Primeval fic: A Regency Romance Secret Santa Glossary

[knitekat]

Glossary
– a separate (alphabetical) post as quite long. Hopefully including everything needed.

Abbess - A bawd, mistress of a brothel.

Adventuress - Euphemism for prostitute or wild woman

Affair of Honour - Duel

Ape-drunk - Very drunk

Apoplexy - A stroke. To suffer a stroke

Bastard - A term of reproach for a mischievous or worthless boy.

Black books - Out of favour

Chef do Balaillen - Major (rank in French military)

Dance card - A card fixed to a lady's wrist to keep track of who she is set to dance with throughout an evening

Gentleman Jack - John Jackson aka Gentleman Jack was the bare-knuckle boxing champion of England in 1795, and retired to open a boxing club in London.

Greatcoat - A long heavy manly looking gentleman’s overcoat

Jesse - Hell

Land a facer - Punch in the face

Laudanum - Liquid opium used for dulling pain, very addictive.

Missish - Squeamish, prim, prudish, i.e. behaviour befitting a proper young miss

Missive - A letter

Nagus - A drink made from port, hot water, oranges or lemons, and spices, usually nutmeg, and sweetened with sugar. Usually served hot, in cooler weather, and seems very much like mulled wine.

On dit- Gossip

Promenade - a leisurely walk in public for pleasure — or to see and be seen. The goal of a promenade was yes, to stroll, but more importantly, to be seen. A promenade is an example of the public activities that allowed eligible ladies to interact with bachelors. During courtship, a promenade publicized the attachment.

Scratching at the door – This was the common practice instead of knocking.

Season - The social “Season” is generally described as beginning after Christmas spring and lasting until the end of June–The season had some relation to the sitting of Parliament–It convened each January, so those involved in the government would head back to town at that time

Shit-sack - A dastardly fellow

Sit on thorns - Tense. Anxious.

Sprained the ankle - Gotten pregnant

Tace - Silence, hold your tongue.

Ton - High society during the Regency period. Fashionable Society

Town - London

Whist - A popular card game in the 18th and 19th centuries. Requires 4 players, paired into teams with partners facing each other. Rule are extremely simple and the game is won by the first team to earn 5 points.

BTW, all the swearing is Regency era…

Comments

[eriah211.livejournal.com]

I checked this before reading the fic, but forgot to comment.
This is very useful and informative, thank you! My favourite is of course the 'Sprained the ankle=Gotten pregnant'... ops! That's certainly a way of saying it *g*

[knitekat.livejournal.com]

Hee, it was going to be in the end/start of the fic but I realised it was quite long. That and if people wanted to refer to it.

They had an interesting way of saying a few other things too.

Glad it was useful.