Pride and Prejudice Flashcards
let
verb
- [with obj.] chiefly Brit. allow someone to have the use of (a room or property) in return for regular payments: she let the flat to a tenant | they’ve let out their house.
chaise
► noun
1. chiefly historical a horse-drawn carriage for one or two people, typically one with an open top and two wheels.
■ another term for post-chaise.
2. US term for chaise longue.
ORIGIN: mid 17th cent.: from French, variant of chaire (see chair).
mean
adjective
- (especially of a place) poor in quality and appearance; shabby: her home was mean and small.
■ (of a person’s mental capacity or understanding) inferior: it was obvious to even the meanest intelligence.
■ dated of low birth or social class: a muffler like that worn by the meanest of people.
fortnight /’fↄ:tnʌɪt/
► noun
Brit. a period of two weeks.
■ informal (preceded by a specified day) used to indicate that something will take place two weeks after that day.
ORIGIN: Old English fēowertīene niht ‘fourteen nights’.
mien /miːn/
► noun
a person’s appearance or manner, especially as an indication of their character or mood: he has a cautious, academic mien.
ORIGIN: early 16th cent.: probably from French mine ‘expression’, influenced by obsolete demean ‘bearing, demeanour’ (from demean2).
fastidious /fa’stɪdɪəs/
► adjective
very attentive to and concerned about accuracy and detail: she dressed with fastidious care.
■ very concerned about matters of cleanliness: the child seemed fastidious about getting her fingers dirty.
fastidiously adverb
fastidiousness noun.
ORIGIN: late Middle English: from Latin fastidiosus, from fastidium ‘loathing’. The word originally meant ‘disagreeable’, later ‘disgusted’. Current senses date from the 17th cent.
give leave
to acquiesce, concede, give permission to do something
supercilious /su:pə’sɪlɪəs/
► adjective
behaving or looking as though one thinks one is superior to others: a supercilious lady’s maid.
superciliously adverb
superciliousness noun.
ORIGIN: early 16th cent.: from Latin superciliosus ‘haughty’, from supercilium ‘eyebrow’.
loo2 /lu:/
► noun
[mass noun] a gambling card game, popular from the 17th to the 19th centuries, in which a player who fails to win a trick must pay a sum to a pool.
ORIGIN: late 17th cent.: abbreviation of obsolete lanterloo from French lanturlu, a meaningless song refrain.
piquet1 /pɪ’kɛt, ‘pɪkɪt/
► noun
[mass noun] a trick-taking card game for two players, using a 32-card pack consisting of the seven to the ace only.
ORIGIN: mid 17th cent.: from French, of unknown origin.
propitious /prə’pɪ∫əs/
► adjective
giving or indicating a good chance of success; favourable: the timing for such a meeting seemed propitious.
■ archaic favourably disposed towards someone.
propitiously adverb
propitiousness noun.
OEIGIN: late Middle English: from Old French propicieus or Latin propitius ‘favourable, gracious’.
obsequious /əb’siːkwɪəs/
► adjective
obedient or attentive to an excessive or servile degree: they were served by obsequious waiters.
obsequiously adverb
obsequiousness noun.
ORIGIN: late 15th cent. (not depreciatory in sense in early use): from Latin obsequiosus, from obsequium ‘compliance’, from obsequi ‘follow, comply with’.
muslin /’mʌzlɪn/
► noun
[mass noun] lightweight cotton cloth in a plain weave.
muslined adjective.
ORIGIN: early 17th cent.: from French mousseline, from Italian mussolina, from Mussolo ‘Mosul’ (see Mosul, where it was first manufactured).
stuffy /’stʌfi/
- (of a person) not receptive to new or unusual ideas; conventional and narrow-minded: he was steady and rather stuffy.
whist1 /wɪst/
► noun
[mass noun] a card game, usually for two pairs of players, in which points are scored according to the number of tricks won.
ORIGIN: mid 17th cent. (earlier as whisk): perhaps from whisk (with reference to whisking away the tricks); perhaps associated with whist2.
copse /kɒps/
► noun
a small group of trees.
paddock /’padək/
► noun
a small field or enclosure where horses are kept or exercised.
■ an enclosure adjoining a racecourse or track where horses or cars are gathered and displayed before a race.
■ Austral./NZ a field or plot of land enclosed by fencing or defined by natural boundaries.
► verb
[with obj.] keep (a horse) in a paddock: horses paddocked on a hillside.
ORIGIN: early 17th cent.: apparently a variant of dialect parrock, of unknown ultimate origin.
dilatory /’dɪlət(ə)ri/
► adjective
slow to act: he had been dilatory in appointing a solicitor.
■ intended to cause delay: they resorted to dilatory tactics, forcing a postponement of peace talks.
dilatorily adverb
dilatoriness noun.
ORIGIN: late Middle English: from late Latin dilatorius ‘delaying’, from Latin dilator ‘delayer’, from dilat- ‘deferred’, from the verb differre.
connubial /kə’njuːbɪəl/
► adjective
literary relating to marriage or the relationship of husband and wife; conjugal: their connubial bed.
connubiality noun
connubially adverb.
ORIGIN: mid 17th cent.: from Latin connubialis, from connubium ‘marriage’, from con- ‘with’ + nubere ‘marry’.
felicity /fɪ’lɪsɪti/
► noun (pl. felicities) [mass noun]
1. intense happiness: domestic felicity.
2. the ability to find appropriate expression for one’s thoughts: he exposed the kernel of the matter with his customary elegance and felicity.
■ [count noun] a particularly effective feature of a work of literature or art: a book full of minor felicities.
ORIGIN: late Middle English: from Old French felicite, from Latin felicitas, from felix, felic- ‘happy’.
simper /’sɪmpə/
► verb
[no obj.] smile in an affectedly coquettish (flirtatious), coy, or ingratiating manner: she simpered, looking pleased with herself.
► noun
an affectedly coquettish, coy, or ingratiating smile or gesture: an exaggerated simper.
simperingly adverb.
ORIGIN: mid 16th cent.: of unknown origin; compare with German zimpfer ‘elegant, delicate’.
panegyric /ˌpanɪ’dʒɪrɪk/
► noun
a public speech or published text in praise of someone or something: a panegyric on the pleasures of malt whisky.
panegyrical adjective.
ORIGIN: early 17th cent.: from French panégyrique, via Latin from Greek panēgurikos ‘of public assembly’, from pan ‘all’ + aguris ‘agora, assembly’.
diffident /’dɪfɪd(ə)nt/
► adjective
modest or shy because of a lack of self-confidence: a diffident youth.
diffidence noun
diffidently adverb.
ORIGIN: late Middle English (in the sense ‘lacking confidence or trust in someone or something’): from Latin diffident- ‘failing in trust’, from the verb diffidere, from dis- (expressing reversal) + fidere ‘to trust’.
