Re: ‘ . . which they call in chymistry Aurum fulminans . . ‘
‘fulminating, adj. < Latin That fulminates*. 1. a. Detonating, violently explosive. fulminating gold . . fulminating powder, formerly, a mixture of nitre, potash, and sulphur; now sometimes applied to other violently explosive powders, chiefly containing fulminate of mercury. 1646 Sir T. Browne Pseudodoxia Epidemica ii. v. 89 These afford no fulminating report. . . 1695 J. Woodward Ess. Nat. Hist. Earth 206 The Fulminating Damp will take fire at a Candle. . . 1807 T. Thomson Syst. Chem. (ed. 3) II. 12 This powder is fulminating gold, which is composed of five parts of yellow oxide of gold and one part of ammonia . . ‘
* ‘ . . 6. b. intr. To explode with a loud report, detonate, go off. 1667 Henshaw in Sprat Hist. Royal Soc. 275 If you fulminate it [salt-petre] in a Crucible. 1738 G. Smith tr. Laboratory v. 133 The Saltpetre and Tartar will soon begin to fulminate. 1853 W. Gregory Inorg. Chem. (ed. 3) 255 A dark powder is formed, which fulminates violently when heated.’
Re: ‘ . . had my head casting about how to get a penny . . ‘
‘cast, v. < Middle English . . . . 60. a. Hunting. intr. Of dogs (or huntsmen): To spread out and search in different directions for a lost scent. 1704 Dict. Rusticum at Hare-hunting, So will they [Greyhounds] soon learn to cast for it at a doubling or default . .
b. transf. and fig. to cast about one: to look about (mentally). . . 1867 W. D. Howells Ital. Journeys 277 Spinabello cast about him to find a suitable husband for her.’
‘to cast about . . 3. To go this way and that in search for game, a lost scent, etc., orig. a hunting locution. Cf. 60. . . 1607 E. Topsell Hist. Fovre-footed Beastes 141 Dogges..will cast about for the game, as a disputant doth for the truth. . . 1879 R. L. Stevenson Trav. with Donkey 166, I began to cast about for a place to camp in.’
………….. Re: ‘ . . I fear has at this time got too great a hank over me by the neglect of my lawyers . . ’
‘hank, n. < Norse . . . . 4. fig. a. A restraining or curbing hold; a power of check or restraint: esp. in to have a hank on or over any one. Now rare or dial. 1613 T. Potts Wonderfull Discov. Witches sig. P4, The said Witches..had then in hanck a child of Michael Hartleys. 1706 G. Farquhar Recruiting Officer ii. ii. 18 'Twill give me such a hank upon her Pride . . ‘
‘plain, adj. < Anglo-Norman . . . . V. Of a person, or a person's attributes or character: ordinary, unexceptional, homely. 13. Simple or unpretentious in behaviour, manners, or expression; homely, unaffected. Now rare. . . 1603 R. Johnson tr. G. Botero Hist. Descr. Worlde 82 Being (as all the Germaines are) plaine and homely in their behauiour and intertainment. 1667 S. Pepys Diary 20 Sept. (1974) VIII. 443 And endeed [she] is, as I always thought, one of the modest, prettiest, plain women that ever I saw . . ‘ ……… Re: ’ . . my wife heavy(,) my bowels towards her, but Lord how much are yours . . ’
‘bowel, n.1 . . < Old French . . . . 3. a. transf. (Considered as the seat of the tender and sympathetic emotions, hence): Pity, compassion, feeling, ‘heart’. Chiefly pl., and now somewhat arch . . . . 1651 Severall Proc. Parl. No. 110. 1695 Want of bowels in preaching towards them who are in hazard to perish. 1655 T. Fuller Hist. Waltham-Abby 18 in Church-hist. Brit. Bloudy Bonner..full (as one said) of guts and empty of bowels . . ‘ ……… (OED)
Re: ' . . goods brought by them without paying freight . . '
‘freight, n. < Middle Dutch . . 1. a. Hire of a vessel for the transport of goods; the service of transporting goods . . the sum of money paid for this . . . . 1687 W. Petty Polit. Arithm. (1690) 19 Those who have the command of the Sea Trade may Work at easier Freight with more profit. 1712 E. Cooke Voy. S. Sea 353 Having agreed to pay no Freight there . . ‘ .................. Re: ' . . having got a scurvy cold . . '
‘scurvy < Late Old English . . . . 2. a. fig. Sorry, worthless, contemptible. Said both of persons and things . . Also of treatment, etc.: shabby, discourteous . . . . 1616 Shakespeare Othello (1622) iv. ii. 144 The Moore's abus'd by some outragious knaue: Some base notorious knaue, some scuruy fellow. . . 1710 Swift Jrnl. to Stella 19 Nov. (1948) I. 99 Steele and I sat among some scurvy company over a bowl of punch . . .................. (OED)
Nantwich is a market town (in) the county of Cheshire https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nan… the other side of the Pennines from Nun Appleton Hall which is in Appleton Roebuck, Yorkshire . . The house is now fenced off, empty, unused and deteriorating.
