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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Sunday, January 29, 2012
Vocabulary Used in My Brother Sam is Dead
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