Great expectations 1/2

Mathias C.
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words only definitions & notes
  1. marsh
    low-lying wet land with grassy vegetation
    Ours was the marsh country, down by the river, within, as the river
    wound, twenty miles of the sea.
  2. suborn
    incite to commit a crime or an evil deed
    Whether myrmidons of Justice,
    specially sent down from London, would be lying in ambush behind the
    gate;--whether Miss Havisham, preferring to take personal vengeance for
    an outrage done to her house, might rise in those grave-clothes of hers,
    draw a pistol, and shoot me dead:--whether suborned boys--a numerous
    band of mercenaries--might be engaged to fall upon me in the brewery,
    and cuff me until I was no more;--it was high testimony to my confidence
    in the spirit of the pale ...
  3. toady
    a person who tries to please someone to gain an advantage
    Before I had been
    standing at the window five minutes, they somehow conveyed to me that
    they were all toadies and humbugs, but that each of them pretended not
    to know that the others were toadies and humbugs: because the admission
    that he or she did know it, would have made him or her out to be a toady
    and humbug.
  4. appall
    strike with disgust or revulsion
    Instantly afterwards, the company were seized with
    unspeakable consternation, owing to his springing to his feet, turning
    round several times in an appalling spasmodic whooping-cough dance,
    and rushing out at the door; he then became visible through the window,
    violently plunging and expectorating, making the most hideous faces, and
    apparently out of his mind.
  5. decant
    pour out
    I stole some bread,
    some rind of cheese, about half a jar of mincemeat (which I tied up in
    my pocket-handkerchief with my last night's slice), some brandy from a
    stone bottle (which I decanted into a glass bottle I had secretly used
    for making that intoxicating fluid, Spanish-liquorice-water, up in my
    room: diluting the stone bottle from a jug in the kitchen cupboard),
    a meat bone with very little on it, and a beautiful round compact pork
    pie.
  6. swelter
    be uncomfortably hot
    Nothing less than two fat sweltering one-pound notes that seemed to have
    been on terms of the warmest intimacy with all the cattle-markets in
    the county.
  7. manacle
    shackle that can be locked around the wrist
    If I had died at
    the bottom there," and he made an emphatic swing at the ditch with his
    manacled hands, "I'd have held to him with that grip, that you should
    have been safe to find him in my hold."
  8. stare
    look at with fixed eyes
    "Once more," said the man, staring at me.
  9. premise
    a statement that is held to be true
    For the fugitive out on the marshes with the ironed leg, the
    mysterious young man, the file, the food, and the dreadful pledge I was
    under to commit a larceny on those sheltering premises, rose before me
    in the avenging coals.
  10. discomfit
    cause to lose one's composure
    "If Miss Havisham wished to see me," returned Mr. Pumblechook,
    discomfited.
  11. nettle
    plant having stinging hairs that cause skin irritation
    At such a time I found out for certain
    that this bleak place overgrown with nettles was the churchyard; and
    that Philip Pirrip, late of this parish, and also Georgiana wife of the
    above, were dead and buried; and that Alexander, Bartholomew, Abraham,
    Tobias, and Roger, infant children of the aforesaid, were also dead
    and buried; and that the dark flat wilderness beyond the churchyard,
    intersected with dikes and mounds and gates, with scattered cattle
    feeding on it, was the mars...
  12. tilt
    lean over; tip
    After darkly looking at his leg and me several times, he came closer
    to my tombstone, took me by both arms, and tilted me back as far as he
    could hold me; so that his eyes looked most powerfully down into mine,
    and mine looked most helplessly up into his.
  13. stipulate
    make an express demand or provision in an agreement
    As it was, she merely stipulated, "If you bring the boy
    back with his head blown to bits by a musket, don't look to me to put it
    together again."
  14. wither
    lose freshness, vigor, or vitality
    This was always followed by Collins's Ode on
    the Passions, wherein I particularly venerated Mr. Wopsle as Revenge
    throwing his blood-stained sword in thunder down, and taking the
    War-denouncing trumpet with a withering look.
  15. pummel
    strike, usually with the fist
    Then, he and my sister would pair off in such nonsensical speculations
    about Miss Havisham, and about what she would do with me and for me,
    that I used to want--quite painfully--to burst into spiteful tears, fly
    at Pumblechook, and pummel him all over.
  16. stupefy
    make someone dazed or foolish
    But I was in
    a manner stupefied by this turning up of my old misdeed and old
    acquaintance, and could think of nothing else.
  17. disputatious
    showing an inclination to disagree
    I think it will be conceded by my most disputatious reader, that she
    could hardly have directed an unfortunate boy to do anything in the wide
    world more difficult to be done under the circumstances.
  18. commiserate
    feel or express sympathy or compassion
    "He was a world of trouble to you, ma'am," said Mrs. Hubble,
    commiserating my sister.
  19. exasperate
    make furious
    At that point, my convict
    became so frantically exasperated, that he would have rushed upon him
    but for the interposition of the soldiers.
  20. interpose
    introduce
    "Who's firing?" said I.

    "Drat that boy," interposed my sister, frowning at me over her work,
    "what a questioner he is.
  21. execrate
    curse or declare to be evil or anathema
    Both were bleeding and panting and execrating and struggling; but
    of course I knew them both directly.
  22. aggravate
    make worse
    I think the Romans must have aggravated one another very much, with
    their noses.
  23. pilfer
    make off with belongings of others
    Chapter VI

    My state of mind regarding the pilfering from which I had been so
    unexpectedly exonerated did not impel me to frank disclosure; but I hope
    it had some dregs of good at the bottom of it.
  24. astound
    affect with wonder
    "Well to be sure!" said Joe, astounded.
  25. impel
    urge or force to an action; constrain or motivate
    It was the
    certainty of this fact that impelled me to offer the hint.
  26. pounce
    move down on as if in an attack
    By this time, my sister was quite desperate, so she pounced on Joe,
    and, taking him by the two whiskers, knocked his head for a little while
    against the wall behind him, while I sat in the corner, looking guiltily
    on.
  27. cask
    a cylindrical container that holds liquids
    On the edge of the
    river I could faintly make out the only two black things in all the
    prospect that seemed to be standing upright; one of these was the beacon
    by which the sailors steered,--like an unhooped cask upon a pole,--an
    ugly thing when you were near it; the other, a gibbet, with some chains
    hanging to it which had once held a pirate.
  28. oblige
    force somebody to do something
    But he punished the Amens
    tremendously; and when he gave out the psalm,--always giving the whole
    verse,--he looked all round the congregation first, as much as to say,
    "You have heard my friend overhead; oblige me with your opinion of this
    style!"
  29. foreshadow
    indicate by signs
    As she applied herself to set the tea-things, Joe peeped down at me
    over his leg, as if he were mentally casting me and himself up, and
    calculating what kind of pair we practically should make, under the
    grievous circumstances foreshadowed.
  30. crumple
    gather something into small wrinkles or folds
    He looked it out from a handful of small change, folded it in some
    crumpled paper, and gave it to me.
  31. retort
    a quick reply to a question or remark
    Every Christmas Day, he retorted, as
    he now retorted, "It's no more than your merits.
  32. torch
    a light usually carried in the hand
    He sees
    the soldiers, with their red coats lighted up by the torches carried
    afore, closing in round him.
  33. exclaim
    utter aloud, often with surprise, horror, or joy
    "You did," said I.

    "And why did I do it, I should like to know?" exclaimed my sister.
  34. limp
    walk unevenly due to pain, injury, or weakness
    A man who had been soaked in water, and smothered in mud, and
    lamed by stones, and cut by flints, and stung by nettles, and torn by
    briars; who limped, and shivered, and glared, and growled; and whose
    teeth chattered in his head as he seized me by the chin.
  35. deface
    mar or spoil the appearance of
    This mental exercise lasted until Biddy made a rush at
    them and distributed three defaced Bibles (shaped as if they had been
    unskilfully cut off the chump end of something), more illegibly printed
    at the best than any curiosities of literature I have since met with,
    speckled all over with ironmould, and having various specimens of the
    insect world smashed between their leaves.
  36. taunt
    harass with persistent criticism or carping
    The other, always working and working his dry lips and turning his eyes
    restlessly about him far and near, did at last turn them for a moment on
    the speaker, with the words, "You are not much to look at," and with
    a half-taunting glance at the bound hands.
  37. goad
    stab or urge on as if with a pointed stick
    I might have been an unfortunate
    little bull in a Spanish arena, I got so smartingly touched up by these
    moral goads.
  38. grovel
    show submission or fear
    Do you see those grovelling and wandering eyes?
  39. connubial
    relating to marriage or the relationship between spouses
    She concluded by throwing
    me--I often served as a connubial missile--at Joe, who, glad to get hold
    of me on any terms, passed me on into the chimney and quietly fenced me
    up there with his great leg.
  40. contemplate
    think intently and at length, as for spiritual purposes
    At last, I desperately
    considered that the thing I contemplated must be done, and that it
    had best be done in the least improbable manner consistent with the
    circumstances.
  41. transpire
    come about, happen, or occur
    An epergne or centre-piece of some kind was in the
    middle of this cloth; it was so heavily overhung with cobwebs that its
    form was quite undistinguishable; and, as I looked along the yellow
    expanse out of which I remember its seeming to grow, like a black
    fungus, I saw speckle-legged spiders with blotchy bodies running home
    to it, and running out from it, as if some circumstances of the greatest
    public importance had just transpired in the spider community.
  42. astonish
    affect with wonder
    I am far from being sure that I
    might not have astonished our small congregation by resorting to this
    extreme measure, but for its being Christmas Day and no Sunday.
  43. exonerate
    pronounce not guilty of criminal charges
    Chapter VI