‘countenance, v. < French . . . . 5. To give countenance to; to look upon with sanction or favour; to favour, patronize, sanction, encourage, ‘back up’, bear out: a. a person. . . 1600 Shakespeare Henry IV, Pt. 2 v. i. 32, I beseech you sir to countenance William Visor of Woncote against Clement Perkes a'th hill. . . T. Hearne Remarks & Coll. (1886) II. 252, I am afraid some of these great Men countenance this bold and Heretical writer . . ‘
…………. FRe: ‘ . . some projectors . . who would have the making of farthings . . ’
‘projector, n. < post-classical Latin . . 1. a. A person who forms a project; one who plans or designs an enterprise or undertaking; a proposer or founder of some venture. . .1652 R. Brome Weeding of Covent-Garden i. i. 1 in Five New Playes (1659) A hearty blessing on their braines, honours, and wealths, that are Projectors, Furtherers, and Performers of such great works. . . 1665 J. Goodwin Πλήρωμα τὸ Πνευματικόv (1670) xvii. 481 How happy then, above all worldly Projectors and Designers, are they whose hearts are perswaded to hearken to the Counsel of God
. . b. (In negative sense.) A schemer; a person who lives by his or her wits; a promoter of bogus or unsound business ventures; a cheat, a swindler . . . . 1631 B. Jonson Divell is Asse i. vii. 9 in Wks. II Tit. What is a Proiector? I would conceiue. Ing. Why, one Sir, that proiects Wayes to enrich men, or to make 'hem great. . . 1691 J. Norris Pract. Disc. Divine Subj. 20 Intreaguers and Projectors, the very Machiavels of their Age . . ‘
‘How the Glorious Revolution and its aftermath have fundamentally shaped the British state as we know it today:
Catholics and Protestants Whigs and Tories The reign of James II Invasion and desertion The Convention and Bill of Rights The Financial Revolution The Act of Settlement’
If you are paid piecework in shillings and pence, e.g. 1d per item, you count the items you've done in dozens by counting to 12 at a time and adding to a tally of dozens. This gives you the amount you are owed in shillings. If you do ths every day to get a living you will get very good at it. ................ Re: ‘ . . a new black baize waistecoate . . ’
‘baize, n. < French baies < Latin badius chestnut-coloured, bay n.1; so named probably from its original colour . . 1. a. A coarse woollen stuff, having a long nap, now used chiefly for linings, coverings, curtains, etc., in warmer countries for articles of clothing, e.g. shirts, petticoats, ponchos; it was formerly, when made of finer and lighter texture, used as a clothing material in Britain also. . . 1667 S. Pepys Diary 24 Feb. (1974) VIII. 79 A cloak of Colchester bayze . . ‘ (OED) .............
Sasha is correct: I would add that there is at this time of year a high risk of rain (no weather forecasts), either continuous or 'scattered showers' behind a front, which can drench anyone caught in them without an umbrella* in 5 minutes and then pass, leaving the streets shining in the sun.
* a Persian invention which came to London c. 1700
‘The wife’ was, until recently, commonly used by working-class British Englishmen; there’s also ‘her indoors’ . . :
‘Brit. colloq. one's wife or girlfriend . . The phrase was popularized by the Thames TV series Minder (1979–93), in which the leading character Arthur Daley habitually referred to his wife as ‘her indoors’.
The series' original writer, Leon Griffiths, app. first heard it used by ‘a taxi-driver drinking companion of his’ (Independent (1992) 16 June 13/6).
