“A Christmas Carol” notes

Stave 1

  1. stave: a stanza of a poem or song; here a section of Dickens’ “carol”
  2. ‘Change: the Exchange, the place where merchants, brokers, and bankers conduct their business
  3. executor, administrator, assign, residuary legatee: legal terms used in a will. Marley had left everything he owned to Scrooge, who handled all the business arrangements after Marley’s death.
  4. “came down”: slang for “made a gift or donation”
  5. comforter: a long scarf
  6. tacitly: without speaking
  7. beguiled: spent or whiled away
  8. lowering: dark and threatening
  9. fancy: imagination
  10. lumber room: storeroom
  11. hob: a small shelf at the back or side of a fireplace, used to keep a kettle or a saucepan warm
  12. cravat: a necktie, or a scarf resembling a necktie
  13. bowels: the intestines, which used to be regarded as the source of pity and mercy. When people said Marley had no bowels, they meant that he was cruel.
  14. ages…developed: In other words, heavenly spirits must work for countless years before the goodness that is possible in the world can come into being.
  15. of my procuring: that I got for you
  16. dull: gloomy

Stave 2

  1. organ of benevolence: the part of the head where the forehead meets the crown
  2. porter: dark brown beer
  3. forfeits: a game in which the players must forfeit, or give up, something if they lose
  4. negus: punch
  5. boiled: boiled beef
  6. “Sir Roger de Coverley”: a square-dance tune
  7. dowerless: without a dowry, the money and property that a woman formerly brought to her husband at marriage

Stave 3

  1. petrifaction: something petrified, or turning to stone. The hearth, or fireplace, is cold and hard because it has never known a generous fire.
  2. brawn: boar meat
  3. twelfth-cakes: fruitcakes made for Epiphany, or Twelfth Day, a holiday that occurs on January 6, twelve days after Christmas
  4. More…hundred: Since this story was written in 1843, the Ghost of Christmas Present would have more than eighteen hundred brothers.
  5. “bob”: slang for shilling, or shillings, a former British coin worth one twentieth of a pound
  6. twice-turned: remade twice so that worn parts would not show
  7. the baker’s: In the days when people of small means had fireplaces but no ovens, they would rent space in the local baker’s oven to roast poultry or large pieces of meat
  8. declension: sinking or falling off
  9. rampant: rearing up like a horse; here, high-spirited
  10. rallied Bob on his credulity: teased Bob for being so easily fooled by their joke
  11. ubiquitous: being everywhere at the same time
  12. ate: an alternate form of eaten, used in Great Britain
  13. livid: pale
  14. cloth: The pudding was wrapped in cloth and then boiled
  15. quartern: one fourth of a pint
  16. bedight: decorated
  17. Baleful: wretched
  18. tucker: a covering for the neck and shoulders, something like a large collar
  19. glee; catch: songs for three or more voices, unaccompanied by instruments
  20. feint: pretense
  21. precepts: rules of living

Stave 4

  1. offal: the waste parts of an animal that has been butchered for meat
  2. charwoman: a woman employed to clean a house or an office
  3. propitiation: ability to keep the peace
  4. “And he…them”: a quotation from Mark 9:36

Stave 5

  1. Laocoon: a character in a Greek myth who was strangled by sea serpents
  2. transports: feelings of great joy
  3. poulterer’s: shop where poultry is sold
  4. Walk-er!: a slang word used to express disbelief, equivalent to “You’re kidding!”
  5. half a crown: a coin equal to one eighth of a pound
  6. blithe: cheerful
  7. farthing: a former British coin worth one quarter of a penny
  8. munificence: great generosity. Scrooge prevents the gentleman from finishing the word.
  9. unanimity: agreement
  10. strait waistcoat: a straitjacket
  11. bishop: a hot drink made of spiced port wine
  12. total-abstinence principle: the giving up of “spirits” completely, usually alcoholic spirits, but here ghostly spirits