    My state of mind regarding the pilfering from which I had been so
    unexpectedly exonerated did not impel me to frank disclosure; but I hope
    it had some dregs of good at the bottom of it.
  44. amble
    walk leisurely
    Sarah
    Pocket and Georgiana contended who should remain last; but Sarah was
    too knowing to be outdone, and ambled round Georgiana with that artful
    slipperiness that the latter was obliged to take precedence.
  45. chimney
    vertical flue carrying smoke through the wall of a building
    Joe and I being fellow-sufferers, and having
    confidences as such, Joe imparted a confidence to me, the moment I
    raised the latch of the door and peeped in at him opposite to it,
    sitting in the chimney corner.
  46. divulge
    make known to the public information previously kept secret
    Under the weight of my wicked secret, I pondered whether the
    Church would be powerful enough to shield me from the vengeance of the
    terrible young man, if I divulged to that establishment.
  47. ablution
    the act of washing oneself, as for ritual purposes
    When my ablutions were completed, I was put into clean linen of the
    stiffest character, like a young penitent into sackcloth, and was
    trussed up in my tightest and fearfullest suit.
  48. perspicuity
    clarity as a consequence of being easily understandable
    Joe recited this couplet with such manifest pride and careful
    perspicuity, that I asked him if he had made it himself.
  49. savory
    pleasing to the sense of taste
    "You must know," said my sister, rising, "it's a pie; a savory pork
    pie."
  50. utensil
    an implement for practical use
    So, in the brewery itself,--by which
    I mean the large paved lofty place in which they used to make the beer,
    and where the brewing utensils still were.
  51. obtrude
    push to thrust outward
    I was secretly afraid of him when I saw him so dexterous; but I felt
    morally and physically convinced that his light head of hair could have
    had no business in the pit of my stomach, and that I had a right to
    consider it irrelevant when so obtruded on my attention.
  52. mention
    make reference to
    In
    our already-mentioned freemasonry as fellow-sufferers, and in his
    good-natured companionship with me, it was our evening habit to compare
    the way we bit through our slices, by silently holding them up to each
    other's admiration now and then,--which stimulated us to new exertions.
  53. detach
    cause to become separated
    Here, the daylight reappeared, and I found myself in
    a small paved courtyard, the opposite side of which was formed by a
    detached dwelling-house, that looked as if it had once belonged to the
    manager or head clerk of the extinct brewery.
  54. venerate
    regard with feelings of respect and reverence
    This was always followed by Collins's Ode on
    the Passions, wherein I particularly venerated Mr. Wopsle as Revenge
    throwing his blood-stained sword in thunder down, and taking the
    War-denouncing trumpet with a withering look.
  55. knave
    a deceitful and unreliable scoundrel
    "He calls the knaves Jacks, this boy!" said Estella with disdain, before
    our first game was out.
  56. calculate
    make a mathematical computation
    As she applied herself to set the tea-things, Joe peeped down at me
    over his leg, as if he were mentally casting me and himself up, and
    calculating what kind of pair we practically should make, under the
    grievous circumstances foreshadowed.
  57. propound
    put forward, as of an idea
    I was not free from apprehension that he would come back to propound
    through the gate, "And sixteen?"
  58. ponder
    reflect deeply on a subject
    He turned it about in his mouth much longer than
    usual, pondering over it a good deal, and after all gulped it down like
    a pill.
  59. knead
    use the hands to mix and work something into a uniform mass
    With that, she pounced upon me, like an eagle on a lamb, and my face was
    squeezed into wooden bowls in sinks, and my head was put under taps of
    water-butts, and I was soaped, and kneaded, and towelled, and thumped,
    and harrowed, and rasped, until I really was quite beside myself.
  60. sluice
    conduit that carries a rapid flow of water
    There was a reasonably good path now, mostly
    on the edge of the river, with a divergence here and there where a dike
    came, with a miniature windmill on it and a muddy sluice-gate.
  61. regale
    occupy in an agreeable, entertaining or pleasant fashion
    Not because I was squeezed in
    at an acute angle of the tablecloth, with the table in my chest, and the
    Pumblechookian elbow in my eye, nor because I was not allowed to speak
    (I didn't want to speak), nor because I was regaled with the scaly tips
    of the drumsticks of the fowls, and with those obscure corners of pork
    of which the pig, when living, had had the least reason to be vain.
  62. badger
    sturdy carnivorous burrowing mammal with strong claws
    "I tell you what,
    young fellow," said she, "I didn't bring you up by hand to badger
    people's lives out.
  63. trinket
    a small cheap ornament, knickknack, or piece of jewelry
    She had not quite finished dressing, for she had but one shoe on,--the
    other was on the table near her hand,--her veil was but half arranged,
    her watch and chain were not put on, and some lace for her bosom lay
    with those trinkets, and with her handkerchief, and gloves, and
    some flowers, and a Prayer-Book all confusedly heaped about the
    looking-glass.
  64. accessory
    a supplementary component that improves capability
    My opinion of those accessories was
    not favorable.
  65. misgiving
    uneasiness about the fitness of an action
    "I should like to be," said I, glancing at the slate as he held it; with
    a misgiving that the writing was rather hilly.
  66. impart
    bestow a quality on
    Joe and I being fellow-sufferers, and having
    confidences as such, Joe imparted a confidence to me, the moment I
    raised the latch of the door and peeped in at him opposite to it,
    sitting in the chimney corner.
  67. imprecation
    the act of calling down a curse that invokes evil
    The last I saw
    of him, his head was bent over his knee and he was working hard at his
    fetter, muttering impatient imprecations at it and at his leg.
  68. pursue
    follow in an effort to capture
    "Now," he pursued, "you remember what you've undertook, and you remember
    that young man, and you get home!"
  69. oppress
    come down on or keep down by unjust use of one's authority
    Then, as I looked up
    at it, while it dripped, it seemed to my oppressed conscience like a
    phantom devoting me to the Hulks.
  70. earthy
    of or consisting of or resembling the soil
    So she sat, corpse-like, as we played at cards; the frillings and
    trimmings on her bridal dress, looking like earthy paper.
  71. dismal
    causing dejection
    At this dismal intelligence, I twisted the only button on my waistcoat
    round and round, and looked in great depression at the fire.
  72. signify
    denote or connote
    A
    little redness or a little matter of Bone, here or there, what does it
    signify to Me?"
  73. mortify
    cause to feel shame
    Besides being possessed by my sister's
    idea that a mortifying and penitential character ought to be imparted
    to my diet,--besides giving me as much crumb as possible in combination
    with as little butter, and putting such a quantity of warm water into
    my milk that it would have been more candid to have left the milk out
    altogether,--his conversation consisted of nothing but arithmetic.
  74. homily
    a sermon on a moral or religious topic
    After favoring them with some heads of that discourse, he remarked
    that he considered the subject of the day's homily, ill chosen; which
    was the less excusable, he added, when there were so many subjects
    "going about."
  75. totter
    move without being stable, as if threatening to fall
    The pupils ate apples
    and put straws down one another's backs, until Mr. Wopsle's great-aunt
    collected her energies, and made an indiscriminate totter at them with
    a birch-rod.
  76. plait
    a hairdo formed by braiding or twisting the hair
    And then they
    both stared at me, and I, with an obtrusive show of artlessness on my
    countenance, stared at them, and plaited the right leg of my trousers
    with my right hand.
  77. conventionally
    in a conventional manner
    I remember
    Mrs. Hubble as a little curly sharp-edged person in sky-blue, who held a
    conventionally juvenile position, because she had married Mr. Hubble,--I
    don't know at what remote period,--when she was much younger than he.
  78. diverge
    move or draw apart
    We were taking
    the course I had begun with, and from which I had diverged in the mist.
  79. laboring
    doing arduous or unpleasant work
    Why, he is a common laboring boy!"
  80. lean
    incline or bend from a vertical position
    He could not so much as get his breath to speak, until they were both
    separately handcuffed, but leaned upon a soldier to keep himself from
    falling.
  81. bristle
    a stiff hair
    He was prematurely bald on the top of his head, and
    had bushy black eyebrows that wouldn't lie down but stood up bristling.
  82. terror
    an overwhelming feeling of fear and anxiety
    Don't cut my throat, sir," I pleaded in terror.
  83. scholar
    a learned person
    There was a fiction that Mr. Wopsle "examined"
    the scholars once a quarter.
  84. unassisted
    unsupported by other people
    Much of my unassisted self, and more by the help of Biddy than of Mr.
    Wopsle's great-aunt, I struggled through the alphabet as if it had been
    a bramble-bush; getting considerably worried and scratched by every
    letter.
  85. bolt
    a screw that screws into a nut to form a fastener
    But such a--" he moved his chair and looked about the floor
    between us, and then again at me--"such a most oncommon Bolt as that!"
  86. coupling
    the act of pairing a male and female for reproductive purposes
    "You see, blacksmith," said the sergeant, who had by this time picked
    out Joe with his eye, "we have had an accident with these, and I find
    the lock of one of 'em goes wrong, and the coupling don't act pretty.
  87. obtrusive
    sticking out; protruding
    And then they
    both stared at me, and I, with an obtrusive show of artlessness on my
    countenance, stared at them, and plaited the right leg of my trousers
    with my right hand.
  88. miserly
    characterized by or indicative of lack of generosity
    Also, when we
    played at cards Miss Havisham would look on, with a miserly relish of
    Estella's moods, whatever they were.
  89. fascinate
    attract; cause to be enamored
    These crawling things had fascinated my attention, and I was watching
    them from a distance, when Miss Havisham laid a hand upon my shoulder.
  90. remark
    make or write a comment on
    "I am afraid you won't leave any of it for him," said I, timidly; after
    a silence during which I had hesitated as to the politeness of making
    the remark.
  91. scatter
    cause to separate and go in different directions
    At such a time I found out for certain
    that this bleak place overgrown with nettles was the churchyard; and
    that Philip Pirrip, late of this parish, and also Georgiana wife of the
    above, were dead and buried; and that Alexander, Bartholomew, Abraham,
    Tobias, and Roger, infant children of the aforesaid, were also dead
    and buried; and that the dark flat wilderness beyond the churchyard,
    intersected with dikes and mounds and gates, with scattered cattle
    feeding on it, was the mars...
  92. construe
    make sense of; assign a meaning to
    I was fully old
    enough now to be apprenticed to Joe; and when Joe sat with the poker on
    his knees thoughtfully raking out the ashes between the lower bars, my
    sister would so distinctly construe that innocent action into opposition
    on his part, that she would dive at him, take the poker out of his
    hands, shake him, and put it away.
  93. condescend
    behave in a patronizing manner
    Estella, for her part, likewise treated me as before, except that she
    did not condescend to speak.
  94. conciliatory
    making or willing to make concessions
    Joe, who had ventured into the kitchen after me as the dustpan had
    retired before us, drew the back of his hand across his nose with a
    conciliatory air, when Mrs. Joe darted a look at him, and, when her eyes
    were withdrawn, secretly crossed his two forefingers, and exhibited them
    to me, as our token that Mrs. Joe was in a cross temper.
  95. patronize
    provide support for
    Yet I do not call to mind that I
    was ever in my earlier youth the subject of remark in our social family
    circle, but some large-handed person took some such ophthalmic steps to
    patronize me.
  96. chafe
    become or make sore by or as if by rubbing
    But he was down on the rank wet
    grass, filing at his iron like a madman, and not minding me or minding
    his own leg, which had an old chafe upon it and was bloody, but which he
    handled as roughly as if it had no more feeling in it than the file.
  97. assent
    agree or express agreement
    "Of course, or girl, Mr. Hubble," assented Mr. Wopsle, rather irritably,
    "but there is no girl present."
  98. clutch
    take hold of; grab
    I still held on to the
    leg of the table, but clutched it now with the fervor of gratitude.
  99. stimulate
    cause to act in a specified manner
    In
    our already-mentioned freemasonry as fellow-sufferers, and in his
    good-natured companionship with me, it was our evening habit to compare
    the way we bit through our slices, by silently holding them up to each
    other's admiration now and then,--which stimulated us to new exertions.
  100. loiter
    linger, remain, or wait around for no apparent reason
    But don't
    loiter, boy."
  101. ravage
    cause extensive destruction or ruin utterly
    Without having any definite idea of the penalties I had
    incurred, it was clear to me that village boys could not go stalking
    about the country, ravaging the houses of gentlefolks and pitching into
    the studious youth of England, without laying themselves open to severe
    punishment.
  102. vanquish
    defeat in a competition, race, or conflict
    But Joe took the case altogether out of the region of
    metaphysics, and by that means vanquished it.
  103. humiliate
    cause to feel shame
    I was so humiliated, hurt, spurned, offended, angry, sorry,--I
    cannot hit upon the right name for the smart--God knows what its name
    was,--that tears started to my eyes.
  104. trenchant
    having keenness and forcefulness and penetration in thought
    My sister had a trenchant way of cutting our bread and butter for us,
    that never varied.
  105. gape
    look with amazement
    The worst of it was that that bullying old Pumblechook, preyed upon by
    a devouring curiosity to be informed of all I had seen and heard, came
    gaping over in his chaise-cart at tea-time, to have the details divulged
    to him.
  106. larceny
    the act of taking something from someone unlawfully
    For the fugitive out on the marshes with the ironed leg, the
    mysterious young man, the file, the food, and the dreadful pledge I was
    under to commit a larceny on those sheltering premises, rose before me
    in the avenging coals.
  107. felicitous
    exhibiting an agreeably appropriate manner or style
    Chapter X

