a Those adept in occult arts; fortunetellers.
b “Numbered, numbered, weighed, divided.”
d Wasting disease, such as tuberculosis.
e Lads; agricultural laborers.
f Neighboring areas; neighbors.
g East Indian sailor or soldier.
h Evil demon, jinni, or monster from The Arabian Nights.
i Innermost area; inner sanctum.
k Covered with lath and plaster.
l Indolence; indifference.
m Struck the dog with my signet ring.
n Nota bene (Latin): mark well; take notice.
o “What do you want?” . . . “The master is down in the fold [an enclosure for domestic animals]. Go round by the end of the barn if you want to speak to him.”
p “There’s no one here but the missus; and she won’t open it even if you make your terrible noise till night.”
q “Not I! I’ll have no hand in this.”
t Consumed (a facetious usage).
u “I wonder how you dare to stand there in idleness and worse, when all of them have gone out! But you’re a nothing, and it’s no use talking—you’ll never give up your bad ways, but go right to the devil, like your mother before you!”
v Headstone or top of a building; hence, finishing touch.
y Cupboard with shelves for storing clothing.
ab Aprons worn by children to protect their clothing.
ac “The master is hardly buried, and the Sabbath not over, and the sound of the gospel still in your ears, and you dare to be playing!”
ad Back cover of a book; spine.
ae “Miss Cathy has ripped the back cover off ‘The Helmet of Salvation,’ and Heathcliff has put his foot through the first part of ‘The Broad Way to Destruction’! It’s terrible that you let them go on in this way. Oh! the old man would have whipped them properly—but he’s dead!”
ak Convulsions of the jaw.
al Another’s child exchanged secretly for one’s own; especially an undesirable child substituted by the fairies in place of one’s own.
ao Variable, inconstant creatures.
ar A very hard rock, such as basalt.
at Shelf at the back of a fireplace where food is kept warm.
au England, Ireland, and Scotland.
av Frightened; put to flight.
az Charlotte Brontë altered the original “wick,” meaning lively or mischievous, to “wicked.”
be Cupboard for holding blue and white glazed earthenware (or Delft ware).
bg Raised stonework around the foundation of a house.
bj Hot mixture of sweetened water and wine, such as sherry or port.
bk Hat made of beaver fur.
bo Blackamoor; a dark-skinned person.
bp Trying to look like a dandy.
br Slender, delicate, like a rush or reed.
bu “It was late in the night, and the babies cried, / And the mother beneath the earth heard that”; the opening of a Scottish ballad entitled “The Ghaist’s Warning.”
bv High-backed wooden bench.
bw “And how is it that that nothing [Heathcliff] hasn’t come in from the field by this time? What is he about? great idle sight!”
bx “Bad enough for any foul manners.”
by “That lad gets worse and worse!” . . . “He’s left the gate wide open, and Missy’s pony has trodden down two rows of corn [grain], and trotted through, right over into the meadow! However, the master will play the devil tomorrow, and he’ll do well. He’s patience itself with careless, awful creatures—patience itself he is! But he won’t be so always—you’ll see, all of you! You mustn’t drive him out of his head for nothing!”
bz “I should more likely look for the horse,” . . . “It would be more sensible. But I can’t look for neither horse nor man on a night like this—as black as the chimney! and Heathcliff is no chap to come at my whistle—maybe he’ll be less hard of hearing with you!”
ca “No, no, he’s not at Gimmerton,” . . . “I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s at the bottom of a bog-hole. This visitation wasn’t for nothing, and I would have you look out, Miss—you might be the next one. Thank Heaven for all! All work together for good to them who are chosen and picked from the rubbish! You know what the Scripture says.” Joseph alludes to Romans 8:28: “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are called according to his purpose.”
ce Of all social ranks and degrees.
cl Spiny evergreen shrub.
cm “Nelly,” . . . “we’ll have a coroner’s inquest soon enough, at our house. One of them has almost gotten his finger cut off while holding the other back from sticking himself like a calf. That’s the master, you know, who’s set on going to the grand assizes. He’s not afraid of the bench of judges, nor of Paul, nor Peter, nor John, nor Matthew, nor anyone, not he! He fairly likes—he longs to set his brazen face against them! And that bonny lad Heathcliff, mind you, he’s a rare one. He can sneer a laugh as well as anyone at a devil’s joke. Does he never say anything of his fine living among us, when he goes to the Grange? This is the way it is: up at sundown, dice, brandy, closed shutters, and candle-light until the next day at noon: then the fool [Hindley] goes cursing and racing to his chamber, making decent folk put their fingers in their ears for very shame; and the knave [Heathcliff], why he can count his money, and eat, and sleep, and then go off to his neighbor’s to gossip with his [Edgar’s] wife. Of course, he tells Dame Catherine how her father’s gold runs into his pocket, and her father’s son gallops down the broad road while he runs before him to open the gates!”
