iWorth's Blog:

Parlour boarder - a pupil who 'lived in' almost as a member of his tutor's family. Washed out - pupils in a boarding school sent their clothes out of the school to be washed by a laundry or washerwoman. Aff. or affte. - affectionate. Going down - going home at the end of term. Going up - going to boarding school. Calisthenics - "keep fit" exercises suitable for ladies. Hoops - a hoop was a large ring of wood or metal. A boy would roll it beside him as he ran along. Dunned - hounded by a debt collector. Fag - a young boy who has to obey the orders of a senior; to fag someone - to treat as a fag. Morris-tube - a narrow metal tube fitted into the barrel of a gun to make it possible to use small bullets for target practice. Pelisse - a long cloak. Epaulets - decorative frills worn on the shoulders of a coat. Beaver hat - hat made of beaver fur. Gruel - watery soup. Bread & scrape - a slice of bread very thinly buttered. Gudgeon - a sm...

£ - pound; gold coin, also called sovereign. (The capital L or £ came from the Latin word 'libra' meaning a pound weight.) A pound was worth 20 shillings or 240 pence. S - shilling; silver coin worth 12 pence. d - penny; copper coin. (The d was the initial letter of 'denarius', a small coin in Roman times). _ - Halfpenny; small copper coin. _ - farthing; very small, worth a quarter of penny. Gn - guinea; gold coin worth 21 shillings.

Seals - decorative metal trinkets hung on a gentleman's watch-chain; could be used to imprint the wax when sealing letters. Bond - legal document guaranteeing a payment Overseers of the Poor - Parish officials who gave money from the rates to people who could not support themselves Quadrille - square dance for four couples Chaine des Dames - movement of a quadrille Catechism - a set of questions and answers used in teaching the beliefs of the Church of England A bag of - a fox taken to the meet in a bag and then released, to guarantee a hunt Lotto - a game of numbers, rather like Bingo Commerce - card game with a 'pool' of money to be won Paste the newspapers - cut out interesting news items and stick them in a scrapbook Charade - the 'actors' choose a word of two or three syllables, e.g. 'understand'. They do a mime to suggest 'under' and another to give a clue to 'stand'. They then act a piece which hints at the whole word. The 'audienc...