    The felicitous idea occurred to me a morning or two later when I woke,
    that the best step I could take towards making myself uncommon was to
    get out of Biddy everything she knew.
  108. grateful
    feeling or showing thankfulness
    Mr. Wopsle said grace with
    theatrical declamation,--as it now appears to me, something like a
    religious cross of the Ghost in Hamlet with Richard the Third,--and
    ended with the very proper aspiration that we might be truly grateful.
  109. eddy
    a miniature whirlpool or whirlwind
    There had been
    some light snow, overnight, and it lay nowhere else to my knowledge;
    but, it had not quite melted from the cold shadow of this bit of garden,
    and the wind caught it up in little eddies and threw it at the window,
    as if it pelted me for coming there.
  110. pore
    any tiny hole admitting passage of a liquid
    The watchmaker, always poring over a little desk with
    a magnifying-glass at his eye, and always inspected by a group of
    smock-frocks poring over him through the glass of his shop-window,
    seemed to be about the only person in the High Street whose trade
    engaged his attention.
  111. vat
    a large open vessel for holding or storing liquids
    But there were no pigeons
    in the dove-cot, no horses in the stable, no pigs in the sty, no malt in
    the storehouse, no smells of grains and beer in the copper or the vat.
  112. repeat
    say or state again
    "Churchyard!" repeated my sister.
  113. battery
    a collection of related things intended for use together
    You
    bring the lot to me, at that old Battery over yonder.
  114. reek
    give off smoke, fumes, warm vapour, steam, etc.
    All the uses and scents of the brewery might have evaporated with its
    last reek of smoke.
  115. consider
    think about carefully; weigh
    "Ha!" he muttered then, considering.
  116. evaporate
    change into gas or steam
    All the uses and scents of the brewery might have evaporated with its
    last reek of smoke.
  117. pervade
    spread or diffuse through
    The passage was a long one, and seemed to pervade the whole square
    basement of the Manor House.
  118. sportive
    given to merry frolicking
    And
    he had better play there," said my sister, shaking her head at me as an
    encouragement to be extremely light and sportive, "or I'll work him."
  119. shroud
    burial garment in which a corpse is wrapped
    I indicated in what direction the mist had shrouded the other man,
    and he looked up at it for an instant.
  120. rub
    move over something with pressure
    "I have only been to the churchyard," said I, from my stool, crying and
    rubbing myself.
  121. corrugated
    shaped into alternating parallel grooves and ridges
    Miss Sarah Pocket, whom I now saw to be a little dry, brown, corrugated
    old woman, with a small face that might have been made of walnut-shells,
    and a large mouth like a cat's without the whiskers, supported this
    position by saying, "No, indeed, my dear.
  122. supervise
    watch and direct
    In these dialogues, my sister
    spoke to me as if she were morally wrenching one of my teeth out at
    every reference; while Pumblechook himself, self-constituted my patron,
    would sit supervising me with a depreciatory eye, like the architect of
    my fortunes who thought himself engaged on a very unremunerative job.
  123. fugitive
    someone who is sought by law officers
    For the fugitive out on the marshes with the ironed leg, the
    mysterious young man, the file, the food, and the dreadful pledge I was
    under to commit a larceny on those sheltering premises, rose before me
    in the avenging coals.
  124. necessitate
    require as useful, just, or proper
    Joe threw his eye over them, and pronounced that the job would
    necessitate the lighting of his forge fire, and would take nearer
    two hours than one, "Will it?
  125. stumble
    miss a step and fall or nearly fall
    All this I saw in a moment, for
    I had only a moment to see it in: he swore an oath at me, made a hit at
    me,--it was a round weak blow that missed me and almost knocked himself
    down, for it made him stumble,--and then he ran into the mist, stumbling
    twice as he went, and I lost him.
  126. fetter
    a shackle for the ankles or feet
    The last I saw
    of him, his head was bent over his knee and he was working hard at his
    fetter, muttering impatient imprecations at it and at his leg.
  127. surround
    extend on all sides of simultaneously; encircle
    The two were kept apart, and each walked surrounded by a separate guard.
  128. spurn
    reject with contempt
    I was so humiliated, hurt, spurned, offended, angry, sorry,--I
    cannot hit upon the right name for the smart--God knows what its name
    was,--that tears started to my eyes.
  129. denounce
    speak out against
    This was always followed by Collins's Ode on
    the Passions, wherein I particularly venerated Mr. Wopsle as Revenge
    throwing his blood-stained sword in thunder down, and taking the
    War-denouncing trumpet with a withering look.
  130. coma
    a state of deep and often prolonged unconsciousness
    As soon as this
    volume began to circulate, Mr. Wopsle's great-aunt fell into a state of
    coma, arising either from sleep or a rheumatic paroxysm.
  131. hale
    exhibiting or restored to vigorous good health
    I had cut
    my knuckles against the pale young gentleman's teeth, and I twisted my
    imagination into a thousand tangles, as I devised incredible ways of
    accounting for that damnatory circumstance when I should be haled before
    the Judges.
  132. yard
    enclosed land around a house or other building
    And then
    they stood about, as soldiers do; now, with their hands loosely clasped
    before them; now, resting a knee or a shoulder; now, easing a belt or a
    pouch; now, opening the door to spit stiffly over their high stocks, out
    into the yard.
  133. terminate
    bring to an end or halt
    The course terminated, and Mr. Pumblechook had begun to beam under the
    genial influence of gin and water.
  134. deduce
    reason from the general to the particular
    Many a moral for the young," returned Mr. Wopsle,--and I
    knew he was going to lug me in, before he said it; "might be deduced
    from that text."
  135. repress
    conceal or hide
    They all had a listless and dreary air of waiting somebody's pleasure,
    and the most talkative of the ladies had to speak quite rigidly to
    repress a yawn.
  136. wilderness
    a wild and uninhabited area left in its natural condition
    At such a time I found out for certain
    that this bleak place overgrown with nettles was the churchyard; and
    that Philip Pirrip, late of this parish, and also Georgiana wife of the
    above, were dead and buried; and that Alexander, Bartholomew, Abraham,
    Tobias, and Roger, infant children of the aforesaid, were also dead
    and buried; and that the dark flat wilderness beyond the churchyard,
    intersected with dikes and mounds and gates, with scattered cattle
    feeding on it, was the mars...
  137. revive
    cause to regain consciousness
    Some medical beast had revived Tar-water in those days as a fine
    medicine, and Mrs. Joe always kept a supply of it in the cupboard;
    having a belief in its virtues correspondent to its nastiness.
  138. clammy
    unpleasantly cool and humid
    On
    every rail and gate, wet lay clammy, and the marsh mist was so thick,
    that the wooden finger on the post directing people to our village--a
    direction which they never accepted, for they never came there--was
    invisible to me until I was quite close under it.
  139. engage
    consume all of one's attention or time
    I'll
    engage there's no Tar in that:" so, the sergeant thanked him and said
    that as he preferred his drink without tar, he would take wine, if it
    was equally convenient.
  140. observe
    watch attentively
    "Ah! well!" observed Mrs.
    Joe.
  141. expound
    add details to clarify an idea
    Mr. Wopsle struck in upon that; as one who knew all about relationships,
    having professional occasion to bear in mind what female relations a man
    might not marry; and expounded the ties between me and Joe.
  142. rebuff
    a deliberate discourteous act
    Camilla brightened when Miss Pocket met with this rebuff; and she
    murmured, as she plaintively contemplated Miss Havisham, "Poor dear
    soul!
  143. starve
    die of food deprivation
    Then,
    as the marsh winds made the fire glow and flare, I thought I heard the
    voice outside, of the man with the iron on his leg who had sworn me to
    secrecy, declaring that he couldn't and wouldn't starve until to-morrow,
    but must be fed now.
  144. resume
    take up or begin anew
    His men resumed their muskets and fell in.
  145. elixir
    a substance believed to cure all ills
    At the
    best of times, so much of this elixir was administered to me as a choice
    restorative, that I was conscious of going about, smelling like a new
    fence.
  146. replenish
    fill something that had previously been emptied
    "However," said Joe, rising to replenish the fire; "here's the
    Dutch-clock a working himself up to being equal to strike Eight of 'em,
    and she's not come home yet!
  147. ceremonious
    characterized by pomp and stately display
    This was not a very ceremonious way of rendering
    homage to a patron saint, but I believe Old Clem stood in that relation
    towards smiths.
  148. illuminate
    make lighter or brighter
    It is fair to remark that there was no prohibition
    against any pupil's entertaining himself with a slate or even with the
    ink (when there was any), but that it was not easy to pursue that branch
    of study in the winter season, on account of the little general shop
    in which the classes were holden--and which was also Mr. Wopsle's
    great-aunt's sitting-room and bedchamber--being but faintly illuminated
    through the agency of one low-spirited dip-candle and no snuffers.
  149. dexterity
    adroitness in using the hands
    Then she
    took some butter (not too much) on a knife and spread it on the loaf, in
    an apothecary kind of way, as if she were making a plaster,--using both
    sides of the knife with a slapping dexterity, and trimming and moulding
    the butter off round the crust.
  150. baffle
    be a mystery or bewildering to
    After that I fell among those thieves, the nine figures, who
    seemed every evening to do something new to disguise themselves and
    baffle recognition.
  151. kindle
    catch fire
    Presently we saw other torches kindled
    at some distance behind us, and others on the marshes on the opposite
    bank of the river.
  152. nicety
    conformity with some standard of correctness or propriety
    My heart failed me when I saw him squaring at me with every
    demonstration of mechanical nicety, and eyeing my anatomy as if he were
    minutely choosing his bone.
  153. corner
    the point where three areas or surfaces meet or intersect
    Joe and I being fellow-sufferers, and having
    confidences as such, Joe imparted a confidence to me, the moment I
    raised the latch of the door and peeped in at him opposite to it,
    sitting in the chimney corner.
  154. imbecility
    mental retardation
    And then he would rumple my hair
    the wrong way,--which from my earliest remembrance, as already hinted,
    I have in my soul denied the right of any fellow-creature to do,--and
    would hold me before him by the sleeve,--a spectacle of imbecility only
    to be equalled by himself.
  155. allude
    make an indirect reference to
    But bearing in mind that them were which I meantersay
    of a stunning and outdacious sort,--alluding to them which bordered on
    weal-cutlets and dog-fighting,--a sincere well-wisher would adwise, Pip,
    their being dropped into your meditations, when you go up stairs to bed.
  156. entertain
    provide amusement for
    To five little stone lozenges, each
    about a foot and a half long, which were arranged in a neat row beside
    their grave, and were sacred to the memory of five little brothers of
    mine,--who gave up trying to get a living, exceedingly early in
    that universal struggle,--I am indebted for a belief I religiously
    entertained that they had all been born on their backs with their hands
    in their trousers-pockets, and had never taken them out in this state of
    existence.
  157. forte
    an asset of special worth or utility
    "Without expecting any thanks, or anything of the sort," resumed
    Camilla, "I have remained in that state, hours and hours, and Raymond
    is a witness of the extent to which I have choked, and what the total
    inefficacy of ginger has been, and I have been heard at the piano-forte
    tuner's across the street, where the poor mistaken children have even
    supposed it to be pigeons cooing at a distance,--and now to be told--"
    Here Camilla put her hand to her throat, and began to be quite ch...
  158. tangle
    twist together or entwine into a confusing mass
    Behind the furthest end of the brewery, was a rank garden with an old
    wall; not so high but that I could struggle up and hold on long enough
    to look over it, and see that the rank garden was the garden of the
    house, and that it was overgrown with tangled weeds, but that there was
    a track upon the green and yellow paths, as if some one sometimes walked
    there, and that Estella was walking away from me even then.
  159. surveying
    the practice of measuring angles and distances on the ground so that they can be accurately plotted on a map
    In my
    dreadful situation, it was a relief when he was brought back, and
    surveying the company all round as if they had disagreed with him, sank
    down into his chair with the one significant gasp, "Tar!"
  160. stalk
    a slender or elongated structure that supports a plant
    It opened to the ground, and looked into a most miserable corner of the
    neglected garden, upon a rank ruin of cabbage-stalks, and one box-tree
    that had been clipped round long ago, like a pudding, and had a new
    growth at the top of it, out of shape and of a different color, as if
    that part of the pudding had stuck to the saucepan and got burnt.
  161. imitate
    reproduce someone's behavior or looks
    I had had no intercourse with the world at
    that time, and I imitated none of its many inhabitants who act in this
    manner.
  162. distraught
    deeply agitated especially from emotion
    At length, not coming out of her distraught state by degrees, but in an
    instant, Miss Havisham said, "Let me see you two play cards; why have
    you not begun?"
  163. dilute
    lessen the strength or flavor of a solution or mixture
    I stole some bread,
    some rind of cheese, about half a jar of mincemeat (which I tied up in
    my pocket-handkerchief with my last night's slice), some brandy from a
    stone bottle (which I decanted into a glass bottle I had secretly used
    for making that intoxicating fluid, Spanish-liquorice-water, up in my
    room: diluting the stone bottle from a jug in the kitchen cupboard),
    a meat bone with very little on it, and a beautiful round compact pork
    pie.
  164. expend
    use up or consume fully
    One night I was sitting in the chimney corner with my slate, expending
    great efforts on the production of a letter to Joe.
  165. administer
    supervise or be in charge of
    At the
    best of times, so much of this elixir was administered to me as a choice
    restorative, that I was conscious of going about, smelling like a new
    fence.
  166. sink
    fall or descend to a lower place or level
    In my
    dreadful situation, it was a relief when he was brought back, and
    surveying the company all round as if they had disagreed with him, sank
    down into his chair with the one significant gasp, "Tar!"
  167. augment
    enlarge or increase
    At this point Joe greatly augmented my curiosity by taking the utmost
    pains to open his mouth very wide, and to put it into the form of a word
    that looked to me like "sulks."
  168. wake
    stop sleeping
    By that time, I was staggering on the kitchen floor like a little
    drunkard, through having been newly set upon my feet, and through having
    been fast asleep, and through waking in the heat and lights and noise of
    tongues.
  169. communicating
    the activity of conveying information
    There was a door in the kitchen, communicating with the forge; I
    unlocked and unbolted that door, and got a file from among Joe's tools.
  170. accord
    concurrence of opinion
    As to me, I think my
    sister must have had some general idea that I was a young offender whom
    an Accoucheur Policeman had taken up (on my birthday) and delivered over
    to her, to be dealt with according to the outraged majesty of the law.
  171. stroll
    a leisurely walk, usually in some public place
    As it stood open, and as I knew that Estella had let
    the visitors out,--for she had returned with the keys in her hand,--I
    strolled into the garden, and strolled all over it.
  172. glance
    take a brief look at
    "Much of that!" said he, glancing about him over the cold wet flat.
  173. indiscriminate
    failing to make or recognize distinctions
    The pupils ate apples
    and put straws down one another's backs, until Mr. Wopsle's great-aunt
    collected her energies, and made an indiscriminate totter at them with
    a birch-rod.
  174. hew
    make or shape as with an axe
    Then, she gave the knife a final smart
    wipe on the edge of the plaster, and then sawed a very thick round off
    the loaf: which she finally, before separating from the loaf, hewed into
    two halves, of which Joe got one, and I the other.
  175. inflammatory
    inciting action or rebellion
    I cannot conceive why everybody of his standing who visited
    at our house should always have put me through the same inflammatory
    process under similar circumstances.
  176. occasion
    an event that occurs at a critical time
    On the present occasion, though I was hungry, I dared not eat my
    slice.
  177. resolve
    find a solution or answer
    Therefore
    I resolved to put my hunk of bread and butter down the leg of my
    trousers.
  178. emphatic
    spoken with particular stress
    But Joe wouldn't
    hear of that, at all, and again opened his mouth very wide, and shook
    the form of a most emphatic word out of it.
  179. spasmodic
    occurring in spells and often abruptly
    Instantly afterwards, the company were seized with
    unspeakable consternation, owing to his springing to his feet, turning
    round several times in an appalling spasmodic whooping-cough dance,
    and rushing out at the door; he then became visible through the window,
    violently plunging and expectorating, making the most hideous faces, and
    apparently out of his mind.
  180. passage
    the act of moving from one state or place to the next
    In
    the meantime, Mrs. Joe put clean white curtains up, and tacked a new
    flowered flounce across the wide chimney to replace the old one, and
    uncovered the little state parlor across the passage, which was never
    uncovered at any other time, but passed the rest of the year in a cool
    haze of silver paper, which even extended to the four little white
    crockery poodles on the mantel-shelf, each with a black nose and a
    basket of flowers in his mouth, and each the counterpart of the other.
  181. graze
    feed as in a meadow or pasture
    Nothing that he wore then fitted him or seemed to belong to him; and
    everything that he wore then grazed him.
  182. trepidation
    a feeling of alarm or dread
    For some days, I even kept close at home, and looked out at
    the kitchen door with the greatest caution and trepidation before going
    on an errand, lest the officers of the County Jail should pounce upon
    me.
  183. recluse
    one who lives in solitude
    In a by-yard, there was a wilderness of empty casks,
    which had a certain sour remembrance of better days lingering about
    them; but it was too sour to be accepted as a sample of the beer that
    was gone,--and in this respect I remember those recluses as being like
    most others.
  184. ghastly
    shockingly repellent; inspiring horror
    Once, I had been taken to see some ghastly
    waxwork at the Fair, representing I know not what impossible personage
    lying in state.
  185. hypothetical
    a conjectural possibility or circumstance
    A little later on in the dinner, Mr. Wopsle reviewed the sermon with
    some severity, and intimated--in the usual hypothetical case of the
    Church being "thrown open"--what kind of sermon he would have given
    them.
  186. moor
    come into or dock at a wharf
    Cribbed and barred and moored by
    massive rusty chains, the prison-ship seemed in my young eyes to be
    ironed like the prisoners.
  187. dexterous
    skillful in physical movements; especially of the hands
    I was secretly afraid of him when I saw him so dexterous; but I felt
    morally and physically convinced that his light head of hair could have
    had no business in the pit of my stomach, and that I had a right to
    consider it irrelevant when so obtruded on my attention.
  188. falter
    move hesitatingly, as if about to give way
    "Goo-good night, sir," I faltered.
  189. refractory
    stubbornly resistant to authority or control
    This part of the Course was
    usually lightened by several single combats between Biddy and refractory
    students.
  190. interval
    the distance between things
    Mr. Pumblechook added, after a short
    interval of reflection, "Look at Pork alone.
  191. bereaved
    sorrowful through loss or deprivation
    'Good Lord!' says he, 'Camilla, what can it signify so long
    as the poor bereaved little things are in black?'
  192. paroxysm
    a sudden uncontrollable attack
    As soon as this
    volume began to circulate, Mr. Wopsle's great-aunt fell into a state of
    coma, arising either from sleep or a rheumatic paroxysm.
  193. avenge
    take action in return for a perceived wrong
    For the fugitive out on the marshes with the ironed leg, the
    mysterious young man, the file, the food, and the dreadful pledge I was
    under to commit a larceny on those sheltering premises, rose before me
    in the avenging coals.
  194. confound
    be confusing or perplexing to
    "Surrender, you two! and confound you for two wild beasts!
  195. dregs
    sediment that has settled at the bottom of a liquid
    Chapter VI