1979 L. Griffiths Smaller they Are in Minder (television script, second draft) 10 May 2 That's what her indoors doesn't understand Terry. A young bird keep [sic] you feeling young . . ‘ (OED) …… Shorthand: http://www.pepysdiary.com/encyclo…
‘mess, n.1 < Anglo-Norman . . . . II. A company of people eating together. 5. a. Originally: any of the small groups, normally of four people sitting together and served from the same dishes, into which the company at a banquet was usually divided . . Hence: any company of persons . . who regularly take their meals together . . . . 1654 T. Gataker Disc. Apol. 40 His fellow-Benchers that were in the same Messe with him . . ‘ …… Re: ‘ . . I doubt he will faile in it . .’; ‘ . . I doubt is the occasion that Jane has spoken to her mistress . . ’
‘doubt, v. < Middle English . . . . 6. In weakened sense (app. influenced by I.): a. To anticipate with apprehension, to apprehend (something feared or undesired). . . 1703 N. Rowe Fair Penitent ii. ii. 588 Still I must doubt some Mystery of Mischief. . . 1838 W. H. Prescott Hist. Reign Ferdinand & Isabella II. ii. i. 272 They doubted some sinister motive, or deeper policy than appeared in the conduct of the French king . . ‘ (OED)
This sense of ‘doubt’ is still current in North Country British English, particularly re the weather: ‘I doubt it’ll rain soon’ but lost from Standard English and evidently also from American English, which means that we have to discuss it over and over again . .
foul, adj., < Old English . . . . II. Opposed to clean. The implication of disgust etymologically belonging to the word was formerly often absent in these senses; in present use association with sense A. 1 has commonly restored it . . 2. Dirty, soiled; covered with or full of dirt . . Now arch. or dial. . . . . 1535 Bible (Coverdale) Zech. iii. 4 Take awaye ye foule clothes from him. . . 1700 S. L. tr. C. Schweitzer Relation Voy. in tr. C. Frick & C. Schweitzer Relation Two Voy. E.-Indies 341 One of the Washers, came..to fetch People's foul Linnen. 1807 Med. & Physical Jrnl. 17 107 The sick..dressed in their foulest clothes . . fig. . . 1715 D. Defoe Family Instructor I. i. iv. 101 If you hold of this Mind, we are like to have a foul House with you quickly.‘ (OED)
‘dolphin, n. < Latin delphīnus... . . †8. = dauphin n. 1, q.v. (Obs.).’ …… ‘sot, n.1 and adj. < Old French . . †1. A foolish or stupid person; a fool, blockhead, dolt. Obs. . . 1641 Milton Animadversions 55 The one is ever..a sot, an ideot for any use that mankind can make of him. 1712 R. Steele Spectator No. 492. ⁋1 The Men are such unthinking Sots, that they do not prefer her who restrains all her Passions and Affections [etc.] . . (Pepys' sense here)
2. One who dulls or stupefies himself with drinking; one who commonly or habitually drinks to excess; a soaker. . . 1699 Ld. Shaftesbury Inq. conc. Virtue ii. ii. 137 One that uses himself in this way, is often call'd a Sot, but never a Debauchee . . ‘ (the modern sense) …… ‘overtime, n. and adv. 1. Time worked over and above a person's regular or set working hours. Also: payment for work performed in such extra time. [a1536 Building Acct. in E. Law Hist. Hampton Court (1885) App. C. 360 Carpenters workyng their owre tymes and drynkyng tymes uppon the ffonte in the chappell.] 1791 J. Smeaton Narr. Edystone Lighthouse iii. i. 75 The masons were to have 20d. and the tinners 18d. per day; and to be paid for over time, when required to work . . ‘ …… (OED)
Re: ‘ . . no handsome woman, but a most excellent hand . . ’
‘hand, n. < A word inherited from Germanic . . I. Senses relating to the part of the body. 1. a. The terminal part of the human arm beyond the wrist, consisting of the palm, four fingers, and thumb . . . . 1659 W. Chamberlayne Pharonnida iii. ii. sig. N8v, Her hands Wringing each others Ivory Joynts. . .1768 L. Sterne Sentimental Journey II. 96 She gave me both her hands, closed together, into mine. . . 1842 Tennyson Break, break, Break in Poems (new ed.) II. 229 But O for the touch of a vanish'd hand. . . 1915 W. S. Maugham Of Human Bondage xlvii. 231 She had long, beautiful hands, with fingers deeply stained by nicotine . . ‘
No doubt the woman, a person of leisure, kept her hands soft and white and silky smooth and Our Hero appreciated this as was intended.
