The
Yeomen of the Guard
GLOSSARY
(in order of occurrence)
Act
I :
- Yeomen
of the Guard (Tower Warders) - Gilbert is
guilty of some inaccuracies when he used these terms
interchangeably, The Yeomen of the Guard were established
by Henry VII in 1485 to serve as the Sovereign's personal
bodyguard. The Yeomen Warders were set up in 1548 as
guards (and now also serve as tour guides) of the tower.
Popularly known as "Beefeaters," they are
selected from non-commissioned officers and warrant
officers on the basis of merit.
- The
Little Ease - a Tower dungeon cell wherein
one could not stand or lie in comfort (a cube about 4
feet per side)
- Beauchamp
Tower - (pronounced "beecham") -
often used as a lodging for prisoners of rank
- Cold
Harbour Tower - no longer standing
- Old
Blunderbore - the giant in the fairy story
"Jack and the Giant Killer" who grinds men's
bones to make his bread
- a
hundred crowns - about
£25 - more than a labourer might earn in a year
- buy
an electuary for her - a
medicinal preparation made with sugar and honey
- Were
as a carrion 's cry to
lullaby such as I'd sing to thee - short for carrion
crow
- halbert
or halberd -
a 15th or 16th century weapon - pike or battle axe
mounted on a long staff
- a
thousand marks - about
£666 (more than 6 years' salary for the well-paid
Lieutenant!)
Act
II :
- consider
each person's auricular -
sense of hearing
- solemn
D.D. - Doctor of Divinity
- gyves
that no smith can weld - leg-irons,
fetters, or hand-cuffs
- or
I'll swallow my kirtle -
woman's gown, shirt, or outer petticoat
- an
arquebus - early portable
firearm
- his
twig he'll so carefully lime -
refers to a method of catching birds by smearing twigs
with a sticky substance (bird-lime)
- Ods
bodikins ... Ods Bobs -
two versions of an oath meaning, literally, "Gods
little body"
- 'tis
but mickle sister reaps -
old Scottish word, here meaning "little"
- kissing,
clinging cockatrice -
mythical serpent with a deadly glance
- I'll
cleave thee to the chine
- backbone; he means he'll split his head, down to the
body
- When
love's votary seeks the
notary - devotee or worshiper
- Courting
privity, down declivity,
seeks captivity - perhaps Gilbert dredged this word
up from his legal background; it means a legal connection
or interest (here, marriage)
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