    My state of mind regarding the pilfering from which I had been so
    unexpectedly exonerated did not impel me to frank disclosure; but I hope
    it had some dregs of good at the bottom of it.
  196. elude
    escape, either physically or mentally
    As I saw him go, picking his way among the
    nettles, and among the brambles that bound the green mounds, he looked
    in my young eyes as if he were eluding the hands of the dead people,
    stretching up cautiously out of their graves, to get a twist upon his
    ankle and pull him in.
  197. dissuade
    turn away from by persuasion
    I was always treated as if I had insisted on being born in opposition
    to the dictates of reason, religion, and morality, and against the
    dissuading arguments of my best friends.
  198. settle
    become resolved, fixed, established, or quiet
    Pitying his desolation, and watching him as he gradually settled down
    upon the pie, I made bold to say, "I am glad you enjoy it."
  199. glare
    be sharply reflected
    A man who had been soaked in water, and smothered in mud, and
    lamed by stones, and cut by flints, and stung by nettles, and torn by
    briars; who limped, and shivered, and glared, and growled; and whose
    teeth chattered in his head as he seized me by the chin.
  200. coax
    influence or persuade by gentle and persistent urging
    I coaxed myself to sleep by
    thinking of Miss Havisham's, next Wednesday; and in my sleep I saw
    the file coming at me out of a door, without seeing who held it, and I
    screamed myself awake.
  201. fancy
    not plain; decorative or ornamented
    As I never saw my father or my mother, and never saw any likeness
    of either of them (for their days were long before the days of
    photographs), my first fancies regarding what they were like were
    unreasonably derived from their tombstones.
  202. misty
    filled or abounding with fog
    Then I put the fastenings as I had found them, opened the door at which
    I had entered when I ran home last night, shut it, and ran for the misty
    marshes.
  203. wave
    (physics) a movement up and down or back and forth
    But, Uncle Pumblechook, who was omnipotent in that kitchen, wouldn't
    hear the word, wouldn't hear of the subject, imperiously waved it all
    away with his hand, and asked for hot gin and water.
  204. equal
    having the same quantity, value, or measure as another
    I always treated him as a larger species
    of child, and as no more than my equal.
  205. clasp
    hold firmly and tightly
    At the same time, he hugged his shuddering body in both his
    arms,--clasping himself, as if to hold himself together,--and limped
    towards the low church wall.
  206. depart
    go away or leave
    Before we departed from that spot, four soldiers standing in
    a ring, fired twice into the air.
  207. originate
    come into existence; take on form or shape
    "And will the other gentleman originate a
    sentiment."
  208. whisper
    speaking softly without vibration of the vocal cords
    When we were all out in
    the raw air and were steadily moving towards our business, I treasonably
    whispered to Joe, "I hope, Joe, we shan't find them." and Joe whispered
    to me, "I'd give a shilling if they had cut and run, Pip."
  209. deceive
    cause someone to believe an untruth
    Some real or
    fancied sound, some clink upon the river or breathing of beast upon the
    marsh, now gave him a start, and he said, suddenly,--

    "You're not a deceiving imp?
  210. vagrant
    a wanderer with no established residence or means of support
    Do you find any gypsies, now, or tramps, or
    vagrants of any sort, out there?"
  211. blithe
    carefree and happy and lighthearted
    On the present festive occasion
    he emerged from his room, when the blithe bells were going, the picture
    of misery, in a full suit of Sunday penitentials.
  212. callous
    emotionally hardened
    And couldn't Uncle
    Pumblechook, being always considerate and thoughtful for us--though you
    may not think it, Joseph," in a tone of the deepest reproach, as if
    he were the most callous of nephews, "then mention this boy, standing
    Prancing here"--which I solemnly declare I was not doing--"that I have
    for ever been a willing slave to?"
  213. countenance
    the appearance conveyed by a person's face
    So, we had our slices served out, as if we were two thousand troops on a
    forced march instead of a man and boy at home; and we took gulps of milk
    and water, with apologetic countenances, from a jug on the dresser.
  214. coercion
    using force to cause something to occur
    I had known, from the time when I could speak, that my
    sister, in her capricious and violent coercion, was unjust to me.
  215. apothecary
    a health professional who prepares and dispenses drugs
    Then she
    took some butter (not too much) on a knife and spread it on the loaf, in
    an apothecary kind of way, as if she were making a plaster,--using both
    sides of the knife with a slapping dexterity, and trimming and moulding
    the butter off round the crust.
  216. crevice
    a long narrow opening
    It was paved and clean, but grass was growing in every crevice.
  217. revolve
    turn on or around an axis or a center
    So, leaving word with the shopman on what day I was
    wanted at Miss Havisham's again, I set off on the four-mile walk to
    our forge; pondering, as I went along, on all I had seen, and deeply
    revolving that I was a common laboring-boy; that my hands were coarse;
    that my boots were thick; that I had fallen into a despicable habit
    of calling knaves Jacks; that I was much more ignorant than I had
    considered myself last night, and generally that I was in a low-lived
    bad way.
  218. moment
    an indefinitely short time
    The man, after looking at me for a moment, turned me upside down, and
    emptied my pockets.
  219. bleak
    unpleasantly cold and damp
    At such a time I found out for certain
    that this bleak place overgrown with nettles was the churchyard; and
    that Philip Pirrip, late of this parish, and also Georgiana wife of the
    above, were dead and buried; and that Alexander, Bartholomew, Abraham,
    Tobias, and Roger, infant children of the aforesaid, were also dead
    and buried; and that the dark flat wilderness beyond the churchyard,
    intersected with dikes and mounds and gates, with scattered cattle
    feeding on it, was the mars...
  220. betray
    deliver to an enemy by treachery
    Would he believe that I was both imp and hound in
    treacherous earnest, and had betrayed him?
  221. recall
    bring to mind
    "He had a badly bruised face," said I, recalling what I hardly knew I
    knew.
  222. cipher
    a secret method of writing
    But, at last I began, in a purblind groping way, to
    read, write, and cipher, on the very smallest scale.
  223. dusk
    the time of day immediately following sunset
    We begin to close in upon 'em about dusk.
  224. energetically
    in an energetic manner
    Sometimes, she would coldly tolerate me;
    sometimes, she would condescend to me; sometimes, she would be quite
    familiar with me; sometimes, she would tell me energetically that she
    hated me.
  225. invisible
    impossible or nearly impossible to see
    On
    every rail and gate, wet lay clammy, and the marsh mist was so thick,
    that the wooden finger on the post directing people to our village--a
    direction which they never accepted, for they never came there--was
    invisible to me until I was quite close under it.
  226. decay
    the organic phenomenon of rotting
    Without this arrest of everything, this standing still
    of all the pale decayed objects, not even the withered bridal dress on
    the collapsed form could have looked so like grave-clothes, or the long
    veil so like a shroud.
  227. assail
    attack someone physically or emotionally
    The terrors that had assailed me whenever
    Mrs. Joe had gone near the pantry, or out of the room, were only to be
    equalled by the remorse with which my mind dwelt on what my hands had
    done.
  228. emerge
    come out into view, as from concealment
    On the present festive occasion
    he emerged from his room, when the blithe bells were going, the picture
    of misery, in a full suit of Sunday penitentials.
  229. dispel
    cause to separate and go in different directions
    Either the mist was not out again yet, or the wind had dispelled it.
  230. partial
    being or affecting only a segment
    "I'm rather partial to Carols, myself, and that's the
    best of reasons for my never hearing any."
  231. distribute
    give to several people
    The soldier with the basket soon got a light, and lighted three or four
    torches, and took one himself and distributed the others.
  232. stifle
    impair the respiration of or obstruct the air passage of
    Then both voices would seem to be
    stifled in a struggle, and then would break out again.
  233. presentiment
    a feeling of evil to come
    Mrs. Hubble shook her head, and contemplating me with a mournful
    presentiment that I should come to no good, asked, "Why is it that the
    young are never grateful?"
  234. sanguinary
    accompanied by bloodshed
    However, I got dressed, darkly
    wiping my sanguinary face at intervals, and I said, "Can I help you?"
    and he said "No thankee," and I said "Good afternoon," and he said "Same
    to you."
  235. injure
    cause bodily harm to
    I got rid of my injured feelings for the time by kicking them into the
    brewery wall, and twisting them out of my hair, and then I smoothed my
    face with my sleeve, and came from behind the gate.
  236. emphatically
    in a forceful manner; with emphasis
    If you'd been born a Squeaker--"

