688 Matching Annotations
  1. May 2016
    1. Chickens Meat

      Chicken's food; in this case, barley (referred to here sometimes as corn), which Crusoe realizes must have germinated and sprouted.

    2. Staves

      Wooden planks from which barrels are made.

    3. Cask to be hooped

      A typical wooden barrel, consisting of vertical wooden staves bound with lateral metal hoops.

    4. Runlet

      A roundlet, or, in wine-measure, a barrel holding about 48 gallons.

    5. jealous

      Fearful, apprehensive, or wary.

    6. Hodd

      An open receptacle for carrying mortar, bricks, stones, or coal.

    7. Iron Gudgeons

      The cylindrical shaft running through the center of a wheel, upon which it pivots.

    8. shoal

      Shallow

    9. overset

      Overturned

    10. Magazine

      Storehouse

    11. Adze

      A tool like a pickax, with a blade at right angles to the handle.

    12. Works

      Some subsequent editions misread this word as the intransitive verb "to work," printing the line as "I set my self to enlarge my Cave, and work farther into the Earth." However, the first edition treats it as a noun.

    13. Iron Crows

      Crowbars

  2. Mar 2016
    1. husbanded

      Economized or eked out, so they would last

    2. Popish

      Catholic

    3. 240 l.

      240 lb.

    4. tho’ had the Powder took fire, I had never known who had hurt me.

      Had the explosive gunpowder caught fire from the lightning, Crusoe would ironically not have survived the explosion to have suffered harm at the hands of man or beast.

    5. Semi-diameter

      Radius

    6. Spritsail-yard, and the Missen-yard

      The cross-beams attached at right angles to the masts, from which the various sails hang

    7. Hawser

      A large rope used in warping or mooring a ship

    8. Hogshead of Bread

      A large cask, or a quantity sufficient to fill a hogshead

    9. Maggazin

      Here not referring exclusively to an arsenal of weaponry, but more generally to Crusoe's store of provisions.

    10. fain

      Eager

    11. Iron Crows

      Crowbars

    12. Grindstone

      A stone on which to sharpen stone tools

    13. Powder-horns

      A container for gunpowder, made from an ox or buffalo horn.

    14. Rack

      A kind of liqueur

    15. Cordial Waters

      Medicinal concoctions, often consisting of brandy or whiskey mixed with various spices.

    16. Skipper

      Master of the ship

    17. Application

      Ingenuity and determination (archaic usage)

    18. Forecastle

      The forward part of a ship below the main deck, usually the crew's living quarters.

    19. a Furlong

      One eighth of a mile, or 220 yards.

    20. two Shoes that were not Fellows

      did not comprise a single pair

    21. a League and a Half

      Approximately three and a half miles

    22. Coup de Grace

      Death blow

    23. a-stern of us

      Towards the rear of the boat

    24. under the Lee of the Land

      In such a position that the land intercepts the wind, so that it does not buffet the boat.

    25. Den wild Zee

      "The wild sea"

    26. stav’d

      The hull probably bashed in

    27. Calenture

      Feverish delirium prevalent in the tropics.

    28. straiten’d for

      lacking

    29. Pounds Sterl.

      British pounds are also referred to as pounds sterling.

    30. Ducats

      A gold or silver trade coin, formerly current in most European countries.

    31. 80 Pieces of Eight

      Eighty Spanish dollars ("Pieces of eight" were so called because one was worth eight Spanish reales.)

    32. to a tittle

      Down to the smallest detail; to the highest degree

    33. Antient

      INSERT NOTE HERE.

    34. Antient and Pendants

      INSERT NOTE HERE.

    35. almost Musquet-bore

      "Bore" refers to the interior of the barrel of a gun, and the diameter of the bore determines the calibre. Crusoe's gun, then, is musket calibre.

    36. Slugs

      Bullets

    37. a Dram

      A small portion of a drink; a swig or sip.

    38. if any of our Vessels were in Chase of me, they also would now give over

      If any of his Master's men had tried to follow him, he was by now so far away that they would have given up.

    39. presented

      Aimed

    40. Fowling-pieces

      Guns

    41. Twist

      Crotch

    42. Curlieus

      A wading bird of mottled brown color with a long, slender beak. [Insert picture of a curlew here.]

  3. Feb 2016
    1. gib’d

      Shifted from one side of the vessel to the other when running before the wind.

    2. Maresco

      Moor

    3. Usage I had there

      Treatment I experienced there

    4. Broadside

      The battery of cannon located on the side of the ship; cannon fire.

    5. the Line

      The Equator

    6. Calenture

      Feverish delirium

    7. 300 l

      Three hundred British pounds.

    8. L. 5.9 Ounces

      5 lb, 9 oz.

    9. Adventure

      Quantity of capital or valuables

    10. 40 l.

      Forty pounds

    11. Mess-mate

      Person with whom one regularly takes meals.

    12. Fore-mast Man

      Common sailor

    13. if the Boat was stav’d upon Shore he would make it good to their Master

      If the boat was crushed or damaged while running aground, he would reimburse their master.

    1. Colliers

      Coal barges.

      (Shinagel 12; footnote 6)

    2. Boat-Swain

      Senior crew member.

    3. at all Adventures

      At the mercy of all risks/dangers.

    4. Steerage

      The lower deck of a ship, just below the main deck and above the ballast; lower classes of passengers often purchased cheaper tickets to travel in this part of the ship.

    5. Sheet Anchor

      A very large, heavy spare anchor stored in the waist of the ship, used in emergencies.

    6. come home

      Come loose.

    7. Forecastle in

      With the bow (the foremost part of the hull) in the water.

    8. rid

      Remained anchored; floated stationary.

    9. Ground-Tackle

      Equipment used to anchor a ship.

    10. inur’d

      Having grown accustomed to something unpleasant.

    11. Elopement

      Here merely the general action of fleeing, with no associations of secretive marriage.

    12. move

      Propose.

      (Shinagel 8, footnote 6)

    13. mechanick

      Relating to manual labor.

      (Shinagel 6, footnote 2)

    14. warmly

      Heatedly, vehemently; as opposed to affectionately.

    15. Design

      My intended purpose; but also with a possible foreshadowing of the way that the design of fate or Providence will play a role in Crusoe's life.

    16. dispatch’d

      That such books as this will be read quickly, so that the truth of the narrative has no bearing on its value as entertainment or instruction.

      (See Defoe, Daniel. Robinson Crusoe Ed. Michael Shinagel. (New York: W.W. Norton & Co., 1978), p. 3, footnote 1)

    17. viz.

      Abbreviation for Lat. videlicet, meaning here "namely."

  4. Dec 2015
    1. gunrest

      The picture doesn't show the round central 'gunrest' that Joyce implies, though the outer ring might more accurately have been called by that term. Image Description

  5. Nov 2015
    1. Торгоны зам

      I was wondering if there was a connection between the second word in төмөр зам meaning railway and road. Now I find the same morpheme in the word for silk road (title of this webpage). Cool.

  6. Oct 2015