Vocabulary Used in My Brother Sam is Dead

My Brother Sam is Dead Vocabulary-


Period Slang: Used in Camp or in the Field

Adjutant: an officer who acts as military assistant to a more senior officer.

Beetle-Headed: Dull, Stupid.

Brown Bess: A soldier's fire-lock (musket). "To hug Brown Bess" is to carry a fire-lock, or serve as a private soldier.

Chicken-Hearted: Fearful, cowardly.

Cur: A cut or curtailed dog, disabled from chasing game. Figuratively used to signify a surly fellow.

English Burgundy: Porter (wine).

Flip: Small beer, brandy, and sugar.

Fusillade: A discharge from a number of firearms, fired simultaneously or in rapid succession. A rapid outburst or barrage: a fusillade of insults.

Gill: One gill is equal to 1/2 cup of liquid. Soldiers were allowed a gill of Rum per day when on fatigue, and at no other time.

Grog: Rum and water. "Groggy" or "Groggified" is to be drunk.

Ground Arms: To stack firearms on the ground.

Hook: To steal. "My shirt was worn so I headed out of camp to hook one."

Huzza: Said to have been originally the cry of the huzzars or Hungarian light horse; but now the national shout of the English, both civil and military; to give three cheers being to huzza thrice.

Jack Tar: A sailor.

Lobster(Back): A British soldier, from the color of his clothes (Red).

Loggerhead: A blockhead or stupid fellow, also a double-headed, or bar-shot of iron.

Neck Weed: Hemp. Used as rope in the time period.

Pottage: A thick soup. Rod: A measurement of width, 16.5 feet is a rod.

Sallied: Usually means to breakout or depart.

Scaly: Mean, sordid.

Surly: Unfriendly, crabby, grumpy. Used to describe someone of that nature: "Major Williams was a surly fellow."

Sutler: A sutler or victualer is a civilian who sells provisions to an army in the field, in camp or in quarters.

Tattoo: A beat of the drum, or signal for soldiers to go to their quarters, and a direction to the *sutlers to close the tap. * A sutler or victualer is a civilian who sells provisions to an army in the field, in camp or in quarters.

Trainband: Local Militia. Volunteer soldiers formed to protect townships.

Vanguard: The foremost position in an army or fleet advancing into battle.

Period Slang: Used in Everyday Life

Anvil: A heavy steel faced iron block.

Breeches: Trousers ending above the knee.

Ciphering: Transforming a message into secret code via math.
18-21-14 = R-U-N

Cholera: An acute infectious disease of the small intestine, caused by the bacterium Vibrio Cholerae.

Commissary Notes: A Commissary is a store or market for military personnel, so a Commissary Note is a certificate given in lieu of currency for use in the store.

Drover: One that drives cattle or sheep to market.

Forage: The act of looking or searching for food or provisions.

Fusillade: A rapid outburst or barrage: a fusillade of insults.

Hardtack: A hard biscuit or bread made with only flour and water.

Hogshead: Any of various units of volume or capacity ranging from 63 to 140 gallons.

Hundredweight: 100 pounds.

Jerked Beef: Long slices or strips of beef dried in the sun or near a fire.

Johnny Cake: Cornmeal bread usually shaped into a flat cake and baked or fried on a griddle.

Leggings: Tight, form-fitting trousers that extend from the waist to the ankles.

Loft: Unpartitioned room overlooking another room.

Pallet: 1. A fire shovel; 2. A bed of straw

Papist: A Roman Catholic

Plowshare: The cutting blade of a plow.

Populace: The general public; the masses. A population.

Pound: Unit of money- equivalent to twenty shillings sterling

Powder Horn: Where you kept your gun powder

Scrip: A piece of paper representing or acknowledging value, such as a receipt or certificate, given in lieu of currency.

Seining: To catch or fish with a net.

Sloth: Aversion to work or exertion; laziness.

Shilling: A coin worth one twentieth of a pound.

Thatch: A house roof made with a plant material (such as straw).


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