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Disenchanted & Co., Part 1: Her Ladyship's Curse

Page 16

by Lynn Viehl


  blacks: formal suit worn by high-class male servants

  bloodbane: one of the highly toxic magic poisons used in snuffballs

  blower: a chamber that uses air leeched from the city’s tubes to dry wet items

  blue ruin: gin

  blues: people of aristocratic birth

  bookmaker: printer

  braves: warrior class of native Torian people

  BrewsMaid: an automatic tea maker

  bronze, bronzen: a theatrical cosmetic that temporarily darkens the skin

  brown: Talian currency

  bruiser: a large or physically intimidating man; thug

  bucks: clothing made of buckskin

  bum: ass

  calendula: an herbal tincture used as a topical disinfectant

  care kit: first-aid kit

  carri: steam-driven carriage

  carriwright: maker of steam-driven carriages

  cartlass: a girl or woman who sells food and/or beverages from a portable cart on the street

  cashsafe: a hidden, locking recess in a private home where money and other valuables are kept

  catchall: an extending/grasping device with a pinchers at one end

  Church: the Torianglican Church, the only religion recognized and approved by the Crown; the Church of England

  clearstone: quartz

  clopboard: building siding made of planks recovered from abandoned horse barns

  coal burner: engine that runs on coal

  coddles: cod cut into chunks

  collar: vicar

  commoner: an ordinary, untitled individual; someone of low birth

  conciliator: mediator

  cosh: bludgeon

  coin: money

  crispie: potato chip

  croke: croquet

  Crown, the: the English monarchy as well as its authority over Toriana

  crowswalk: a viewing deck that encircles the upper portion of a building

  dear: costly

  deathmage: magical practitioner licensed to kill

  deb: debutante

  detector: a magic practitioner (generally employed by the court) who uses touch to discern truthfulness

  digger: miner

  dink: a small or short man

  dipper: strip of treated paper that changes color when exposed to poison or drugs

  drawers: underwear

  drips: syphilis

  Druuds: mortal magic practitioners who captured and imprisoned the Aramanthans to end the mage wars

  ducklings: children

  echo: device used to detect hidden objects

  elshy: hellchild

  entitlement: inheritance of title and property

  exormage: exorcist who nullifies curses and rids people and places of demon infestation

  faeriestale: fantasy stories told to children

  fete teller: the humblest of fortune-tellers who set up tents at village fetes to do many readings for very little money

  fichu: a shoulder wrap, usually made of lace

  firebrigader: fire fighter

  fishncrisp: a shop that sells fish fillets fried together with potatoes cut in various shapes

  flat: apartment

  flathouse: a building that has been divided up into flats

  Fleers: remnant members of the American rebel forces who fled west after losing the war to England

  flystick: a clear glass rod containing live lightning bugs, used like a flashlight or lantern

  foundling: abandoned orphan

  freeclaiming: a social practice caused by the shortage of women among the original colonies, which allowed men to kidnap and hold captive unprotected or abandoned women

  freedman: ex-convict

  fry bread: bread fried in bacon drippings

  furrin, furriners: slang for foreign, foreigners

  garms: garments

  gaslamp: exterior lighting powered by natural gas

  gel: girl (common, casual; generally used to refer to females of the merchant class)

  get the sack: be fired

  gildstone: marble

  ginger: woman with red hair

  glass: common term for ambrotype glass plate negative

  glassed: photographed

  glasshield: windshield

  glassies, glassines: protective, preservative glass coatings applied to documents

  glasslung: terminal respiratory disease caused by inhaling sparkglass; suffered by painters and construction workers

  gogs: protective eyewear

  goldstone: building made of blocks of pyrite-flecked granite

  gone off: suffered a mental breakdown

  gowners: dressmakers who specialize in creating gowns for wealthy society women

  gravecart: hearse

  Great Uprising, the: Toriana’s name for the failed revolutionary war against England

  Great War, the: Toriana’s version of WWI

  hatch drop: manhole access to underground tunnels

  hellchild: a child believed to be demon-possessed and therefore impervious to magic

  Herself: slang term for the queen of England

  hidey-holes: small, concealed places in houses for people to hide in or use to spy on someone

  Hill, the: an area of Rumsen where most of the wealthy and titled reside

  H.M.: abbreviation for Her Majesty

  hothead: woman with red hair

  illuminator: a device that works like a primitive film projector

  Independence: freedom from English rule

  johnnies: men who hire prostitutes

  keroseel: a combination of seal, whale, or fish oil and kerosene

  keyfob: a chain-and-loop key ring, carried by men

  keylace: a ribbon key ring, worn around a woman’s wrist

  kipbag: mesh tote

  kneecappers: criminal enforcers who use clubs to shatter the knees of their victims

  knickers: underwear

  lampflies: fireflies

  lass: girl (affectionate, proper)

  lav: lavatory

  loo: toilet

  loomgel: a girl or woman who works in a menial position at a textile factory

  loomworks: textile factory

  loon: a mentally disturbed person

  loon herder: an orderly at an asylum

  loonhouse: asylum for the mentally disturbed

  Lost Timers: brigades of English and Italian soldiers who became lost in the Bréchéliant forest and were there possessed by Aramanthan spirits

  lungfever: slang for influenza

  mage: magic practitioner

  magis, magistrate: judge

  maiden night: the first time a virginal woman has sex with her husband; term often used for betting purposes by men who want to break an engagement

  mariners: sailors

  matchit: a disposable, one-use lighter

  mate: friend

  mech: a mechanic; anything mechanical

  mechworks: mechanical rooms

  mercantile: a shop selling some variety of merchandise

  Middleway: industrial Torian city located on the Great Lakes; also called Middy

  mixpot: mixing bowl

  mole: city underground worker

  nappy: diaper, women’s panties

  navyman: a current or former member of H.M.’s naval forces

  necktwister: assassin

  negli: negligee

  netherside: the spirit world, invisible to ordinary mortals; the source of magic power

  new industry: the beginning of the industrial age in Toriana

  New Parliament: governing body of Torian officials who petition the Crown and enforce the Queen’s legislation; the Torian version of Congress

  nightstone: a semiprecious mineral used to contain the spirits of long-dead mages and Aramanthan wizards