Re: ‘ . . the Farmers of the Customes, my Lord Chancellor’s three sons . . ‘
‘farmer, n.2 < Anglo-Norman . . 1. a. One who undertakes the collection of taxes, revenues, etc., paying a fixed sum for the proceeds. . .1659 B. Harris tr. J. N. de Parival Hist. Iron Age ii. i. xviii. 205 Questioning the Farmers of the Custom-house, for levying Tunnage and Poundage. . . 1788 J. Priestley Lect. Hist. v. lxiii. 508 Taxes are raised..by means of farmers who advance the money as it is wanted . . ‘ (OED)
Re: ‘ . . new poynt that I bought her the other day . . ‘ ‘point, n.1 < Anglo-Norman . . . . ****** A stitch. 17. (As an anglicized form of French point: see point n.3) Thread lace made wholly with a needle; (more generally) any lace, esp. pillow lace, imitating that made with a needle. Formerly also: † a piece of such lace (obs.). Cf. . . needlepoint n. 3. . . 1662 J. Evelyn Sculptura iv. 56 Isabella, who was his wife, publish'd a book of all the sorts of Points, Laces, and Embroderies. 1663 S. Pepys Diary 18 Oct. (1971) IV. 337 My wife, in her best gowne and new poynt that I bought her the other day, to church with me . . ‘ (OED)
‘mental arithmetic n. arithmetic performed entirely in the head, without recourse to written figures or calculating aids. 1766 H. Brooke Fool of Quality I. vii. 260, I cast up, in a pleasing kind of mental arithmetic, how much my weekly twenty guineas would amount to at the year's end. . . 1990 Times Educ. Suppl. 5 Oct. (Review section) 20 Does a reliance on mathematical aids mean mental arithmetic suffers?’ (OED)
in a world of guineas, pounds (paper and gold), crowns, shillings, tanners, pence, ha’pennies and farthings, stones, pounds and ounces, inches, feet and yards, bushels, gallons, quarts, pints, and gills etc., etc. . .
The complete inability of today’s young and even middle-aged citizens to do simple sums in their heads is a source of wonder to veterans like me.
‘even, adj. < Common Germanic . . . . 10. b. to be even: to be square or quits; to have settled accounts . . 1661 S. Pepys Diary 25 June (1970) II. 126, I made even with my father and the two drapers for the cloths I sent to sea lately . . ‘
Re: ’ . . where the men and boys in their vayles . . ’
OED doesn’t have this use of ’vayle’ = ’veil’; the correct term is:
‘tallith, n. < Rabbinic Hebrew ṭaˈllīþ, . . The garment or mantle (in modern times frequently assuming the form of a scarf) worn by Jews at prayer . . Its religious significance is solely derived from the ‘fringes’ attached to the four corners in accordance with Numbers xv. 38 and Deut. xxii. 12. 1613 S. Purchas Pilgrimage 194 They call this garment Talith. . . 1656 W. Prynne Short Demurrer to Jewes Remitter 35 Every Jew after he is past 7. years of age, shall carry a sign..in his chief garment; that is to say in form of two Talles of yellow taffety . . ‘
Comments
Second Reading
About Wednesday 11 November 1663
Chris Squire UK • Link
Re: ‘ . . which they call in chymistry Aurum fulminans . . ‘
‘fulminating, adj. < Latin
That fulminates*.
1. a. Detonating, violently explosive. fulminating gold . . fulminating powder, formerly, a mixture of nitre, potash, and sulphur; now sometimes applied to other violently explosive powders, chiefly containing fulminate of mercury.
1646 Sir T. Browne Pseudodoxia Epidemica ii. v. 89 These afford no fulminating report.
. . 1695 J. Woodward Ess. Nat. Hist. Earth 206 The Fulminating Damp will take fire at a Candle.
. . 1807 T. Thomson Syst. Chem. (ed. 3) II. 12 This powder is fulminating gold, which is composed of five parts of yellow oxide of gold and one part of ammonia . . ‘
* ‘ . . 6. b. intr. To explode with a loud report, detonate, go off.
