Wuthering Heights- Emily Brontë Flashcards
Weather-cock
“ What vain weather-cocks we are!”
-A person who is fickle or changeable
a WEATHERVANE a revolving pointer to show the direction of the wind, typically mounted on top of a building in the form of a cockerel
To strike the colours
” I, weak wretch, was finally compelled to strike my colours […]”
In marine jargon “ to surrender”
Flit
“ If he had meant to flit to Thrushcross Grange, as soon as he heard of a good tenant, he could not have borne to miss the chance of getting a few hundreds more”
-Move swiftly and lightly
-Act of moving house or escaping one’s home secretly
Dunnock
“ And Hareton had been cast out like an unfledged dunnock”
a small European songbird of the accentor family, with a dark grey head and a reddish-brown back.
Churl
“ He must have had some ups and downs in life to make him such a churl”
-A rude and mean-spirited person.
- A peasant ( archaic)
Whinstone
“ Rough as a saw-edge and hard as a whinstone! The less you meddle with him, the better”
A term used in the quarrying industry to describe any hard dark-coloured rock.
Interloper
“ And I pray that he may break your neck; take him, and be damned, you beggarly interloper!”
A person who becomes involved in a place or situation where they are not wanted or are considered not to belong.
Parson
“ He told me to put on my cloack and run to Gimmerton for the doctor and the parson”
-A beneficed member of the clergy; a rector or a vicar.
-Any member of the clergy, especially a Protestant one. ( Informal)
bonny
“ […] she had the bonniest eyes, and sweetest smile, and the lightest foot in the parishi[…]”
Attractive, beautiful ( Northern English- Scottish)
Peevish
“ His peevish reproofs wakened in her a naughty delight to provoke him[…]”
Having or showing an irritable disposition.
Yonder
“ […] you saw him, I dare say, up yonder”
adverb ARCHAIC•DIALECT
At some distance in the direction indicated; over there.
To flog
“ Heathcliff received no flogging, but he was told that the first word he spoke to Miss Catherine should ensure a dismissal”
- Beat (someone) with a whip or stick as a punishment
-INFORMAL•BRITISH
sell or offer for sale.
-nounINFORMAL•BRITISH
an arduous climb or struggle.
“a long flog up the mountainside
To prattle
“ She expressed pleasure, too, at finding a sister among her new acquaintance, and she prattled to Catherine[…]”
To talk at length in a foolish or inconsequential way
To portend
“ […] I knew nothing of what these symptoms portended, and had no impulse to sympathize with her”
To be a sign or warning that (something, especially something momentous or calamitous) is likely to happen.
Mire
“ Therefore, not to mention his clothes, which had seen three months service in mire and dust, and his thick uncombed hair, the surface of his face and hand was dismally beclouded”
dirt or mud.
Sundry
“[…] Mr and Mrs Earnshaw were engaging Missy’s attention by sundry gay trifles bought for her to present to the little Lintons, as an acknoledgement of their kindness”
If someonereferstosundrypeople or things, they are referring to several people or things that are all different from each other.
Dour
“ He managed to continue work till nine o’clock, and then, marched dumb and dour to his chamber”
If you describe someone as dour, you mean that they are very serious and unfriendly.
Cur
“ Don’t get the expression of a vicious cur that appears to know the kicks it gets are its desert, and yet, hates all the world, as well as the kicker, for what it suffers”
A cur is anunfriendlydog,especiallya mongrel.
[old-fashioned]
Coxcomb
“ What, you are attempting the coxcomb, are you? “
A conceited dandy (informal)
To expostulate
“ You should not have spoken to him!” she expostulated with Master Linton
If you expostulate, you express strong disagreement with someone.
Bairn
“ Oh such a grand bairn! she panted out
A bairn is a child.
[Scottish]
To recoil
“ […] he had ceased to express his fondness for her in words and recoiled with angry suspicion from his girlish caresses[…]”
If something makes you recoil, you move your body quickly away from it because it frightens, offends, or hurts you
To scour
“Take yourself and your dusters off! when company are in the house, servants don’t commence scouring and cleaning in the room where they are!
If you scour something such as a place or a book, you make a thorough search of it to try to find what you are looking for.
To nip
“ O, Miss, that’s a nasty trick! you have no right to nip me, and I’m not going to bear It!”
If you nip somewhere, usually somewhere nearby, you go there quickly or for a short time.
To glisten
“Her eyes began to glisten and her lids to winkle”
If something glistens, it shines, usually because it is wet or oily.
Furze
“ An unreclaimed creature, without refinement-cultivation; an arid wilderness of furze and whinstone”
An other name for “Gorse” a dark green bush that grows in Europe. It has small yellow flowers and sharp prickles.
