French Napoleonic Infantry Tactics 1792–1815

Question 1

the cradle of sth

Answer 1

the place where something started:
Fossil records indicate that Africa was the cradle of early human evolution.
the cradle of civilization

Question 2

den

Answer 2

a place where people secretly plan or take part in dishonest or illegal activities:
a drug/drinking/vice den
a den of thieves/iniquity

Question 3

iniquity

Answer 3

a very wrong and unfair action or situation:
They fought long and hard against the iniquities of apartheid.
The writer reflects on human injustice and iniquity.

Question 4

suckle

Answer 4

to feed a baby, especially a baby animal, with milk from the organ in the mother that produces milk, or (of a baby, especially a baby animal) to drink milk from the mother:
We watched the cow suckling her calves.
The puppies went back to their mother to suckle.

Question 5

shepherd

Answer 5

a person whose job is to take care of sheep and move them from one place to another:
a shepherd boy

Question 6

stratagem

Answer 6

a carefully planned way of achieving or dealing with something, often involving a trick:
Her stratagem for dealing with her husband’s infidelities was to ignore them.
He was a master of stratagem.

Question 7

abode

Answer 7

the place where someone lives:

(formal) The defendant is of no fixed abode (= has no permanent home).
(humorous) Welcome to my humble abode!

Question 8

under the plough

Answer 8

If land is under the plough, crops are grown on it:

These fields have been under the plough for centuries.

Question 9

hurl

Answer 9

to throw something with a lot of force, usually in an angry or violent way:
In a fit of temper he hurled the book across the room.
Youths hurled stones at the soldiers.

Question 10

glide

Answer 10

to move easily without stopping and without effort or noise:
She came gliding gracefully into the ballroom in a long, flowing gown.
I love my new pen - it just glides across/over the paper.

Question 11

kindle

Answer 11

to cause strong feelings or ideas in someone:

Her imagination was kindled by the exciting stories her grandmother told her.

Question 12

hallmark

Answer 12

a typical characteristic or feature of a person or thing:

Simplicity is a hallmark of this design.

Question 13

grumbler

Answer 13

a person who complains a lot:
She has no time for grumblers.
Like many middle-aged men, he’s become a grumbler.

Question 14

dire

Answer 14

very serious or extreme:
These people are in dire need of help.
He gave a dire warning that an earthquake was imminent.

Question 15

murky

Answer 15

dark and dirty or difficult to see through:

The river was brown and murky after the storm.

Question 16

rookie

Answer 16

a person who is new to an organization or an activity:

These rookie cops don’t know anything yet.

Question 17

weed sth/sb out

Answer 17

to get rid of unwanted things or people from a group:

The first round of interviews only really serves to weed out the very weakest of applicants.

Question 18

booty

Answer 18

any valuable things or money stolen by an army at war or by thieves

Question 19

craven

Answer 19

extremely cowardly (= not brave):
a craven act of terrorism

Question 20

lackey

Answer 20

a servant or someone who behaves like one by obeying someone else’s orders or by doing unpleasant work for them:
He treats us all like his lackeys.

Question 21

paroxysm

Answer 21

a sudden and powerful expression of strong feeling, especially one that you cannot control:
In a sudden paroxysm of jealousy he threw her clothes out of the window.
paroxysms of laughter

Question 22

treble

Answer 22

three times greater in amount, number, or size:

He earns almost treble the amount that I do.

Question 23

deem

Answer 23

to consider or judge something in a particular way:
The area has now been deemed safe.
We will provide help whenever you deem it appropriate.
Anyone not paying the registration fee by 31 March will be deemed to have withdrawn from the offer.

Question 24

nasty

Answer 24

bad or very unpleasant:
a nasty shock/surprise
There’s a nasty smell in here.

Question 25

galling

Answer 25

annoying:

It was very galling to have a younger brother who did everything better than me.

Question 26

admittedly

Answer 26

used when you are agreeing that something is true, especially unwillingly:
Admittedly, I could have tried harder but I still don’t think all this criticism is fair.

Question 27

take sth as read

Answer 27

to accept that something is true without making sure that it is:
I just took it as read that anyone who applied for the course would have the necessary qualifications.

Question 28

ramshackle

Answer 28

badly or untidily made and likely to break or fall down easily:
There’s a ramshackle old shed at the bottom of the garden

Question 29

make do

Answer 29

to manage to live without things that you would like to have or with things of a worse quality than you would like:
We didn’t have cupboards so we made do with boxes.

Question 30

drift off

Answer 30

to gradually start to sleep:

I couldn’t help drifting off in the middle of that lecture - it was so boring!

Question 31

trickle-down

Answer 31

used to refer to a situation in which something that starts in the high parts of a system spreads to the whole of the system:
The supposed trickle-down effect of lower taxes for the rich has not yet resulted in greater prosperity for society as a whole.

Question 32

milling

Answer 32

moving around in a large group, with no particular purpose, or in no particular direction:
I lost sight of him among the milling crowds.

Question 33

pedantry

Answer 33

the quality of being too interested in formal rules and small details that are not important:
There was a hint of pedantry in his elegant style of speaking.
His speech was precise to the point of pedantry.

Question 34

resilient

Answer 34

able to be happy, successful, etc. again after something difficult or bad has happened:
She’s a resilient girl - she won’t be unhappy for long.
Optimists argue that the economy may prove more resilient.

Question 35

lodge a claim, complaint, protest, etc.

Answer 35

to make an official complaint about something:
The US lodged a formal protest against the arrest of the foreign reporters.
Lawyers said last night that they would be lodging an appeal against the sentence.

Question 36

lodge

Answer 36

to (cause to) become stuck in a place or position:

A fish bone had lodged in her throat.