1667 Henshaw in Sprat Hist. Royal Soc. 275 If you fulminate it [salt-petre] in a Crucible.
1738 G. Smith tr. Laboratory v. 133 The Saltpetre and Tartar will soon begin to fulminate.
1853 W. Gregory Inorg. Chem. (ed. 3) 255 A dark powder is formed, which fulminates violently when heated.’
About Tuesday 10 November 1663
Chris Squire UK • Link
Re: ‘ . . had my head casting about how to get a penny . . ‘
‘cast, v. < Middle English . .
. . 60. a. Hunting. intr. Of dogs (or huntsmen): To spread out and search in different directions for a lost scent.
1704 Dict. Rusticum at Hare-hunting, So will they [Greyhounds] soon learn to cast for it at a doubling or default . .
b. transf. and fig. to cast about one: to look about (mentally).
. . 1867 W. D. Howells Ital. Journeys 277 Spinabello cast about him to find a suitable husband for her.’
‘to cast about
. . 3. To go this way and that in search for game, a lost scent, etc., orig. a hunting locution. Cf. 60.
. . 1607 E. Topsell Hist. Fovre-footed Beastes 141 Dogges..will cast about for the game, as a disputant doth for the truth.
. . 1879 R. L. Stevenson Trav. with Donkey 166, I began to cast about for a place to camp in.’
…………..
Re: ‘ . . I fear has at this time got too great a hank over me by the neglect of my lawyers . . ’
‘hank, n. < Norse . .
. . 4. fig. a. A restraining or curbing hold; a power of check or restraint: esp. in to have a hank on or over any one. Now rare or dial.
1613 T. Potts Wonderfull Discov. Witches sig. P4, The said Witches..had then in hanck a child of Michael Hartleys.
1706 G. Farquhar Recruiting Officer ii. ii. 18 'Twill give me such a hank upon her Pride . . ‘
About Sunday 8 November 1663
Chris Squire UK • Link
Re: ‘ . . a good comely plain woman . . ’
‘plain, adj. < Anglo-Norman . .
. . V. Of a person, or a person's attributes or character: ordinary, unexceptional, homely.
13. Simple or unpretentious in behaviour, manners, or expression; homely, unaffected. Now rare.
. . 1603 R. Johnson tr. G. Botero Hist. Descr. Worlde 82 Being (as all the Germaines are) plaine and homely in their behauiour and intertainment.
1667 S. Pepys Diary 20 Sept. (1974) VIII. 443 And endeed [she] is, as I always thought, one of the modest, prettiest, plain women that ever I saw . . ‘
………
Re: ’ . . my wife heavy(,) my bowels towards her, but Lord how much are yours . . ’
‘bowel, n.1 . . < Old French . .
. . 3. a. transf. (Considered as the seat of the tender and sympathetic emotions, hence): Pity, compassion, feeling, ‘heart’. Chiefly pl., and now somewhat arch . .
. . 1651 Severall Proc. Parl. No. 110. 1695 Want of bowels in preaching towards them who are in hazard to perish.
1655 T. Fuller Hist. Waltham-Abby 18 in Church-hist. Brit. Bloudy Bonner..full (as one said) of guts and empty of bowels . . ‘
………
(OED)
About Saturday 7 November 1663
Chris Squire UK • Link
Re: ' . . goods brought by them without paying freight . . '
‘freight, n. < Middle Dutch . .
1. a. Hire of a vessel for the transport of goods; the service of transporting goods . . the sum of money paid for this . .
. . 1687 W. Petty Polit. Arithm. (1690) 19 Those who have the command of the Sea Trade may Work at easier Freight with more profit.
1712 E. Cooke Voy. S. Sea 353 Having agreed to pay no Freight there . . ‘
..................
Re: ' . . having got a scurvy cold . . '
‘scurvy < Late Old English . .
. . 2. a. fig. Sorry, worthless, contemptible. Said both of persons and things . . Also of treatment, etc.: shabby, discourteous . .
. . 1616 Shakespeare Othello (1622) iv. ii. 144 The Moore's abus'd by some outragious knaue: Some base notorious knaue, some scuruy fellow.
. . 1710 Swift Jrnl. to Stella 19 Nov. (1948) I. 99 Steele and I sat among some scurvy company over a bowl of punch . .
..................