cp Literally, a young hare; figuratively, a spiritless person.
cq In great straits: in extremity.
cs Arrows flung by elves said to inhabit caves.
cv A wood of planted trees.
cy Mincing words; making phony speeches.
da Stick or spoon for stirring porridge.
db “There!” . . . “Hareton, you won’t eat your porridge tonight; there won’t be anything but lumps as big as my fist. There, again! I’d fling the bowl at everyone, if I were you! There, skim the top off, and then you’ll be done with it. Bang, bang. It’s a mercy the bottom is not knocked out!”
dd “Here’s a room,” . . . “It’s good enough for eating porridge in. There’s a sack of grain in the corner there, fairly clean. . . .”
de “Couldn’t you have said so, at once? and then, I might have told you, without all this trouble, that that’s just the one you can’t see—he always keeps it locked, and nobody ever meddles with it except him.”
df Decorative paper cutouts.
dg “Where the hell would you go? you spoiled wearisome nothing! You’ve seen all but Hareton’s bit of a chamber. There’s not another room to lie down in in the house!”
dh “However, the master will just tumble over those broken pots; and then we’ll hear something; we’ll hear how it’s going to be. You good for nothing fool! you deserve to starve from now until Christmas, for flinging the gifts of God under foot in your terrible rages! But I’m mistaken if you’ll show your spirit for long. Will Heathcliff tolerate such bonny ways, do you think? I only wish he may catch you in that rage. I only wish he may.”
dl Situation; condition; state.
dn Not in accordance with correct or established principles.
dq Vertical bars of a window.
du Attendant spirit or demon.
dv Mythical reptile, the glance of which can be fatal.
dx “I’d rather he’d gone for the doctor himself! I should have taken care of the master better than him—and he wasn’t dead when I left, nothing of the sort!”
dy Tree with tough, durable wood.
dz Whip made from the branch of a hazel tree or shrub.
ea Variety of small, strong horse bred in Scotland.
ed Face, taken as an index of character or mental attributes.
ee Disreputable, worthless.
ei “Heathcliff doesn’t care about the mother, or you either.”
eo Stick of a creature; weakling.
es Hollows; small valleys.
et Small rackets used along with shuttlecocks to play badminton.
eu Bran was used to fill balls.
ex Get the better of you.
fb Ill humor; irritability.
fc Idiot. See also footnote on page 27.
fd Marries this poisonous creature.
fi Ignored; turned a blind eye to; glanced away.
fl Dried and twisted intestines of sheep or cows, which are used to make musical instrument strings; hence, resilient.
fn Met accidentally; encountered.
fp Lost; confused; bewildered.
fs Bored from doing nothing.
fu Lay waste to, or ravage [the game by hunting].
fv “Yonder [cart] is from Gimmerton! They’re always three weeks later than other folks with their harvest.”
fx “There’s nothing either dry or proper about the place: no, there isn’t!”
fy “Yes, for all I know!”
fz “I’d rather, by half, have them swearing in my ears from morning to night, than listen to you whatsoever!” . . . “It’s a blazing shame, that I cannot open the blessed Book, without you setting up those glories to Satan, and all the terrible wickedness that ever was born into the world! Oh! you’re a right nothing; and she’s another; and that poor lad will be lost between you. Poor lad!” . . . “He’s bewitched: I’m certain of it. Oh, Lord, judge them, for there’s neither law nor justice among our rulers!”
ga Burning sticks, particularly those used for burning heretics alive.
gi “Any books that you leave I shall take into the house,” . . . “and it’ll be very strange if you find them again; so you may please yourself!”
gj “You may bend to the yoke, and you will—I’m not used to it, and an old man doesn’t soon get used to new conditions. I’d rather earn my food with a hammer in the road!”
gk “It’s not Nelly.” . . . .“I wouldn’t move for Nelly, nasty evil nothing that she is. Thank God! she cannot steal anybody’s soul! She was never so handsome, that a man might look at her without winking. It’s that terrible graceless queen that’s bewitched our lad with her bold eyes and forward ways—till—No! it fairly bursts my heart!”
gn Sneering in death; sneering at death.
go Gold coin worth slightly more than one pound at the time of Lockwood’s return to Wuthering Heights.