    "He was, if ever a child was," said my sister, most emphatically.
  237. discernible
    perceptible by the senses or intellect
    It was
    spacious, and I dare say had once been handsome, but every discernible
    thing in it was covered with dust and mould, and dropping to pieces.
  238. rusty
    covered with or consisting of an oxide coating
    Cribbed and barred and moored by
    massive rusty chains, the prison-ship seemed in my young eyes to be
    ironed like the prisoners.
  239. despicable
    morally reprehensible
    So, leaving word with the shopman on what day I was
    wanted at Miss Havisham's again, I set off on the four-mile walk to
    our forge; pondering, as I went along, on all I had seen, and deeply
    revolving that I was a common laboring-boy; that my hands were coarse;
    that my boots were thick; that I had fallen into a despicable habit
    of calling knaves Jacks; that I was much more ignorant than I had
    considered myself last night, and generally that I was in a low-lived
    bad way.
  240. relish
    vigorous and enthusiastic enjoyment
    Not exactly relishing this, I said, "Never mind me, Joe."
  241. omnipotent
    having unlimited power
    But, Uncle Pumblechook, who was omnipotent in that kitchen, wouldn't
    hear the word, wouldn't hear of the subject, imperiously waved it all
    away with his hand, and asked for hot gin and water.
  242. murky
    cloudy, dirty, and difficult to see through
    And now, when they were all in lively
    anticipation of "the two villains" being taken, and when the bellows
    seemed to roar for the fugitives, the fire to flare for them, the smoke
    to hurry away in pursuit of them, Joe to hammer and clink for them,
    and all the murky shadows on the wall to shake at them in menace as the
    blaze rose and sank, and the red-hot sparks dropped and died, the pale
    afternoon outside almost seemed in my pitying young fancy to have turned
    pale on their accou...
  243. hint
    an indirect suggestion
    It was the
    certainty of this fact that impelled me to offer the hint.
  244. repulse
    force or drive back
    I was in
    mortal terror of the young man who wanted my heart and liver; I was
    in mortal terror of my interlocutor with the iron leg; I was in mortal
    terror of myself, from whom an awful promise had been extracted; I had
    no hope of deliverance through my all-powerful sister, who repulsed
    me at every turn; I am afraid to think of what I might have done on
    requirement, in the secrecy of my terror.
  245. disdain
    lack of respect accompanied by a feeling of intense dislike
    "What do you play, boy?" asked Estella of myself, with the greatest
    disdain.
  246. precede
    be earlier in time
    She locked it after admitting
    me, as she had done before, and again preceded me into the dark passage
    where her candle stood.
  247. chapter
    a subdivision of a written work; usually numbered and titled
    Chapter I

    My father's family name being Pirrip, and my Christian name Philip, my
    infant tongue could make of both names nothing longer or more explicit
    than Pip.
  248. consternation
    sudden shock or dismay that causes confusion
    The wonder and consternation with which Joe stopped on the threshold
    of his bite and stared at me, were too evident to escape my sister's
    observation.
  249. derive
    come from
    As I never saw my father or my mother, and never saw any likeness
    of either of them (for their days were long before the days of
    photographs), my first fancies regarding what they were like were
    unreasonably derived from their tombstones.
  250. figure
    alternate name for the body of a human being
    She was tall
    and bony, and almost always wore a coarse apron, fastened over her
    figure behind with two loops, and having a square impregnable bib in
    front, that was stuck full of pins and needles.
  251. gruff
    blunt and unfriendly or stern
    "Oh ah!" he returned, with something like a gruff laugh.
  252. appoint
    assign a duty, responsibility, or obligation to
    Chapter XI

    At the appointed time I returned to Miss Havisham's, and my hesitating
    ring at the gate brought out Estella.
  253. ferment
    cause to undergo the breakdown of sugar into alcohol
    "Oh, yes, yes!" cried Camilla, whose fermenting feelings appeared to
    rise from her legs to her bosom.
  254. extinguish
    put out, as of fires, flames, or lights
    When I first went into it,
    and, rather oppressed by its gloom, stood near the door looking about
    me, I saw her pass among the extinguished fires, and ascend some light
    iron stairs, and go out by a gallery high overhead, as if she were going
    out into the sky.
  255. repeated
    recurring again and again
    "Churchyard!" repeated my sister.
  256. remind
    put in the mind of someone
    I was beginning to remind her that to-day was Wednesday, when she
    checked me with her former impatient movement of the fingers of her
    right hand.
  257. wrench
    a sharp strain on muscles or ligaments
    In these dialogues, my sister
    spoke to me as if she were morally wrenching one of my teeth out at
    every reference; while Pumblechook himself, self-constituted my patron,
    would sit supervising me with a depreciatory eye, like the architect of
    my fortunes who thought himself engaged on a very unremunerative job.
  258. skeleton
    the structure providing a frame for the body of an animal
    Once, I had been taken to one of our old marsh churches
    to see a skeleton in the ashes of a rich dress that had been dug out of
    a vault under the church pavement.
  259. convince
    make realize the truth or validity of something
    I felt convinced that if I described Miss Havisham's as my
    eyes had seen it, I should not be understood.
  260. ensue
    take place or happen afterward or as a result
    But, all I had endured up to this time was nothing in
    comparison with the awful feelings that took possession of me when the
    pause was broken which ensued upon my sister's recital, and in which
    pause everybody had looked at me (as I felt painfully conscious) with
    indignation and abhorrence.
  261. thick
    not thin
    Then, she gave the knife a final smart
    wipe on the edge of the plaster, and then sawed a very thick round off
    the loaf: which she finally, before separating from the loaf, hewed into
    two halves, of which Joe got one, and I the other.
  262. mercenary
    a person hired to fight for another country than their own
    Whether myrmidons of Justice,
    specially sent down from London, would be lying in ambush behind the
    gate;--whether Miss Havisham, preferring to take personal vengeance for
    an outrage done to her house, might rise in those grave-clothes of hers,
    draw a pistol, and shoot me dead:--whether suborned boys--a numerous
    band of mercenaries--might be engaged to fall upon me in the brewery,
    and cuff me until I was no more;--it was high testimony to my confidence
    in the spirit of the pale ...
  263. poke
    thrust abruptly
    And here I may remark that when Mr. Wopsle referred to me, he considered
    it a necessary part of such reference to rumple my hair and poke it into
    my eyes.
  264. parley
    a negotiation between enemies
    "Enough of this parley," said the sergeant.
  265. impregnable
    incapable of being attacked or tampered with
    She was tall
    and bony, and almost always wore a coarse apron, fastened over her
    figure behind with two loops, and having a square impregnable bib in
    front, that was stuck full of pins and needles.
  266. empty
    holding or containing nothing
    The man, after looking at me for a moment, turned me upside down, and
    emptied my pockets.
  267. infirmity
    the state of being weak in health or body
    Mr. Wopsle's great-aunt kept an evening school in the village; that is
    to say, she was a ridiculous old woman of limited means and unlimited
    infirmity, who used to go to sleep from six to seven every evening, in
    the society of youth who paid two pence per week each, for the improving
    opportunity of seeing her do it.
  268. arrange
    put into a proper or systematic order
    To five little stone lozenges, each
    about a foot and a half long, which were arranged in a neat row beside
    their grave, and were sacred to the memory of five little brothers of
    mine,--who gave up trying to get a living, exceedingly early in
    that universal struggle,--I am indebted for a belief I religiously
    entertained that they had all been born on their backs with their hands
    in their trousers-pockets, and had never taken them out in this state of
    existence.
  269. creep
    move slowly
    A
    boy may lock his door, may be warm in bed, may tuck himself up, may draw
    the clothes over his head, may think himself comfortable and safe, but
    that young man will softly creep and creep his way to him and tear him
    open.
  270. fitful
    occurring in spells and often abruptly
    Still, we went at an impatient fitful speed, and as we went, she
    twitched the hand upon my shoulder, and worked her mouth, and led me to
    believe that we were going fast because her thoughts went fast.
  271. possess
    have ownership of
    Besides being possessed by my sister's
    idea that a mortifying and penitential character ought to be imparted
    to my diet,--besides giving me as much crumb as possible in combination
    with as little butter, and putting such a quantity of warm water into
    my milk that it would have been more candid to have left the milk out
    altogether,--his conversation consisted of nothing but arithmetic.
  272. listless
    lacking zest or vivacity
    They all had a listless and dreary air of waiting somebody's pleasure,
    and the most talkative of the ladies had to speak quite rigidly to
    repress a yawn.
  273. assume
    take to be the case or to be true
    When I was old enough, I was to be apprenticed to Joe, and until I could
    assume that dignity I was not to be what Mrs. Joe called "Pompeyed," or
    (as I render it) pampered.
  274. inspire
    serve as the inciting cause of
    Mr.
    Wopsle, indeed, wildly cried out, "No!" with the feeble malice of a
    tired man; but, as he had no theory, and no coat on, he was unanimously
    set at naught,--not to mention his smoking hard behind, as he stood
    with his back to the kitchen fire to draw the damp out: which was not
    calculated to inspire confidence.
  275. treacherous
    dangerously unstable and unpredictable
    Would he believe that I was both imp and hound in
    treacherous earnest, and had betrayed him?
  276. touch
    make physical contact with, come in contact with
    I thought he would be more glad if I came upon him with his breakfast,
    in that unexpected manner, so I went forward softly and touched him on
    the shoulder.
  277. candor
    the quality of being honest and straightforward
    At such times as when your sister is on the Ram-page, Pip," Joe
    sank his voice to a whisper and glanced at the door, "candor compels fur
    to admit that she is a Buster."
  278. physically
    in accord with physical laws
    She was not physically strong, and after a little time said, "Slower!"
  279. frown
    a facial expression of dislike or displeasure
    "Who's firing?" said I.

