastily
Quickly.
Studying
Observing.
Uttered
Spoke.
Sheep of the prisons
A term used during the French revolution to describe an informer.
On the wane
Becoming weaker.
Traitor
A person who betrays their country.
Wryly
With an ironic tone.
Beaten
Defeated.
Earnestly
Very seriously.
Wound
Injury, damage to his body.
Sake
Benefit.
Overtaken
Struck.
Eagerly
In a friendly way.
In dismay
With fear.
Grant
Agree to.
Struggled
Tried to free himself.
Harsh seamstress
Woman who sews for a living.
Shame
Pity, disappointment.
Ominously
With a foreboding that something bad is going to happen.
Fixed on
Determined on.
Defiance
Aggression.
You don’t matter to me
You’re not important to me.
Braced herself
Prepared herself.
Drew
Took.
Stains
Dishonourable memories.
Charles Dickens (1812-1870)
Born in Portsmouth (England). He started to work in a factory just two days after his twelfth birthday. Oliver Twist, David Copperfield (novels). Worked as a political journalist and he wrote a series of sketches of everyday life. Work of fiction: The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club, later known as The Pickwick Papers. His novels talk about contemporary social problems: the living conditions of the poor in big cities, corruption in the legal system and injustice in general: Hard Times, Bleak House, Great Expectations. Novel of comic: A Christmas Carol. He was a performer and political activist.