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Full Glossary
Farinaceous containing, consisting of, or made from flour or meal. Because Pumblechook is a corn and seed merchant, his home and place of business no doubt have a fair bit of corn meal or flour dust scattered about.
fashionable crib . . . a shake-down Magwitch wants Pip to find him cheap lodging of the kind thieves are used to, often in disreputable public-houses where the beds are made up of straw on the floor.
fell among those thieves this is a biblical reference, referring to the unfortunate man in the parable of the Good Samaritan, Luke 10:30-35, who fell among thieves, was beaten by them, and left for dead. Pip feels that numbers and arithmetic are about as vicious to him as the thieves were to the man in the parable.
fenders material, such as timber or old cables, hung over the side of a ship to protect it from banging around while in port.
fête days festival days or days with gala parties held outdoors.
fired a rick set fire to a haystack. Pip's reference to this crime means people would have viewed him as a major criminal because at that time, children even as young as seven were sometimes hanged for arson.
flowered-flounce a flounce is a wide ornamental ruffle, a cloth with pleats in it; here, the cloth has a flowered design.
fluey dusty.
freemasonry a natural sympathy and understanding among persons with like experiences. Pip and Joe share the freemasonry of abuse as victims of Pip's sister. The term refers to the Freemasons, a secret fraternal society begun in the early 1700s and having among its principles brotherliness and mutual aid among its members.
game at Bo-Peep Pip is referring to the plaster casts in Jaggers' office that, in the shadowy reflections of the fire, look as if they are playing peekaboo with him. This is another example of human actions or emotions ascribed to inanimate objects.
garden-mould dirt, soil, earth.
gentlemanly Cove a gentlemanly chap or man.
Geographical chop-house . . . porter-pot a less-than-clean restaurant serving beefsteaks and mutton-chops and catering to clientele who are not concerned with neat eating habits. The porter-pot was a pot for holding cheap, bitter, dark-brown beer named for the people who drank it — porters and workingmen.
George Barnwell; meditating aloud in his garden at Camberwell; died amiably at Camberwell; game on Bosworth Field; and in the greatest agonies at Glastonbury after Pip visits Miss Havisham, he stops at Pumblechook's and listens to Wopsle perform the part of an uncle who is murdered in the play The London Merchant. Barnwell is the young hero in the story who kills the uncle. As Pip and Wopsle walk home from Pumblechook's, Wopsle continues his rendition of famous death scenes: the Camberwell reference is still from the Barnwell tragedy, and the Bosworth Field reference is from Richard III; the Glastonbury reference is unclear because Dickens may have confused Glastonbury with Swinstead Abbey, from Shakespeare's play King John.
gewgaws things that are showy but useless; trinkets.
gibbet a structure similar to a gallows, from which bodies of criminals already executed were hung and exposed to public scorn.
ginger and sal volatile this was a form of smelling salts used then especially to revive ladies who passed out or became hysterical. It was a mixture of ammonium carbonate scented with dried ginger. This is used much by Raymond to calm Miss Camilla during the night when she gets so "nervous" worrying about relatives like Miss Havisham.
gold repeater Jaggers' watch. It repeats, meaning it chimes the last hour or quarter hour when a lever is pressed and thus it can be checked in the dark. Its use was not as important after sulfur matches became common.
Gormandizing a British spelling of the word "gourmandising," which here means eating or devouring like a glutton.
Great Seal of England in plaited straw the Great Seal of England is an important symbol carried by the Lord Chancellor. Here, Mrs. Joe carries her plaited-straw basket importantly, like her own straw version of the Great Seal of England.
gridiron a framework of metal bars or wires on which to broil meat or fish. Joe is trying to use terms of his work to tell Pip there is nothing special he could make and bring to Miss Havisham that would be enough even if he were the best of craftsmen. Even the best cannot change a gridiron into something special.
Grinder a private tutor who prepares students for their examinations.
gunwale the upper edge of the side of a ship or boat.
hackney-coachman a hackney coach-driver. A hackney coach would be similar to a modern taxi in that you would hire it to take you somewhere, unlike the coaches coming into London from the provinces, which stopped at only certain stations or inns.
hair powder; shorts Magwitch's suggestions for a disguise are outdated, reflecting his many years away from England. Wigs were no longer used, hair powder was used only by the old-fashioned, and shorts or knee-breeches were worn only by some clergy members on ceremonial occasions.
hand-portmanteau a traveling case or bag.
Harmonious Blacksmith a piece of music by G. F. Handel (1685-1759) that was supposedly based on a blacksmith's song that the composer overheard.
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