    "Drat that boy," interposed my sister, frowning at me over her work,
    "what a questioner he is.
  280. polite
    showing regard for others in manners, speech, behavior, etc.
    It was not very polite to herself, I thought, to imply that I should be
    told lies by her even if I did ask questions.
  281. monumental
    of outstanding significance
    This was so
    much her normal state, that Joe and I would often, for weeks together,
    be, as to our fingers, like monumental Crusaders as to their legs.
  282. disperse
    move away from each other
    There we were stopped a few minutes by a signal from the sergeant's
    hand, while two or three of his men dispersed themselves among the
    graves, and also examined the porch.
  283. proceed
    move ahead; travel onward in time or space
    I heard her steps proceed to the pantry.
  284. broad
    having great extent from one side to the other
    My first most vivid and broad impression
    of the identity of things seems to me to have been gained on a memorable
    raw afternoon towards evening.
  285. catechism
    an elementary book summarizing the principles of a religion
    Neither were my notions
    of the theological positions to which my Catechism bound me, at
    all accurate; for, I have a lively remembrance that I supposed my
    declaration that I was to "walk in the same all the days of my life,"
    laid me under an obligation always to go through the village from our
    house in one particular direction, and never to vary it by turning down
    by the wheelwright's or up by the mill.
  286. undermine
    weaken or impair, especially gradually
    He came to the rescue at this point,
    and said in a consolatory and complimentary voice, "Camilla, my dear, it
    is well known that your family feelings are gradually undermining you to
    the extent of making one of your legs shorter than the other."
  287. collect
    gather
    But beginning to perceive that the
    handcuffs were not for me, and that the military had so far got the
    better of the pie as to put it in the background, I collected a little
    more of my scattered wits.
  288. flap
    move in a wavy pattern or with a rising and falling motion
    He wore a flapping
    broad-brimmed traveller's hat, and under it a handkerchief tied over his
    head in the manner of a cap: so that he showed no hair.
  289. struggle
    strenuous effort
    To five little stone lozenges, each
    about a foot and a half long, which were arranged in a neat row beside
    their grave, and were sacred to the memory of five little brothers of
    mine,--who gave up trying to get a living, exceedingly early in
    that universal struggle,--I am indebted for a belief I religiously
    entertained that they had all been born on their backs with their hands
    in their trousers-pockets, and had never taken them out in this state of
    existence.
  290. outrage
    a disgraceful event
    As to me, I think my
    sister must have had some general idea that I was a young offender whom
    an Accoucheur Policeman had taken up (on my birthday) and delivered over
    to her, to be dealt with according to the outraged majesty of the law.
  291. festive
    offering fun and gaiety
    On the present festive occasion
    he emerged from his room, when the blithe bells were going, the picture
    of misery, in a full suit of Sunday penitentials.
  292. unparalleled
    radically distinctive and without equal
    Would you?"
    and began dancing backwards and forwards in a manner quite unparalleled
    within my limited experience.
  293. pause
    stop an action temporarily
    But, all I had endured up to this time was nothing in
    comparison with the awful feelings that took possession of me when the
    pause was broken which ensued upon my sister's recital, and in which
    pause everybody had looked at me (as I felt painfully conscious) with
    indignation and abhorrence.
  294. incur
    make oneself subject to
    Without having any definite idea of the penalties I had
    incurred, it was clear to me that village boys could not go stalking
    about the country, ravaging the houses of gentlefolks and pitching into
    the studious youth of England, without laying themselves open to severe
    punishment.
  295. flag
    a rectangular piece of cloth of distinctive design
    "We played with flags," I said.
  296. wind
    air moving from high pressure to low pressure
    At such a time I found out for certain
    that this bleak place overgrown with nettles was the churchyard; and
    that Philip Pirrip, late of this parish, and also Georgiana wife of the
    above, were dead and buried; and that Alexander, Bartholomew, Abraham,
    Tobias, and Roger, infant children of the aforesaid, were also dead
    and buried; and that the dark flat wilderness beyond the churchyard,
    intersected with dikes and mounds and gates, with scattered cattle
    feeding on it, was the marshes; an...
  297. miserable
    very unhappy
    Always holding tight by the leg of the
    table with my hands and feet, I saw the miserable creature finger his
    glass playfully, take it up, smile, throw his head back, and drink
    the brandy off.
  298. soar
    rise rapidly
    Roaring dryer, soaring higher--Old Clem!
  299. responsive
    reacting to a stimulus
    To stand in the dark in a mysterious passage of an unknown house,
    bawling Estella to a scornful young lady neither visible nor responsive,
    and feeling it a dreadful liberty so to roar out her name, was almost
    as bad as playing to order.
  300. temper
    a characteristic state of feeling
    He was a mild,
    good-natured, sweet-tempered, easy-going, foolish, dear fellow,--a sort
    of Hercules in strength, and also in weakness.
  301. precedence
    status established in order of importance or urgency
    Sarah
    Pocket and Georgiana contended who should remain last; but Sarah was
    too knowing to be outdone, and ambled round Georgiana with that artful
    slipperiness that the latter was obliged to take precedence.
  302. recite
    repeat aloud from memory
    Joe recited this couplet with such manifest pride and careful
    perspicuity, that I asked him if he had made it himself.
  303. feature
    a prominent attribute or aspect of something
    I had sadly broken sleep when I got to bed, through thinking of the
    strange man taking aim at me with his invisible gun, and of the guiltily
    coarse and common thing it was, to be on secret terms of conspiracy with
    convicts,--a feature in my low career that I had previously forgotten.
  304. mortal
    subject to death
    I was in
    mortal terror of the young man who wanted my heart and liver; I was
    in mortal terror of my interlocutor with the iron leg; I was in mortal
    terror of myself, from whom an awful promise had been extracted; I had
    no hope of deliverance through my all-powerful sister, who repulsed
    me at every turn; I am afraid to think of what I might have done on
    requirement, in the secrecy of my terror.
  305. obnoxious
    causing disapproval or protest
    We swept on, and I felt that I was highly
    obnoxious to Camilla.
  306. detached
    no longer connected or joined
    Here, the daylight reappeared, and I found myself in
    a small paved courtyard, the opposite side of which was formed by a
    detached dwelling-house, that looked as if it had once belonged to the
    manager or head clerk of the extinct brewery.
  307. vary
    become different in some particular way
    My sister had a trenchant way of cutting our bread and butter for us,
    that never varied.
  308. livid
    furiously angry
    The other convict was livid to look at, and, in addition to the old
    bruised left side of his face, seemed to be bruised and torn all over.
  309. rigidly
    in a rigid manner
    They all had a listless and dreary air of waiting somebody's pleasure,
    and the most talkative of the ladies had to speak quite rigidly to
    repress a yawn.
  310. burly
    muscular and heavily built
    He was a burly man of an exceedingly dark complexion, with an
    exceedingly large head, and a corresponding large hand.
  311. smelt
    extract by heating, as a metal
    With those words, he released me--which I was glad of, for his hand
    smelt of scented soap--and went his way down stairs.
  312. occupant
    someone who lives at a particular place for a long period
    I divined that my coming had stopped conversation in the room, and that
    its other occupants were looking at me.
  313. irrelevant
    having no bearing on or connection with the subject at issue
    I was secretly afraid of him when I saw him so dexterous; but I felt
    morally and physically convinced that his light head of hair could have
    had no business in the pit of my stomach, and that I had a right to
    consider it irrelevant when so obtruded on my attention.
  314. concede
    give over
    I think it will be conceded by my most disputatious reader, that she
    could hardly have directed an unfortunate boy to do anything in the wide
    world more difficult to be done under the circumstances.
  315. fraught
    filled with or attended with
    Meanwhile, councils went on in the kitchen at home, fraught with
    almost insupportable aggravation to my exasperated spirit.
  316. habit
    an established custom
    Having at that time to find out
    for myself what the expression meant, and knowing her to have a hard and
    heavy hand, and to be much in the habit of laying it upon her husband as
    well as upon me, I supposed that Joe Gargery and I were both brought up
    by hand.
  317. arid
    lacking sufficient water or rainfall
    The sergeant took a polite leave of the ladies, and parted from Mr.
    Pumblechook as from a comrade; though I doubt if he were quite as fully
    sensible of that gentleman's merits under arid conditions, as when
    something moist was going.
  318. prolong
    lengthen in time; cause to be or last longer
    The wretched man
    trifled with his glass,--took it up, looked at it through the light,
    put it down,--prolonged my misery.
  319. genteel
    marked by refinement in taste and manners
    Mr. Pumblechook was in favor of a
    handsome premium for binding me apprentice to some genteel trade,--say,
    the corn and seed trade, for instance.
  320. calculated
    carefully thought out in advance
    Mr.
    Wopsle, indeed, wildly cried out, "No!" with the feeble malice of a
    tired man; but, as he had no theory, and no coat on, he was unanimously
    set at naught,--not to mention his smoking hard behind, as he stood
    with his back to the kitchen fire to draw the damp out: which was not
    calculated to inspire confidence.
  321. plunge
    dash violently or with great speed or impetuosity
    It was as if I had to make up my mind to leap
    from the top of a high house, or plunge into a great depth of water.
  322. penitent
    feeling or expressing remorse for misdeeds
    When my ablutions were completed, I was put into clean linen of the
    stiffest character, like a young penitent into sackcloth, and was
    trussed up in my tightest and fearfullest suit.
  323. surprise
    come upon or take unawares
    "I thought he looked as if he did," said I.

    The man stopped eating, and regarded me with the keenest scrutiny and
    the greatest surprise.
  324. operate
    perform as expected when applied
    Conscience is a dreadful thing when it accuses man or boy; but when, in
    the case of a boy, that secret burden co-operates with another secret
    burden down the leg of his trousers, it is (as I can testify) a great
    punishment.
  325. extend
    stretch out over a distance, space, time, or scope
    In
    the meantime, Mrs. Joe put clean white curtains up, and tacked a new
    flowered flounce across the wide chimney to replace the old one, and
    uncovered the little state parlor across the passage, which was never
    uncovered at any other time, but passed the rest of the year in a cool
    haze of silver paper, which even extended to the four little white
    crockery poodles on the mantel-shelf, each with a black nose and a
    basket of flowers in his mouth, and each the counterpart of the other.
  326. deny
    declare untrue; contradict
    I don't
    deny that your sister comes the Mo-gul over us, now and again.
  327. derision
    the act of treating with contempt
    After receiving the charge with every mark of derision, the
    pupils formed in line and buzzingly passed a ragged book from hand to
    hand.
  328. exhaust
    wear out completely
    When I had exhausted the garden and a greenhouse with nothing in it but
    a fallen-down grape-vine and some bottles, I found myself in the dismal
    corner upon which I had looked out of the window.
  329. prodigal
    recklessly wasteful
    "Swine," pursued Mr. Wopsle, in his deepest voice, and pointing his fork
    at my blushes, as if he were mentioning my Christian name,--"swine were
    the companions of the prodigal.
  330. sob
    weep convulsively
    "Very easily said!" remarked Camilla, amiably repressing a sob, while a
    hitch came into her upper lip, and her tears overflowed.
  331. sprinkle
    scatter with liquid; wet lightly
    "Yes," said I. "Estella waved a blue flag, and I waved a red one, and
    Miss Havisham waved one sprinkled all over with little gold stars, out
    at the coach-window.
  332. consist
    have its essential character
    We were to have a superb dinner, consisting of a leg of pickled pork and
    greens, and a pair of roast stuffed fowls.
  333. requirement
    necessary activity
    I was in
    mortal terror of the young man who wanted my heart and liver; I was
    in mortal terror of my interlocutor with the iron leg; I was in mortal
    terror of myself, from whom an awful promise had been extracted; I had
    no hope of deliverance through my all-powerful sister, who repulsed
    me at every turn; I am afraid to think of what I might have done on
    requirement, in the secrecy of my terror.
  334. capricious
    determined by chance or impulse rather than by necessity
    I had known, from the time when I could speak, that my
    sister, in her capricious and violent coercion, was unjust to me.
  335. dogged
    stubbornly unyielding
    But I felt myself so unequal to the
    performance that I gave it up, and stood looking at Miss Havisham in
    what I suppose she took for a dogged manner, inasmuch as she said, when
    we had taken a good look at each other,--

