In the back of my Harper Collins E-book version of North and South, there’s an appendix called “Classic Literature: Words and Phrases, adapted from the Collins English Dictionary.” Skimming through, I noted that there were a number of words that have modern meanings quite different from the definition listed. Some of these have confused me in the past when I’ve come across them in novels, so I thought I’d share a few with you.
The following text is from “Gaskell, Elizabeth. North and South, Harper Press Collins Classics, London 2012.”
Artificially ADJ artfully or cleverly
bait VERB to stop on a journey to take refreshment, “They stopped to bait the horse…”
basin NOUN a cup without a handle “who is drinking his tea out of a basin” (this one could be a bit confusing – someone is moon-shining in the tub?)
by hand PHRASE a common expression meaning that baby had been fed either using a spoon or a bottle rather than by breast-feeding “she had brought me up ‘by hand’
canvas VERB to discuss
chopped VERB to come suddenly or accidentally “if I had chopped upon them”
coil NOUN noise, fuss, of disturbance
complacency, complaisance NOUN eagerness/desire to please others
fob NOUN a small pocket in which a watch is kept (so not a key chain that unlocks your carriage?)
haggler NOUN someone who travels from place to place selling small goods and items
interview NOUN meeting
lapse NOUN flow “stealing with silent lapse to join the brook”
lottery tickets NOUN a popular card game
treadmill NOUN a device for hard labour or punishment in prison (That one hasn’t really changed except they aren’t just in prisons anymore)
nice ADJ discriminating. Able to make good judgments or choices.
noggin NOUN a small mug or a wooden cup
physic NOUN medicine
pox NOUN sexually transmitted diseases like syphilis (Ah! So was “a pox upon thee!” a curse of syphilis? That’s way more hardcore than a curse of chicken pox)
sensible ADJ to be aware or conscious of something
supper NOUN a light meal taken late in the evening. The main meal was dinner which was eaten at four or five in the afternoon.
trump NOUN a good, reliable person who can be trusted (Hmm, I can think of a modern counter-example of a Trump…)
vamp VERB to walk or tramp to somewhere (not involving Sookie Stackhouse)
The Victorianachronists 
I wonder if some of these are dialect rather than old-fashioned expressions. About twenty years ago, I was staying with a family in Birmingham and I noticed that they called a sugar bowl a sugar basin, which was a word I would never have used.
The most obvious example of a word with a radically changed meaning is wireless, of course.
That’s a good point – they may just be regional phrases. Either way, they can sometimes be confusing even when read in context.
This is very informative. A few I knew, but it does clear things up for reading. Alastair makes a great point. The East Coast is “fraught” with a bit more twee than the rest of the United States. Not that I am complaining! 🙂
I bet California could compete with us Easterners for number and breadth of “regional dialects.”
One that I find quite funny in reading their stories, especially short stories in Victorian magazines, is their use of the word ‘lover’. I find it quite jarring for a young lady to casually refer to her new boyfriend as her lover! She does not mean what we do by it 😀
Oh yes! I have noticed that myself, and I totally agree – it IS jarring! And the phrase “making love to” someone meaning telling them how much you love them rather than what we understand that to mean today. And that one lasted into the 20th century! Do you know the scene in “It’s a Wonderful Life” where Mary shouts upstairs, “He’s making violent love to me, Mother!” while George is sitting next to her on the couch in her mom’s house? I find that strange to hear every time.
Reblogged this on The Dictionary of Victorian Insults & Niceties and commented:
Victorian Dictionaries are all about the words they used that make modern readers feel like Inigo Montoya – “You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.”
Alastair Savage’s point about dialect is a good one. Some of the words listed (fob, noggin, pox, supper) are still in common use across the UK, especially by older people. The meanings of the words do not appear to have changed over the years. When I lived in Cumbria I found that people were more likely to use the word bait than meal. This is a unique regional variation in my experience, and supports the point about dialect. I have also noticed that if you travel from South to North in the UK that the people are increasingly likely to use older expressions, observe traditional customs and hold more traditional views. This is not a criticism. I mention it because it seems to me to be a useful way to hear historical expressions in everyday use much as they were used a hundred or more years ago.