- caulnounChapter 1 →
A piece of the membrane (amniotic sac) that sometimes covers a baby's head at birth. In Victorian superstition it was considered a lucky charm and was sold as protection against drowning.
“I was born with a caul, which was advertised for sale, in the newspapers, at the low price of fifteen guineas.”
- guineasnounChapter 1 →
Old British gold coins, each worth one pound and one shilling. The word was also used as a unit of price for genteel transactions long after the coins stopped being minted.
“I was born with a caul, which was advertised for sale, in the newspapers, at the low price of fifteen guineas.”
- set her face againstphraseChapter 1 →
Firmly decided to oppose or disapprove of someone, refusing to be persuaded otherwise.
“she knew of his existence, and set her face against him, as I have heard, from the first.”
- infancynounChapter 2 →
The earliest period of a person's life, when they are a baby or very young child, before they can form clear memories.
“as I look far back, into the blank of my infancy, are my mother with her pretty hair and youthful shape”
- willin'adjectiveChapter 3 →
A dialect spelling of 'willing,' used by the carrier Barkis as a coded marriage proposal, meaning he is ready and agreeable to the idea.
“Barkis is willin'.”
- solitudenounChapter 3 →
The state of being completely alone, here carrying a feeling of loneliness and emotional emptiness rather than simply physical isolation.
“If I were to say now that I know what it is to feel the solitude and desolation of that return, I should be very near the truth.”
- desolationnounChapter 3 →
A deep feeling of misery, abandonment, and hopelessness, as though everything comforting has been stripped away.
“If I were to say now that I know what it is to feel the solitude and desolation of that return, I should be very near the truth.”
- keyholenounChapter 4 →
The small opening in a door lock through which a key is inserted; here used literally as the only point of contact between two people separated by a locked door.
“She was on the other side of the keyhole, and she kissed it—kissed the keyhole—and said, through it, with her lips and her nose squeezed against the keyhole”
- lone lorn creeturphraseChapter 5 →
A dialect phrase meaning 'lonely, forsaken creature.' Mrs. Gummidge uses it as a habitual self-pitying complaint that everything goes wrong for her alone.
“I am a lone lorn creetur and everythink goes contrary with me.”
- wildernessnounChapter 5 →
Here used figuratively to mean a vast, empty, and unwelcoming place that makes a small child feel utterly lost and insignificant.
“What a blank space it seemed, what a wilderness it was, to receive such a tiny speck of a boy!”
- senior boynounChapter 6 →
An older, higher-ranking student at a school, who holds informal authority and social status over younger pupils.
“I was a junior boy, and Steerforth was a senior boy; and he was a handsome fellow, with a fine voice, and I admired him greatly.”
- canedverbChapter 6 →
Beaten with a thin rod or cane as a physical punishment, a common disciplinary practice in Victorian schools.
“Traddles was the merriest and most miserable of all the boys. He was always being caned—I think he was caned every day that half-year.”
- craving appetitephraseChapter 7 →
An intense, compulsive desire that demands to be satisfied, used here to describe Creakle's almost physical pleasure in inflicting pain on boys.
“He had a delight in cutting at the boys, which was like the satisfaction of a craving appetite.”
- applicationnounChapter 8 →
Diligent, sustained effort and hard work applied to one's studies or duties; the discipline to keep working even when it is difficult.
“He was a boy of good abilities, but of no application — a boy who had a great deal of spirit, and who was not to be easily put down.”
- agony of my soulphraseChapter 8 →
Intense inner suffering and anguish, felt deep in one's sense of self rather than in the body, here describing David's shame at his social and intellectual degradation.
- supersededverbChapter 9 →
Replaced or pushed aside something that came before; took over completely so that the earlier feeling no longer mattered.
“a kind of grateful wonder that she was so beautiful, and would be always so, now superseded every other feeling.”
- annual incomephraseChapter 10 →
The total amount of money a person earns in one year, used by Micawber in his famous formula to illustrate the difference between living within and beyond one's means.
“Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure nineteen nineteen and six, result happiness.”
- expenditurenounChapter 10 →
The total amount of money spent over a period of time, as opposed to what is earned; outgoings.
“Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure nineteen nineteen and six, result happiness.”
- companionshipnounChapter 12 →
The company of others one associates with regularly; here used with bitter irony to mean the degrading company of rough warehouse workers that David is forced to keep.
“No words can express the secret agony of my soul as I sunk into this companionship; compared these henceforth every-day associates with those of my happier childhood.”
- henceforthadverbChapter 12 →
From this point in time onward; used to signal that a new, unwanted situation will now be permanent.
“No words can express the secret agony of my soul as I sunk into this companionship; compared these henceforth every-day associates with those of my happier childhood.”
- qualifiedadjectiveChapter 12 →
Having the necessary skills, experience, or maturity to do something; here David means he was far too young and inexperienced to manage on his own.
“I was so young and childish, and so little qualified—how could I be otherwise?—to undertake the journey, and to earn my own bread in any other way.”
- earn my own breadphraseChapter 12 →
To support oneself financially by working; to make enough money to pay for one's own food and survival.
“I was so young and childish, and so little qualified—how could I be otherwise?—to undertake the journey, and to earn my own bread in any other way.”
- slightedverbChapter 13 →
Treated with disrespect and contempt, made to feel unimportant and worthless by those who should have cared for you.
“I have been very unhappy since she died. I have been slighted, and taught nothing”
- clapped her handsphraseChapter 13 →
Brought her hands together sharply in a sudden gesture of surprise or astonishment, not as applause but as an involuntary reaction to shock.
“My aunt, in the moment of her surprise, clapped her hands, and sat quite still, looking at me.”
David CopperfieldNovel by Charles Dickens