The Thirty-Nine Steps (32 page)

fondness
NOUN
silly or foolish affection
They have no fondness for their colts or foals
(
Gulliver’s Travels
by Jonathan Swift)

for his fancy
PHRASE
for his fancy means for his liking or as he wanted
and as I did not obey quick enough for his fancy
(
Treasure Island
by Robert Louis Stevenson)

forlorn
ADJ
lost or very upset
you are from that day forlorn
(
Gulliver’s Travels
by Jonathan Swift)

foster-sister
NOUN
a foster-sister was someone brought up by the same nurse or in the same household
I had been his foster-sister
(
Wuthering Heights
by Emily Brontë)

fox-fire
NOUN
fox-fire is a weak glow that is given off by decaying, rotten wood
what we must have was a lot of them rotten chunks
that’s called fox-fire
(
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
by Mark Twain)

frozen sea
PHRASE
the Arctic Ocean
into the frozen sea
(
Gulliver’s Travels
by Jonathan Swift)

gainsay
VERB
to gainsay something is to say it isn’t true or to deny it
“So she had,” cried Scrooge. “You’re right. I’ll not gainsay it, Spirit. God forbid!”
(
A Christmas Carol
by Charles Dickens)

gaiters
NOUN
gaiters were leggings made of a cloth or piece of leather which covered the leg from
the knee to the ankle
Mr Knightley was hard at work upon the lower buttons of his thick leather gaiters
(
Emma
by Jane Austen)

galluses
NOUN
galluses is an old spelling of gallows, and here means suspenders. Suspenders are
straps worn over someone’s shoulders and fastened to their trousers to prevent the
trousers falling down
and home-knit galluses
(
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
by Mark Twain)

galoot
NOUN
a sailor but also a clumsy person
and maybe a galoot on it chopping
(
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
by Mark Twain)

gayest
ADJ
gayest means the most lively and bright or merry
Beth played her gayest march
(
Little Women
by Louisa May Alcott)

gem
NOUN
here gem means jewellery
the mountain shook off turf and flower, had only heath for raiment and crag for gem
(
Jane Eyre
by Charlotte Brontë)