(OED)
About Friday 6 November 1663
Chris Squire UK • Link
San Diego Sarah: Good try but quite wrong!:
Nantwich is a market town (in) the county of Cheshire https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nan… the other side of the Pennines from Nun Appleton Hall which is in Appleton Roebuck, Yorkshire . . The house is now fenced off, empty, unused and deteriorating.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nun…
http://www.lostheritage.org.uk/ho…
About Friday 6 November 1663
Chris Squire UK • Link
Re: ‘ . . by our countenancing of him . .’
‘countenance, v. < French . .
. . 5. To give countenance to; to look upon with sanction or favour; to favour, patronize, sanction, encourage, ‘back up’, bear out:
a. a person.
. . 1600 Shakespeare Henry IV, Pt. 2 v. i. 32, I beseech you sir to countenance William Visor of Woncote against Clement Perkes a'th hill.
. . T. Hearne Remarks & Coll. (1886) II. 252, I am afraid some of these great Men countenance this bold and Heretical writer . . ‘
………….
FRe: ‘ . . some projectors . . who would have the making of farthings . . ’
‘projector, n. < post-classical Latin . .
1. a. A person who forms a project; one who plans or designs an enterprise or undertaking; a proposer or founder of some venture.
. .1652 R. Brome Weeding of Covent-Garden i. i. 1 in Five New Playes (1659) A hearty blessing on their braines, honours, and wealths, that are Projectors, Furtherers, and Performers of such great works.
. . 1665 J. Goodwin Πλήρωμα τὸ Πνευματικόv (1670) xvii. 481 How happy then, above all worldly Projectors and Designers, are they whose hearts are perswaded to hearken to the Counsel of God
. . b. (In negative sense.) A schemer; a person who lives by his or her wits; a promoter of bogus or unsound business ventures; a cheat, a swindler . .
. . 1631 B. Jonson Divell is Asse i. vii. 9 in Wks. II Tit. What is a Proiector? I would conceiue. Ing. Why, one Sir, that proiects Wayes to enrich men, or to make 'hem great.
. . 1691 J. Norris Pract. Disc. Divine Subj. 20 Intreaguers and Projectors, the very Machiavels of their Age . . ‘
(OED)
About Thursday 5 November 1663
Chris Squire UK • Link
Will Hewer's biography: http://www.pepysdiary.com/encyclo…
About Tuesday 3 November 1663
Chris Squire UK • Link
Here’s the official story:
‘How the Glorious Revolution and its aftermath have fundamentally shaped the British state as we know it today:
Catholics and Protestants
Whigs and Tories
The reign of James II
Invasion and desertion
The Convention and Bill of Rights
The Financial Revolution
The Act of Settlement’
http://www.parliament.uk/about/li…
About Sunday 1 November 1663
Chris Squire UK • Link
If you are paid piecework in shillings and pence, e.g. 1d per item, you count the items you've done in dozens by counting to 12 at a time and adding to a tally of dozens. This gives you the amount you are owed in shillings. If you do ths every day to get a living you will get very good at it.
................
Re: ‘ . . a new black baize waistecoate . . ’
‘baize, n. < French baies < Latin badius chestnut-coloured, bay n.1; so named probably from its original colour . .
1. a. A coarse woollen stuff, having a long nap, now used chiefly for linings, coverings, curtains, etc., in warmer countries for articles of clothing, e.g. shirts, petticoats, ponchos; it was formerly, when made of finer and lighter texture, used as a clothing material in Britain also.
. . 1667 S. Pepys Diary 24 Feb. (1974) VIII. 79 A cloak of Colchester bayze . . ‘ (OED)
.............
About Saturday 31 October 1663
Chris Squire UK • Link
Sasha is correct: I would add that there is at this time of year a high risk of rain (no weather forecasts), either continuous or 'scattered showers' behind a front, which can drench anyone caught in them without an umbrella* in 5 minutes and then pass, leaving the streets shining in the sun.
* a Persian invention which came to London c. 1700
About Friday 30 October 1663
Chris Squire UK • Link
‘The wife’ was, until recently, commonly used by working-class British Englishmen; there’s also ‘her indoors’ . . :
‘Brit. colloq. one's wife or girlfriend . . The phrase was popularized by the Thames TV series Minder (1979–93), in which the leading character Arthur Daley habitually referred to his wife as ‘her indoors’.
The series' original writer, Leon Griffiths, app. first heard it used by ‘a taxi-driver drinking companion of his’ (Independent (1992) 16 June 13/6).