    "Are you sullen and obstinate?"
  336. sensitive
    responsive to physical stimuli
    My sister's bringing up had made me sensitive.
  337. diminishing
    becoming smaller or less or appearing to do so
    To-night, Joe several times invited me, by the display of his fast
    diminishing slice, to enter upon our usual friendly competition; but
    he found me, each time, with my yellow mug of tea on one knee, and
    my untouched bread and butter on the other.
  338. present
    happening or existing now
    I am a keeping that young man from harming of you at the present
    moment, with great difficulty.
  339. minute
    a unit of time equal to 60 seconds or 1/60th of an hour
    "Well," said Joe, glancing up at the Dutch clock, "she's been on the
    Ram-page, this last spell, about five minutes, Pip.
  340. foresight
    seeing ahead; knowing in advance; foreseeing
    He was nothing
    to me, and I could have had no foresight then, that he ever would be
    anything to me, but it happened that I had this opportunity of observing
    him well.
  341. demonstration
    a show or display
    He had taken up the poker again; without which, I doubt if he could have
    proceeded in his demonstration.
  342. lull
    make calm or still
    Her chest had dropped, so that she stooped; and her voice
    had dropped, so that she spoke low, and with a dead lull upon her;
    altogether, she had the appearance of having dropped body and soul,
    within and without, under the weight of a crushing blow.
  343. wax
    substance solid at normal temperature and insoluble in water
    Tickler
    was a wax-ended piece of cane, worn smooth by collision with my tickled
    frame.
  344. wander
    move or cause to move in a sinuous or circular course
    Do you see those grovelling and wandering eyes?
  345. counterpart
    a person or thing having the same function as another
    In
    the meantime, Mrs. Joe put clean white curtains up, and tacked a new
    flowered flounce across the wide chimney to replace the old one, and
    uncovered the little state parlor across the passage, which was never
    uncovered at any other time, but passed the rest of the year in a cool
    haze of silver paper, which even extended to the four little white
    crockery poodles on the mantel-shelf, each with a black nose and a
    basket of flowers in his mouth, and each the counterpart of the other.
  346. affinity
    a natural attraction or feeling of kinship
    In the same early morning, I discovered a singular affinity
    between seeds and corduroys.
  347. fervor
    feelings of great warmth and intensity
    I still held on to the
    leg of the table, but clutched it now with the fervor of gratitude.
  348. errand
    a short trip taken in the performance of a necessary task
    The guilty knowledge that I was going to rob Mrs. Joe--I
    never thought I was going to rob Joe, for I never thought of any of the
    housekeeping property as his--united to the necessity of always keeping
    one hand on my bread and butter as I sat, or when I was ordered about
    the kitchen on any small errand, almost drove me out of my mind.
  349. fret
    be agitated or irritated
    "Tell me directly what you've been doing to wear me away with fret
    and fright and worrit, or I'd have you out of that corner if you was
    fifty Pips, and he was five hundred Gargerys."
  350. aghast
    struck with fear, dread, or consternation
    "If you can cough any trifle on it up, Pip, I'd recommend you to do it,"
    said Joe, all aghast.
  351. sparkle
    emit or produce sparks
    Some bright jewels sparkled on her neck and on her hands, and
    some other jewels lay sparkling on the table.
  352. circumstances
    one's overall condition in life
    As she applied herself to set the tea-things, Joe peeped down at me
    over his leg, as if he were mentally casting me and himself up, and
    calculating what kind of pair we practically should make, under the
    grievous circumstances foreshadowed.
  353. morsel
    a small amount of solid food; a mouthful
    I was hungry, but before I had
    swallowed a morsel, he began a running sum that lasted all through the
    breakfast.
  354. pursuing
    following in order to overtake or capture
    Why, if I see one pursuing party last night--coming up
    in order, Damn 'em, with their tramp, tramp--I see a hundred.
  355. contrive
    make or work out a plan for; devise
    With an alphabet on the
    hearth at my feet for reference, I contrived in an hour or two to print
    and smear this epistle:--

    "MI DEER JO i OPE U R KR WITE WELL i OPE i SHAL SON B HABELL 4 2 TEEDGE
    U JO AN THEN WE SHORL B SO GLODD AN WEN i M PRENGTD 2 U JO WOT LARX AN
    BLEVE ME INF XN PIP."
  356. tread
    put down, place, or press the foot
    I glanced down at the foot from which the shoe was absent,
    and saw that the silk stocking on it, once white, now yellow, had been
    trodden ragged.
  357. likeness
    similarity in appearance or nature between persons or things
    As I never saw my father or my mother, and never saw any likeness
    of either of them (for their days were long before the days of
    photographs), my first fancies regarding what they were like were
    unreasonably derived from their tombstones.
  358. solitary
    not growing or living in groups or colonies
    Through all my punishments, disgraces,
    fasts, and vigils, and other penitential performances, I had nursed
    this assurance; and to my communing so much with it, in a solitary and
    unprotected way, I in great part refer the fact that I was morally timid
    and very sensitive.
  359. volatile
    liable to lead to sudden change or violence
    "Raymond is a
    witness what ginger and sal volatile I am obliged to take in the night.
  360. stake
    a strong wooden or metal post driven into the ground
    However, in the confusion of the mist, I found myself at last too far to
    the right, and consequently had to try back along the river-side, on the
    bank of loose stones above the mud and the stakes that staked the tide
    out.
  361. survey
    determining opinions by interviewing people
    In my
    dreadful situation, it was a relief when he was brought back, and
    surveying the company all round as if they had disagreed with him, sank
    down into his chair with the one significant gasp, "Tar!"
  362. dictate
    a guiding principle
    I was always treated as if I had insisted on being born in opposition
    to the dictates of reason, religion, and morality, and against the
    dissuading arguments of my best friends.
  363. job
    a specific piece of work required to be done as a duty
    "Missis," returned the gallant sergeant, "speaking for myself, I should
    reply, the honor and pleasure of his fine wife's acquaintance; speaking
    for the king, I answer, a little job done."
  364. bend
    form a curve
    While Mrs. Joe sat with her head bending over her needlework, I put my
    mouth into the forms of saying to Joe, "What's a convict?"
  365. comprehend
    get the meaning of something
    It was not at all expressed to me that he even comprehended
    my intention, for he gave me a look that I did not understand, and it
    all passed in a moment.
  366. grate
    reduce to shreds by rubbing against a perforated surface
    A fire had been lately kindled in
    the damp old-fashioned grate, and it was more disposed to go out than
    to burn up, and the reluctant smoke which hung in the room seemed colder
    than the clearer air,--like our own marsh mist.
  367. traverse
    journey across or pass over
    We traversed but one side of the square,
    however, and at the end of it she stopped, and put her candle down and
    opened a door.
  368. contradictory
    not able to be true at the same time
    And sometimes, when her moods were
    so many and so contradictory of one another that I was puzzled what
    to say or do, Miss Havisham would embrace her with lavish fondness,
    murmuring something in her ear that sounded like "Break their hearts my
    pride and hope, break their hearts and have no mercy!"
  369. visage
    the human face
    Whether myrmidons of Justice,
    specially sent down from London, would be lying in ambush behind the
    gate;--whether Miss Havisham, preferring to take personal vengeance for
    an outrage done to her house, might rise in those grave-clothes of hers,
    draw a pistol, and shoot me dead:--whether suborned boys--a numerous
    band of mercenaries--might be engaged to fall upon me in the brewery,
    and cuff me until I was no more;--it was high testimony to my confidence
    in the spirit of the pale young g...
  370. subdue
    put down by force or intimidation
    After that, it became
    customary with us to have it as we moved about, and Estella would often
    join in; though the whole strain was so subdued, even when there were
    three of us, that it made less noise in the grim old house than the
    lightest breath of wind.
  371. ponderous
    having great mass and weight and unwieldiness
    But the black beetles took
    no notice of the agitation, and groped about the hearth in a ponderous
    elderly way, as if they were short-sighted and hard of hearing, and not
    on terms with one another.
  372. perceive
    become aware of through the senses
    But beginning to perceive that the
    handcuffs were not for me, and that the military had so far got the
    better of the pie as to put it in the background, I collected a little
    more of my scattered wits.
  373. communicate
    transfer to another
    There was a door in the kitchen, communicating with the forge; I
    unlocked and unbolted that door, and got a file from among Joe's tools.
  374. likewise
    in a similar manner
    I
    was very much afraid of him again, now that he had worked himself into
    this fierce hurry, and I was likewise very much afraid of keeping away
    from home any longer.
  375. lively
    full of life and energy
    My sister was
    uncommonly lively on the present occasion, and indeed was generally more
    gracious in the society of Mrs. Hubble than in other company.
  376. similarity
    the quality of being alike
    I had often watched a large dog of ours eating his food; and I now
    noticed a decided similarity between the dog's way of eating, and the
    man's.
  377. absorb
    take in a liquid
    The interest of the impending pursuit not only absorbed the general
    attention, but even made my sister liberal.
  378. giddy
    lacking seriousness; given to frivolity
    I was dreadfully frightened, and so giddy that I clung to him with both
    hands, and said, "If you would kindly please to let me keep upright,
    sir, perhaps I shouldn't be sick, and perhaps I could attend more."
  379. filing
    the entering of a legal document into the public record
    But he was down on the rank wet
    grass, filing at his iron like a madman, and not minding me or minding
    his own leg, which had an old chafe upon it and was bloody, but which he
    handled as roughly as if it had no more feeling in it than the file.
  380. inspect
    look over carefully
    The watchmaker, always poring over a little desk with
    a magnifying-glass at his eye, and always inspected by a group of
    smock-frocks poring over him through the glass of his shop-window,
    seemed to be about the only person in the High Street whose trade
    engaged his attention.
  381. dreary
    lacking in liveliness or charm or surprise
    We were joined by no stragglers from the village, for the weather was
    cold and threatening, the way dreary, the footing bad, darkness coming
    on, and the people had good fires in-doors and were keeping the day.
  382. fierce
    marked by extreme and violent energy
    You'd be but a fierce young hound
    indeed, if at your time of life you could help to hunt a wretched
    warmint hunted as near death and dunghill as this poor wretched warmint
    is!"
  383. receive
    get something; come into possession of
    This was received as rather neat in the sergeant; insomuch that Mr.
    Pumblechook cried audibly, "Good again!"
  384. opportunity
    a possibility from a favorable combination of circumstances
    They seemed to think the opportunity
    lost, if they failed to point the conversation at me, every now and
    then, and stick the point into me.
  385. burst
    come open suddenly and violently
    The gates and dikes and
    banks came bursting at me through the mist, as if they cried as plainly
    as could be, "A boy with Somebody's else's pork pie!
  386. devour
    eat immoderately
    The worst of it was that that bullying old Pumblechook, preyed upon by
    a devouring curiosity to be informed of all I had seen and heard, came
    gaping over in his chaise-cart at tea-time, to have the details divulged
    to him.
  387. merit
    the quality of being deserving
    She made it a powerful
    merit in herself, and a strong reproach against Joe, that she wore this
    apron so much.
  388. opposite
    being directly across from each other
    Joe and I being fellow-sufferers, and having
    confidences as such, Joe imparted a confidence to me, the moment I
    raised the latch of the door and peeped in at him opposite to it,
    sitting in the chimney corner.
  389. pall
    burial garment in which a corpse is wrapped
    As soon as the great black velvet pall outside my little window was shot
    with gray, I got up and went down stairs; every board upon the way, and
    every crack in every board calling after me, "Stop thief!" and "Get up,
    Mrs. Joe!"
  390. infer
    conclude by reasoning
    Mr. Pumblechook winked assent; from which I at once inferred that he had
    never seen Miss Havisham, for she was nothing of the kind.
  391. definition
    a brief explanation of the meaning of a word or phrase
    Administering the definition like Tar-water.
  392. prefer
    like better; value more highly
    I'll
    engage there's no Tar in that:" so, the sergeant thanked him and said
    that as he preferred his drink without tar, he would take wine, if it
    was equally convenient.
  393. display
    something intended to communicate a particular impression
    To-night, Joe several times invited me, by the display of his fast
    diminishing slice, to enter upon our usual friendly competition; but
    he found me, each time, with my yellow mug of tea on one knee, and
    my untouched bread and butter on the other.
  394. warn
    notify of danger, potential harm, or risk
    And they fired warning of him.
  395. suspect
    regard as untrustworthy
    "I'll tell you something," returned the sergeant; "I suspect that
    stuff's of your providing."
  396. occupation
    the principal activity in one's life to earn money
    "Well, Pip," said Joe, taking up the poker, and settling himself to
    his usual occupation when he was thoughtful, of slowly raking the fire
    between the lower bars; "I'll tell you.
  397. incline
    lower or bend, as in a nod or bow
    I was afraid to sleep, even if I had been
    inclined, for I knew that at the first faint dawn of morning I must rob
    the pantry.
  398. found
    set up
    At such a time I found out for certain
    that this bleak place overgrown with nettles was the churchyard; and
    that Philip Pirrip, late of this parish, and also Georgiana wife of the
    above, were dead and buried; and that Alexander, Bartholomew, Abraham,
    Tobias, and Roger, infant children of the aforesaid, were also dead
    and buried; and that the dark flat wilderness beyond the churchyard,
    intersected with dikes and mounds and gates, with scattered cattle
    feeding on it, was the mars...
  399. lead
    take somebody somewhere
    Mrs. Joe was prodigiously busy in getting the
    house ready for the festivities of the day, and Joe had been put upon
    the kitchen doorstep to keep him out of the dust-pan,--an article into
    which his destiny always led him, sooner or later, when my sister was
    vigorously reaping the floors of her establishment.
  400. persist
    refuse to stop
    In
    his lay capacity, he persisted in sitting down in the damp to such
    an insane extent, that when his coat was taken off to be dried at the
    kitchen fire, the circumstantial evidence on his trousers would have
    hanged him, if it had been a capital offence.
  401. dozen
    the cardinal number that is the sum of eleven and one
    "Mrs. Joe has been out a dozen times, looking for you, Pip.
  402. incidentally
    by the way (used to introduce a new topic)
    All in a moment, with nothing to lead up to
    it, my sister would stop herself in a yawn, and catching sight of me as
    it were incidentally, would swoop upon me with, "Come! there's enough of
    you!
  403. explicit
    precisely and clearly expressed or readily observable
    Chapter I