Droll
“ Mrs Linton eyed him with a droll expression-half angry, half laughing at his fastidiousness”
Something or someone that is droll is amusing or witty, sometimes in an unexpected way.
Divest
“ […] eyes full of black fire, but it was subdued; and his manner was even dignified, quite divested of roughness though too stern for grace”
If something or someone is divested of a particular quality, they lose that quality or it is taken away from them.
Pertness
“ He,many a time,spoke sternly to me about my pertness;and averred that the stab of a knife could not inflict a worse pang than he suffered at seeing his lady vexed”
If someone describes a young woman as pert, they mean that they like her because she is lively and not afraid to say what she thinks. This use could cause offence.
Grouse
“ About seven days ago he sent me a brace of grouse-the last of the season”
A grouse is a wild bird with a round body. Grouse are often shot for sport and can be eaten.
Saunter
“ It’s surely not great cause of alarm that Heathcliff should take a moonlight saunter on the moors, or even lie too sulky to speak to us, in the hay-loft”I
If you saunter somewhere, you walk there in a slow, casual way.
Hovel
A hovel is a small hut, especially one which is dirty or needs a lot of repair.
Heifer
“This bed is the fairy cave under Penistone Crag, and you are gathering elf-bolts to hurt our heifers; pretending, while I am near, that they are only locks of wool”
A heifer is a young cow that has not yet had a calf.
Blanch
“ Edgar sprang to his unbidden guest, blanched with astonishment and rage”
If you blanch, you suddenly become very pale.
Shirk
“Most likely he supposed that I was inclined to shirk my promise, and so he resolved to trust his own audacity”
If someone does not shirk their responsibility or duty, they do what they have a responsibility to do.
Thaw
“At Wuthering Heights it always sounded on quiet days, following a great thaw, or a season of steady rain[….]”
When ice, snow, or something else that is frozen thaws, it melts.
Mortgage
“ [..] Earnshaw had mortgaged every yard of land he owned for cash to supply his mania for gaming: and he, Heathcliff, was the mortgagee”
If you mortgage your house or land, you use it as a guarantee to a company in order to borrow money from them.
Tumblerful
a flat-bottomed drinking glass with nohandleor stem. Originally, atumblerhad a round or pointed base and so could notstandupright
b.Also called:tumblerful
thecontentsor quantity such a glass holds
Tumblerful
“ […] he sat down by the fire, and swallowed gin or brandy by tumblerfuls”
a flat-bottomed drinking glass with nohandleor stem. Originally, atumblerhad a round or pointed base and so could notstandupright
b.Also called:tumblerful
thecontentsor quantity such a glass holds
Plight
“[…]I inquired what had urged her to escape from Wuthering Heights in such an unlikely plight”
COUNTABLE NOUN[usually singular]
If youreferto someone’splight, you mean that they are in adifficultordistressingsituationthat is full ofproblems.
Galloway
“ She would have me to cut her a hazel switch, and then she lept her galloway over the hedge yonder, where it is lowest, and galloped out of sight”
southernmostpoint of Scotland)
abreedofhardybeefcattle, usually black,originallybred in Galloway
Rebuff
“ Having no excuse for lingering longer, I slipped out, while Linton was engaged in timidly rebuffing the advances of a friendly sheep-dog”
If you rebuff someone or rebuff a suggestion that they make, you refuse to do what they suggest.
Whey-faced
“[…]I’m bitterly disappointed with the whey-faced whining wretch!”
Whey is the watery part of sour milk that is separated from the thick part called curds, for example when you are making cheese.
Bloodless, pale face
Fleecy
“ […] a light mist mounted, and formed fleecy cloud, on the skirts of the blue”
Fleecyclothes,blankets, or otherobjectsare made of asoftlight material.
Puling
” Where is my share in thee, puling chicken?”
whining; whimpering
Bathos
” I know what he suffers now, for instance, exactly-it is merely the beginning of what he shall suffer, though. And he’ll never be able to emerge from his bathos of coarsness and ignorance.”
In literary criticism, bathos is a sudden change in speech or writing from a serious or important subject to a ridiculous or very ordinary one.
[technical]
Synonyms: anticlimax, disappointment, sentimentality, letdown
Crestfallen
” Why did you quarrel?” asked Catherine, considerably crestfallen
If you look crestfallen, you look sad and disappointed about something.
Synonyms: disappointed, depressed, discouraged, dejected
To gad
” Zillah is constantly gadding off tò Gimmerton since papa went”
To go out in search of pleasure, esp in an aimless manner; gallivant
Stride
“ […] and with rapid strides, he hurried her into the alley, whose trees concealed them”
If you stride somewhere, you walk there with quick, long steps.
Cockatrice
“ […] I Hope Miss Cathy will think twice, before she takes the cockatrice!”
Another name for basilisk