1979 L. Griffiths Smaller they Are in Minder (television script, second draft) 10 May 2 That's what her indoors doesn't understand Terry. A young bird keep [sic] you feeling young . . ‘ (OED)
……
Shorthand: http://www.pepysdiary.com/encyclo…
About Thursday 29 October 1663
Chris Squire UK • Link
Re: ‘ . . where ten good dishes to a messe . . ’
‘mess, n.1 < Anglo-Norman . .
. . II. A company of people eating together.
5. a. Originally: any of the small groups, normally of four people sitting together and served from the same dishes, into which the company at a banquet was usually divided . . Hence: any company of persons . . who regularly take their meals together . .
. . 1654 T. Gataker Disc. Apol. 40 His fellow-Benchers that were in the same Messe with him . . ‘
……
Re: ‘ . . I doubt he will faile in it . .’; ‘ . . I doubt is the occasion that Jane has spoken to her mistress . . ’
‘doubt, v. < Middle English . .
. . 6. In weakened sense (app. influenced by I.):
a. To anticipate with apprehension, to apprehend (something feared or undesired).
. . 1703 N. Rowe Fair Penitent ii. ii. 588 Still I must doubt some Mystery of Mischief.
. . 1838 W. H. Prescott Hist. Reign Ferdinand & Isabella II. ii. i. 272 They doubted some sinister motive, or deeper policy than appeared in the conduct of the French king . . ‘
(OED)
This sense of ‘doubt’ is still current in North Country British English, particularly re the weather: ‘I doubt it’ll rain soon’ but lost from Standard English and evidently also from American English, which means that we have to discuss it over and over again . .
About Tuesday 27 October 1663
Chris Squire UK • Link
foul, adj., < Old English . .
. . II. Opposed to clean. The implication of disgust etymologically belonging to the word was formerly often absent in these senses; in present use association with sense A. 1 has commonly restored it . .
2. Dirty, soiled; covered with or full of dirt . . Now arch. or dial. . .
. . 1535 Bible (Coverdale) Zech. iii. 4 Take awaye ye foule clothes from him.
. . 1700 S. L. tr. C. Schweitzer Relation Voy. in tr. C. Frick & C. Schweitzer Relation Two Voy. E.-Indies 341 One of the Washers, came..to fetch People's foul Linnen.
1807 Med. & Physical Jrnl. 17 107 The sick..dressed in their foulest clothes . .
fig.
. . 1715 D. Defoe Family Instructor I. i. iv. 101 If you hold of this Mind, we are like to have a foul House with you quickly.‘ (OED)
About Monday 26 October 1663
Chris Squire UK • Link
‘dolphin, n. < Latin delphīnus...
. . †8. = dauphin n. 1, q.v. (Obs.).’
……
‘sot, n.1 and adj. < Old French . .
†1. A foolish or stupid person; a fool, blockhead, dolt. Obs.
. . 1641 Milton Animadversions 55 The one is ever..a sot, an ideot for any use that mankind can make of him.
1712 R. Steele Spectator No. 492. ⁋1 The Men are such unthinking Sots, that they do not prefer her who restrains all her Passions and Affections [etc.] . . (Pepys' sense here)
2. One who dulls or stupefies himself with drinking; one who commonly or habitually drinks to excess; a soaker.
. . 1699 Ld. Shaftesbury Inq. conc. Virtue ii. ii. 137 One that uses himself in this way, is often call'd a Sot, but never a Debauchee . . ‘ (the modern sense)
……
‘overtime, n. and adv.
1. Time worked over and above a person's regular or set working hours. Also: payment for work performed in such extra time.
[a1536 Building Acct. in E. Law Hist. Hampton Court (1885) App. C. 360 Carpenters workyng their owre tymes and drynkyng tymes uppon the ffonte in the chappell.]
1791 J. Smeaton Narr. Edystone Lighthouse iii. i. 75 The masons were to have 20d. and the tinners 18d. per day; and to be paid for over time, when required to work . . ‘
……
(OED)
About Monday 19 October 1663
Chris Squire UK • Link
Re: ‘ . . no handsome woman, but a most excellent hand . . ’
‘hand, n. < A word inherited from Germanic . .
I. Senses relating to the part of the body.
1. a. The terminal part of the human arm beyond the wrist, consisting of the palm, four fingers, and thumb . .
