Key Terms

Machinal Glossary

pg. 1

  • Stenographer
    • A shorthand writer. Now also spec. a shorthand typist.
  • Switchboard
    • A board or frame bearing a set of switches for connecting and disconnecting the various circuits of an electrical system, as of a telegraph, telephone, etc.

pg. 2

  • Hot dog!
    • Slang. syn.: Gosh!, Eegad!, Oh my!
  • Halitosis
    • Bad breath (inferred: caused by medical problems)

pg. 3

  • Memorandum
    • Memo; note to remember something at a later date/time

pg. 4

  • take a letter
    • to dictate/write down another’s words (in the form of a letter)
  • Hew to the line.
    • From phrase: “Hew to the line and let the chips fall where they may.”
      • Orig. English proverb stating that if a person hews—or hacks, chips, or cuts pieces out of a larger piece of wood to trim or shape it—above their head, they will get chips in their eyes

pg. 8

  • Neckers!
    • Slang. From “necking”; those who “neck”
  • Petters!
    • Slang. From “petting”; those who “pet”
  • Sweet papas.
    • Slang. Men, usually older, who provide monetarily for a, usually younger, lover
  • Nags
    • Slang. Refers to women that nag

pg. 19

  • Stifling
    • Physical distress due to confinement

pg. 22

  • white around the gills
    • Slang. Pale, implies lack of health/nausea

pg. 23

  • Pullman porter
  • tart
    • Slang. Promiscuous woman
  • Garter
    • Fabric band—often decorated with lace, ribbon, etc.—worn on thigh over the top of a stocking to prevent it from rolling or slipping down

pg. 27

  • stretcher wagon
    • a mobile bed for transporting a recumbent medical patient (contemp. stretcher, gurney)

pg. 28

  • Stand the gaff
    • To receive harsh treatment, criticism, etc.

pg. 29

  • surgeon’s wagon
    • cart carrying a surgeon’s equipment
  • Milk hasn’t come yet?
    • Breasts have not begun production of milk (as a result of pregnancy) yet?

pg. 33

  • Purgatory
    • A condition or place of spiritual cleansing or purification
  • Amontillado
    • A medium dry sherry

pg. 34

  • Skate
    • A poor, worn-out, decrepit horse

pg. 39

  • Telegraph
    • In full, electric (or magnetic) telegraph : An apparatus consisting of a transmitting instrument (transmitter), a receiving instrument (receiver), and a line or wire of any length connecting these, along which an electric current from a battery or other source passes, the circuit being made and broken by working the transmitter, so as to produce movements, as of a needle or pointer, in the receiver, which indicate letters, etc., either according to a code of signs, or by pointing to characters upon a dial; in some forms the receiver works so as to print or trace the message upon a prepared strip of paper.
  • Gag
    • A ‘made-up’ story; a piece of deception
  • Bird
    • Slang. woman
  • Spig
    • US slang. A contemptuous and offensive name for a Spanish-speaking native of Central or South America or the Caribbean

pg. 40

  • Poe
    • Edgar Allan Poe: American author (January 19, 1809 – October 7, 1849). Known for macabre, mysterious, dark writing style in his poetry and stories. Among works: “The Raven”, “The Cask of Amontillado”, “The Masque of the Red Death”, “The Murders in the Rue Morgan”

pg. 42

  • Verlaine
    • Paul-Marie Verlaine: French poet, Symbolist leader, and Decadent (March 30, 1844—January 8, 1896). Known for relationship with Arthur Rimbaud that “ended July 12, 1873 when a drunken Verlaine shot at Rimbaud and injured him in the wrist. He was jailed for eighteen months. His time in prison was invaluable to his writing career: he studied Shakespeare and Cervantes, and wrote his quintessential Romance sans paroles.”
  • Dregs
    • The sediment of liquors; the more solid particles which settle at the bottom of a solution or other liquid; grounds, lees, feculent matters.

Pg. 45

  • Hand organ
    • Accordion or

pg. 46

  • Dago
    • Slang (orig. US). A name originally given in the south-western section of the United States to a man of Spanish parentage; now extended to include Spanish, Portuguese, and Italian people in general, or as a disparaging term for any foreigner

pg. 50

  • tar weed
    • “Yellow tarweed, Holocarpha virgata, is a native plant that is well adapted to the hot dry summers in the Central Valley of California and the surrounding foothills… In the summer tarweed’s aromatic summer growth is sometimes tall and sticky.”

pg. 53

  • Divan
    • A long seat consisting of a continued step, bench, or raised part of the floor, against the wall of a room, which may be furnished with cushions, so as to form a kind of sofa or couch.

pg. 58

  • Davenport
    • A type of large, upholstered couch or sofa which may be convertible into a bed

pg. 60

  • stay of execution
    • The act of temporarily stopping a judicial proceeding through the order of a court.
  • Demurrer
    • An assertion by the defendant that although the facts alleged by the plaintiff in the complaint may be true, they do not entitle the plaintiff to prevail in the lawsuit.

pg. 61

  • habeas corpus
    • [Latin, You have the body.] A writ (court order) that commands an individual or a government official who has restrained another to produce the prisoner at a designated time and place so that the court can determine the legality of custody and decide whether to order the prisoner’s release.

pg. 70

  • Peignoir
    • A woman’s light dressing gown, bathrobe, or negligée.

pg. 74

  • Subpoena
    • [Latin, Under penalty.] A formal document that orders a named individual to appear before a duly authorized body at a fixed time to give testimony.
  • Jurisdiction
    • The geographic area over which authority extends; legal authority; the authority to hear and determine causes of action.
  • Affidavit
    • A written statement of facts voluntarily made by an affiant under an oath or affirmation administered by a person authorized to do so by law.
  • Deponent
    • a person testifying (stating answers in response to questions) at a deposition
  • Extradition
    • The transfer of an accused from one state or country to another state or country that seeks to place the accused on trial.

pg. 76

  • Paramour
    • A lover

pg. 77

  • Cleaved
    • To stick fast or adhere, as by a glutinous surface

pg. 78

  • Gratiam tuum, quaesumus, Domine, metibus nostris infunde, ut qui, angelo nuntiante, Christifilii tui incarnationem, cognovimus, per passionem eius et crucem ad ressurectionis gloriam perducamus. Per eudem Christum Dominum nostrum.
    • Thy grace, we, Lord, pour into our vale, that, message of an angel, the incarnation of Christ Your son, we know, by His Passion and the Cross to the Resurrection God forever and ever. Through ___ Christ our Lord.

pg. 80

  • Gloria in excelsis Deo.
    • Glory to God in the highest.

Thoughts? Questions? Complaints/Corexions?