  Nihon: Japan, Japanese

  nits: head lice

  nobber: private security guard hired by Hill residents to patrol their streets and keep out any undesirables

 
Norders: people from the North of England

  nozzer: nose; a face mask used with a portable oxygen tank

  nudie: a flesh-colored garment worn to give the illusion of nudity under a semitransparent gown or overgarment

  Occupancy, the: a period of thirty years after the Rebellion failed during which Toriana was occupied by English troops and governed by martial law

  on the stroll: working on the streets (said of prostitutes)

  pain powder: a mild opiate or analgesic

  partymage: a magic practitioner who uses his power to entertain

  pasturelands: farm lands

  penders: suspenders

  physick: doctor

  piesafe: kitchen cabinet where food is stored

  piper: plumber

  pong: stink

  portents: predictions or signs of future events

  portints: portraits made from ambrotype photographs that are hand-painted to colorize

  posh, posher: wealthy aristocrat

  poxbox: diseased prostitute

  prayerhouses: the Fleers’ religious gathering places

  privy: restroom

  prodder: iron fireplace poker

  prommy: the promenade in the city’s central park used by horseback riders and carris

  pyre: crematorium

  queensland, the: England

  Queen’s Voice, The: the Crown’s official newspaper

  questioning: police interrogation at New Scotland Yard

  rasher: strip of bacon

  red joy, ruddy joy: opium

  redcoats: English militia

  redstone: brick

  reticule: purse

  rondella: an automated carousel-type apparatus

  rounder: a rubber carri tire

  rub: massage

  Rumsen: major city on the west coast of Toriana, roughly equivalent to San Francisco in the United States

  satchel: tote bag carried by women

  scrabbler: a person who makes a living by scavenging

  scram: salvage

  seeing: an act by a fortune-teller of predicting a client’s future

  seeking: an act by a fortune-teller of finding someone or something

  Settle: Seattle

  shaman: a native Torian holy man

  shopkeep: shop proprietor

  short sheet: a hastily printed, illegal daily list of horse races and other events for the purpose of placing bets

  silverblack: chemicals used to etch photographed images on ambrotype plates

  skip: boat

  Skirmish, the: a recent, brief naval conflict between England and Spain

  slaterow: a row house with slate shingles

  snuff: kill

  snuffballs: hollow glass spheres filled with magically enhanced poisons like bloodbane that kill on contact, used like grenades

  snuffmages: mage assassins who generally work in teams of two

  Son, the: Jesus Christ

  soother: chamomile herbal infusion, usually added to tea, to relax, relieve stress, and help with insomnia

  Southern Church: a Baptist version of Church of England, begun in the southern provinces of Toriana, tolerated by traditionalists

  sparkglass: a substance made of various minerals such as mica, galena, and silica that have been ground to a fine dust and mixed with exterior paint in order to create sparkle

  spellcraft: the methods and materials used by magic practitioners to cast spells

  squawks: slur for native Torian females

  stones: testicles

  streaky: a carri with copper sideboards from which the black paint is wearing off or has been stripped off to simulate wear

  strumpet: prostitute

  sweet Mary: Mary, mother of Jesus

  sweets: candy

  switch: wig

  Talia, Talian: The Torian universe’s version of Italy, Italians

  tealass: a girl or woman who sells hot tea and cakes in a café or from a street cart

  teller: fortune-teller

  tenner: ten-pound note

  Tillers: a secret society comprising important political, business, and social figures

  timepiece: watch

  tinnery: a factory where fresh fish and other perishables are processed and canned in tin containers

  tint: a paper-copy image printed from an ambrotype glass plate; makeup used to redden cheeks and lips

  tinter: device used to imprint images on ambrotype glass plates

  tintest: a professional ambrotype plate developer and tint maker

  to let: available for rent; empty

  tonners: members of high society

  Toriana: short name for Provincial Union of Victoriana, the alternate-history name for the United States

  tosser: a drunk

  trade: business

  trolling: looking for work

  trunch: a wooden baton carried by beaters

  tubes: a system of pneumatic pipes that deliver goods and food across the city

  tunneler: an underground city worker who polices the subsurface tunnels and keeps the city’s tubes in operation

  understair: belowground level of building; cellar or basement

  unjammer: a mechanical snakelike device used to unblock tubes

  uptoppers: above street level

  vicar: priest of the Torianglican Church

  waders: thigh-high protective rubber boots

  waister: a wide cummerbund-type belt made of fabric that females wear around their waists to cover the joining of skirts and bodices

  warders: magic practitioners who create protective charms and spells to protect people, possessions, and property

  wardling: an object used as a protective charm

  warren: a tunneler’s assigned work area

  watershed: raincoat

  Welshires: people from Wales

  whitecart: horse-drawn conveyance used to transport the wounded to hospital or the mentally disturbed to asylum

  wichcart: a street cart that sells sandwiches

  willowbark: herbal remedy for headaches and hangovers (equivalent to aspirin)

  winge: slang for an older, grouchy person

  Yard, the: short name for New Scotland Yard

  zoopraxiscope: a device that uses images on glass disks as the first form of stop-motion projection

 

 

 


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