    My father's family name being Pirrip, and my Christian name Philip, my
    infant tongue could make of both names nothing longer or more explicit
    than Pip.
  404. course
    a connected series of events or actions or developments
    "Of course, or girl, Mr. Hubble," assented Mr. Wopsle, rather irritably,
    "but there is no girl present."
  405. reproach
    express criticism towards
    She made it a powerful
    merit in herself, and a strong reproach against Joe, that she wore this
    apron so much.
  406. profound
    situated at or extending to great depth
    Every Christmas Day he presented himself, as a profound novelty, with
    exactly the same words, and carrying the two bottles like dumb-bells.
  407. seclusion
    the act of isolating oneself from others
    I had heard of Miss Havisham up town,--everybody for miles round had
    heard of Miss Havisham up town,--as an immensely rich and grim lady who
    lived in a large and dismal house barricaded against robbers, and who
    led a life of seclusion.
  408. declare
    state emphatically and authoritatively
    Then,
    as the marsh winds made the fire glow and flare, I thought I heard the
    voice outside, of the man with the iron on his leg who had sworn me to
    secrecy, declaring that he couldn't and wouldn't starve until to-morrow,
    but must be fed now.
  409. muster
    summon up, call forth, or bring together
    As Joe
    got on his coat, he mustered courage to propose that some of us should
    go down with the soldiers and see what came of the hunt.
  410. devise
    arrange by systematic planning and united effort
    I had cut
    my knuckles against the pale young gentleman's teeth, and I twisted my
    imagination into a thousand tangles, as I devised incredible ways of
    accounting for that damnatory circumstance when I should be haled before
    the Judges.
  411. pursuit
    the act of following in an effort to overtake or capture
    The interest of the impending pursuit not only absorbed the general
    attention, but even made my sister liberal.
  412. straight
    having no deviations
    I knew
    my way to the Battery, pretty straight, for I had been down there on a
    Sunday with Joe, and Joe, sitting on an old gun, had told me that when
    I was 'prentice to him, regularly bound, we would have such Larks there!
  413. friction
    the resistance when a body is moved in contact with another
    There was no doing it in the night, for there was no getting
    a light by easy friction then; to have got one I must have struck it out
    of flint and steel, and have made a noise like the very pirate himself
    rattling his chains.
  414. rig
    equip with sails or masts
    The cold wind seemed to blow colder there than outside the gate; and
    it made a shrill noise in howling in and out at the open sides of the
    brewery, like the noise of wind in the rigging of a ship at sea.
  415. apparition
    a ghostly appearing figure
    Chapter V

    The apparition of a file of soldiers ringing down the but-ends of their
    loaded muskets on our door-step, caused the dinner-party to rise
    from table in confusion, and caused Mrs. Joe re-entering the kitchen
    empty-handed, to stop short and stare, in her wondering lament of
    "Gracious goodness gracious me, what's gone--with the--pie!"
  416. debate
    a discussion with reasons for and against some proposal
    That, if Joe knew it, I
    never afterwards could see him glance, however casually, at yesterday's
    meat or pudding when it came on to-day's table, without thinking that he
    was debating whether I had been in the pantry.
  417. inexplicable
    incapable of being explained or accounted for
    "I have gone off into that state, hours and hours, on account of
    Matthew's strange and inexplicable conduct, and nobody has thanked me."
  418. asunder
    into parts or pieces
    Come
    asunder!"
  419. fortitude
    strength of mind that enables one to endure adversity
    Mr. Camilla interposing, as Mrs. Camilla laid her hand upon her heaving
    bosom, that lady assumed an unnatural fortitude of manner which I
    supposed to be expressive of an intention to drop and choke when out of
    view, and kissing her hand to Miss Havisham, was escorted forth.
  420. correspond
    take the place of or be parallel or equivalent to
    He was a burly man of an exceedingly dark complexion, with an
    exceedingly large head, and a corresponding large hand.
  421. diminish
    decrease in size, extent, or range
    To-night, Joe several times invited me, by the display of his fast
    diminishing slice, to enter upon our usual friendly competition; but
    he found me, each time, with my yellow mug of tea on one knee, and
    my untouched bread and butter on the other.
  422. remain
    continue in a place, position, or situation
    Some of the
    windows had been walled up; of those that remained, all the lower were
    rustily barred.
  423. alternate
    go back and forth
    I insensibly fall into a general mention of
    these journeys as numerous, because it was at once settled that I should
    return every alternate day at noon for these purposes, and because I am
    now going to sum up a period of at least eight or ten months.
  424. lavish
    given or giving freely, generously, or without restriction
    And sometimes, when her moods were
    so many and so contradictory of one another that I was puzzled what
    to say or do, Miss Havisham would embrace her with lavish fondness,
    murmuring something in her ear that sounded like "Break their hearts my
    pride and hope, break their hearts and have no mercy!"
  425. render
    give or supply
    When I was old enough, I was to be apprenticed to Joe, and until I could
    assume that dignity I was not to be what Mrs. Joe called "Pompeyed," or
    (as I render it) pampered.
  426. exclude
    prevent from entering; shut out
    From that room, too, the daylight was completely excluded, and it had an
    airless smell that was oppressive.
  427. edge
    a line determining the limits of an area
    On the edge of the
    river I could faintly make out the only two black things in all the
    prospect that seemed to be standing upright; one of these was the beacon
    by which the sailors steered,--like an unhooped cask upon a pole,--an
    ugly thing when you were near it; the other, a gibbet, with some chains
    hanging to it which had once held a pirate.
  428. reflect
    throw or bend back from a surface
    "That's not so bad," said the sergeant, reflecting; "even if I was
    forced to halt here nigh two hours, that'll do.
  429. melancholy
    a constitutional tendency to be gloomy and depressed
    If you complain of me I shall get into trouble with my sister, so
    I would do it if I could; but it's so new here, and so strange, and so
    fine,--and melancholy--."
  430. cherish
    be fond of
    I had
    cherished a profound conviction that her bringing me up by hand gave her
    no right to bring me up by jerks.
  431. commit
    engage in or perform
    For the fugitive out on the marshes with the ironed leg, the
    mysterious young man, the file, the food, and the dreadful pledge I was
    under to commit a larceny on those sheltering premises, rose before me
    in the avenging coals.
  432. candid
    openly straightforward and direct without secretiveness
    Besides being possessed by my sister's
    idea that a mortifying and penitential character ought to be imparted
    to my diet,--besides giving me as much crumb as possible in combination
    with as little butter, and putting such a quantity of warm water into
    my milk that it would have been more candid to have left the milk out
    altogether,--his conversation consisted of nothing but arithmetic.
  433. diversion
    a turning aside
    "I want diversion, and I have done
    with men and women.
  434. tide
    the periodic rise and fall of the sea level
    But presently I looked over my shoulder, and saw him going on
    again towards the river, still hugging himself in both arms, and picking
    his way with his sore feet among the great stones dropped into the
    marshes here and there, for stepping-places when the rains were heavy or
    the tide was in.
  435. expanse
    a wide and open space or area, as of land, sea, or sky
    An epergne or centre-piece of some kind was in the
    middle of this cloth; it was so heavily overhung with cobwebs that its
    form was quite undistinguishable; and, as I looked along the yellow
    expanse out of which I remember its seeming to grow, like a black
    fungus, I saw speckle-legged spiders with blotchy bodies running home
    to it, and running out from it, as if some circumstances of the greatest
    public importance had just transpired in the spider community.
  436. lament
    a cry of sorrow and grief
    Chapter V

    The apparition of a file of soldiers ringing down the but-ends of their
    loaded muskets on our door-step, caused the dinner-party to rise
    from table in confusion, and caused Mrs. Joe re-entering the kitchen
    empty-handed, to stop short and stare, in her wondering lament of
    "Gracious goodness gracious me, what's gone--with the--pie!"
  437. repose
    freedom from activity
    Mrs. Joe made occasional trips with Uncle Pumblechook on market-days,
    to assist him in buying such household stuffs and goods as required a
    woman's judgment; Uncle Pumblechook being a bachelor and reposing no
    confidences in his domestic servant.
  438. separate
    standing apart; not attached to or supported by anything
    Then, she gave the knife a final smart
    wipe on the edge of the plaster, and then sawed a very thick round off
    the loaf: which she finally, before separating from the loaf, hewed into
    two halves, of which Joe got one, and I the other.
  439. besides
    in addition
    "I wonder you shouldn't have been sure of that," I returned, "for
    we heard it up at home, and that's farther away, and we were shut in
    besides."
  440. vanish
    become invisible or unnoticeable
    Upon which he put down his head, blew a cloud of
    smoke out of his nose, and vanished with a kick-up of his hind-legs and
    a flourish of his tail.
  441. elaborate
    marked by complexity and richness of detail
    Joe put his
    mouth into the forms of returning such a highly elaborate answer, that I
    could make out nothing of it but the single word "Pip."
  442. odd
    not divisible by two
    The shape of the letters on
    my father's, gave me an odd idea that he was a square, stout, dark man,
    with curly black hair.
  443. evening
    the latter part of the day
    My first most vivid and broad impression
    of the identity of things seems to me to have been gained on a memorable
    raw afternoon towards evening.
  444. inference
    a conclusion you can draw based on known evidence
    "Would you give me the time?" said the sergeant, addressing himself to
    Mr. Pumblechook, as to a man whose appreciative powers justified the
    inference that he was equal to the time.
Created on Tue Jul 12 06:52:37 EDT 2011

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