Eftsoons (pg. 352) -- 1. Soon afterward; presently. 2. Once again.
From the O.P. to the Prompt Side (pg. 380) -- Stage directions. The Prompt Side (P.S.) is stage left, O.P. is Opposite Prompt.
Excrescence (pg. 382) -- 1. An outgrowth or enlargement, especially an abnormal one, such as a wart. 2. A usually unwanted or unnecessary accretion
Bally (many instances, pg. 396 for one) -- Informal intensifiers; "You bally idiot!"
The Carmantle (pg. 396) -- A ship. probably fictional.
Jimmy Mundy (pg. 431) -- Not the jazz musician, probably a fictional charactor.
Mens sana in corpore sano (pg. 470) -- Latin, a healthy mind in a healthy body
Ris de veau à la financière (pg. 496) -- Calf's sweetbreads in a sauce of wine, olives, truffles and mushrooms (from Blandings: Anatole.)
Consommé pâté d'Italie (pg. 497) -- Soup of italian pasta .
Paupiettes de sole à la princesse (pg. 497) -- Rolled fillets of sole garnished with asparagus tips.
Caneton Aylesbury à la broche (pg. 497) -- Aylesbury duckling on the spit.
Lady Bablockhythe (pg. 513) -- Fictional author created by Wodehouse, see the Wikipedia List Of Fictional Books.
Gaspers (pg. 520 ) -- Slang for cigarettes, OBVIOUSLY, probably a lesser brand.
'Mens sana in corpore sano,' observed the Prof.
'I shouln't wonder,' I said cordially. (pg. 470)
My daughter Bootles has just developed mumps. (pg. 483)
Young Bingo uttered a frightful cry of agony.
'What! Is that - that buzzard trying to pinch our cook?'
'Yes, sir.'
'After eating our bread and salt, dammit?'
'I fear, sir,' sighed Jeeves, 'that when it comes to a matter of cooks, ladies have but a rudimentary sense of morality.' (pg. 500)
Gyves (pg. 10) -- Fetter or shackle.
Diablerie (pg. 14) -- From the Old French for Devil, but in this case might mean mischievous conduct or manner
Raisonneur (pg. 29) -- a character in a play, novel, etc. who serves as spokesman for the author's views. Advises the protagonist.
Nolle prosequi (pg. 29) -- Latin, to be unwilling to pursue.
Very white of him (pg. 38) -- Decent of him, or generous, or forgiving. Common usage in the UK in the 30s.
frisson (pg. 43) -- Shudder, thrill, moment of emotional excitement.
Amour propre (pg. 60) -- Self-esteem.
Posish (pg. 64) -- Position, as near as I can figure.
Singer midget (pg. 76) -- An entertainment troupe of the 20s or so.
Costermonger (pg. 81) -- A vendor of fruits or vegetables. (Or is it vender?)
Pukka (pg. 89) -- Genuine, first class, superior.
mal au foie (pg. 111) -- Aching liver, general malaise, hangover...
Meum and tuum (pg. 143) -- Mine and thine.
Soigne (pg. 153) -- Polished and well-goomed.
Sole frite augourmet aux champignons (pg. 163) -- Babelfish sez: "Plate fried with the gourmet with mushrooms"
Rank is but the guinea stamp (pg. 173) -- Rank is just a label, and not the worth of the man (woman, in this case) under it.
Miss-in-baulk (pg. 176) -- A term from billiards indicating a penalty without loss of turn
Vincente y Blasco What's-his-name (pg. 179) -- Spanish novelist, screenwriter, film director. Blood & Sand was one of his books, but in Spanish, don't cha know?
The local Mont de Pieté (pg. 184) -- in France, a public pawnshop, authorized and controlled by the government, for lending money to the poor at a low rate of interest.
Mais oui, mais ouis, c'est trop fort! (pg. 189) -- Babel Fish sez: Yes, but ouis, it is too strong!
Laudaulette (pg. 211) - Small landau; automobile with a convertible top over the back seat-
Lemon squash (pg. 211) -- A drink made of sweetened fruit juice or fruit-flavored syrup diluted with water. Lemonade?
Charlotte Corday (pg. 240) -- A figure of the French revolution, assasinated Jean-Paul Marat.
Opprobrious (pg. 273) -- Expressing contemptuous reproach; scornful or abusive:
Encomiums (pg. 280 -- Warm praise, a tribute.
épris (pg. 287) -- Loving, in love with.
Marie Lloyd (pg. 288) -- English music hall singer with reputation for racy interpetation of lyrics.
Pink 'Un (pg. 325) -- Newspaper supplement, usually sport oriented, printed on pink newsprint.
Laburnum (pg. 325) -- A small tree with yellow flowers, also called "Golden Chain".
billingsgate (pg. Note) -- Foul, abusive language.
lordosis (pg. 5) -- Excessive inward curvature of the spine.
vitiates (pg. 21) -- To reduce the value or impair the quality of.
tocsin (pg. 24) -- An alarm bell or signal.
trucklight (pg. 84) -- The aircraft warning lights on a ship, as far as I can figure out
.
dithyrambic (pg. 129) -- A wildly enthusiastic speech or piece of writing. From wild dances to honor the Greek god Dionysus.
Title B inventory (pg. 155) -- Items on a Navy ship valued at less than $1,000 (currently, not sure abou during WWII) each, such as binoculars, stop watches, test equipement.
prisonors-at-large (pg. 162) -- Prisonors who are required to perform their duties but not allowed to leave the ship.
alidade (pg. 303) -- An indicator or a sighting apparatus on a plane table, used in angular measurement.
JBD 640 (pg. 310) -- I cannot find any reference to a radio with this name.
Harold Teen (pg. 448) -- A comic strip about a teenager that ran from 1919 til 1959. It may have originated the word "gedunk".
pink tea (pg. 483) -- Formal afternoon tea usu. marked by a high degree of decorum.
No one minds a touch of the farouche in a new bride. (pg.184) -- Either fierce, wild, or exhibiting withdrawn temperament and shyness coupled with an air of cranky, often sullen fey charm. Sounds like opposites, to me.
Made a cake of myself (pg. 177) -- Seems to be a Regency phrase, can't find a definition, but in context I take it as to do something foolish.
"Gammon", said Lady Sylvia. (pg. 99) -- Are they playing backgammon? Is it a pet name? An ejaculation?
reticule (pg. 90) -- a woman's drawstring bag used especially as a carryall.
commonplace book (pg,. 11) -- A kind of notebook, to my mind.
I totally do not understand the paragraph on pages 192-193.
A review on Amazon.com says this is a retelling of Hamlet. Don't know, never read it. It certainly is a tragedy, though!cold lightning...Only hot lightning makes thunder. (pg. 51) -- Cold lightning has a shorter duration than hot, but I'm not finding anything about the lack of thunder.
Leinenkugel (pg. 175) -- A brand of beer from Wisconsin. I read they introduced Big Eddy Russian Imperial Stout in 2010, sounds impressive!
chiaroscuro figure (pg. 325) -- Several definitions, I'm going with "the quality of being veiled or partly in shadow".
Eight-letter word for 'Formed of fire or light.' Starts with E, ends with L." (pg. 395) -- Turns out to be empyreal.
A little hay goes in, huge cowpies come out. How does that happen? -- (pg. 415) You can't explain that!