. . 1659 W. Chamberlayne Pharonnida iii. ii. sig. N8v, Her hands Wringing each others Ivory Joynts.
. .1768 L. Sterne Sentimental Journey II. 96 She gave me both her hands, closed together, into mine.
. . 1842 Tennyson Break, break, Break in Poems (new ed.) II. 229 But O for the touch of a vanish'd hand.
. . 1915 W. S. Maugham Of Human Bondage xlvii. 231 She had long, beautiful hands, with fingers deeply stained by nicotine . . ‘
No doubt the woman, a person of leisure, kept her hands soft and white and silky smooth and Our Hero appreciated this as was intended.
About Tuesday 20 October 1663
Chris Squire UK • Link
Re: ‘ . . the Farmers of the Customes, my Lord Chancellor’s three sons . . ‘
‘farmer, n.2 < Anglo-Norman . .
1. a. One who undertakes the collection of taxes, revenues, etc., paying a fixed sum for the proceeds.
. .1659 B. Harris tr. J. N. de Parival Hist. Iron Age ii. i. xviii. 205 Questioning the Farmers of the Custom-house, for levying Tunnage and Poundage.
. . 1788 J. Priestley Lect. Hist. v. lxiii. 508 Taxes are raised..by means of farmers who advance the money as it is wanted . . ‘
(OED)
About Sunday 18 October 1663
Chris Squire UK • Link
Re: ‘ . . new poynt that I bought her the other day . . ‘
‘point, n.1 < Anglo-Norman . .
. . ****** A stitch.
17. (As an anglicized form of French point: see point n.3) Thread lace made wholly with a needle; (more generally) any lace, esp. pillow lace, imitating that made with a needle. Formerly also: † a piece of such lace (obs.). Cf. . . needlepoint n. 3.
. . 1662 J. Evelyn Sculptura iv. 56 Isabella, who was his wife, publish'd a book of all the sorts of Points, Laces, and Embroderies.
1663 S. Pepys Diary 18 Oct. (1971) IV. 337 My wife, in her best gowne and new poynt that I bought her the other day, to church with me . . ‘ (OED)
About Thursday 22 October 1663
Chris Squire UK • Link
Re: ‘read some more arithmetique,’
This would have emphasised the usefulness of:
‘mental arithmetic n. arithmetic performed entirely in the head, without recourse to written figures or calculating aids.
1766 H. Brooke Fool of Quality I. vii. 260, I cast up, in a pleasing kind of mental arithmetic, how much my weekly twenty guineas would amount to at the year's end.
. . 1990 Times Educ. Suppl. 5 Oct. (Review section) 20 Does a reliance on mathematical aids mean mental arithmetic suffers?’ (OED)
in a world of guineas, pounds (paper and gold), crowns, shillings, tanners, pence, ha’pennies and farthings, stones, pounds and ounces, inches, feet and yards, bushels, gallons, quarts, pints, and gills etc., etc. . .
The complete inability of today’s young and even middle-aged citizens to do simple sums in their heads is a source of wonder to veterans like me.
About Saturday 17 October 1663
Chris Squire UK • Link
Re: ‘ . . I will be even with him . . ’
‘even, adj. < Common Germanic . .
. . 10. b. to be even: to be square or quits; to have settled accounts . .
1661 S. Pepys Diary 25 June (1970) II. 126, I made even with my father and the two drapers for the cloths I sent to sea lately . . ‘
About Wednesday 14 October 1663
Chris Squire UK • Link
Re: ’ . . where the men and boys in their vayles . . ’
OED doesn’t have this use of ’vayle’ = ’veil’; the correct term is:
‘tallith, n. < Rabbinic Hebrew ṭaˈllīþ, . . The garment or mantle (in modern times frequently assuming the form of a scarf) worn by Jews at prayer . . Its religious significance is solely derived from the ‘fringes’ attached to the four corners in accordance with Numbers xv. 38 and Deut. xxii. 12.
1613 S. Purchas Pilgrimage 194 They call this garment Talith.
. . 1656 W. Prynne Short Demurrer to Jewes Remitter 35 Every Jew after he is past 7. years of age, shall carry a sign..in his chief garment; that is to say in form of two Talles of yellow taffety . . ‘
The re-admission of the Jews into England: http://www.olivercromwell.org/jew…