Glossary of Terms
ancien régime: The pre-revolutionary monarchical, aristocratic rule of France.
barrister: A lawyer who handles court cases.
château: A French aristocrat's country home.
conciergerie: A prison in Paris.
doll: A disparaging term for women in the nineteenth century.
flambeau: A torch.
fortnight: Two weeks; fourteen days.
garret: An attic or room on the top floor of a house or apartment.
guillotine: A heavy blade held up by two posts which is dropped on the victim's neck in order to behead the victim.
hackney-coach: A coach for hire; an older equivalent of a taxi.
head drawer: Man in charge of a hotel.
incarceration: Imprisonment.
jackal: An accomplice who assists in menial or slightly disreputable acts.
letter de cachet: A sealed letter, especially from a sovereign, often ordering arbitrary imprisonment.
mail-coach: Before the introduction of railways there were two types of coaches on English roads: the mail-coach and the stage-coach. The mail-coaches were subsidized by the Post Office, whereas stage-coaches were privately owned.
miller: A man whose profession is to grind wheat. Millers are usually portrayed as all white because they are covered in flour.
Old Bailey: The Old Bailey Court, the central court where criminals were prosecuted.
pike: A long spear.
postilion: Man who rides the near horse of the leaders to guide the horses drawing a coach.
punch: A spiced fruit beverage with an alcoholic base.
quartering: An antiquated punishment for criminals involving dismembering them into four parts.
quid: Slang for a pound (British currency).
Resurrection-Man: A person who digs up dead bodies to sell parts of them to scientists. Also called "Resurrectionist."
Saint Antoine: A district of Paris very active in the revolution, especially in the storming of the Bastille.
scrivener: Scribe or copier.
shoe: Type of brakes under a carriage.
snuff: Powdered tobacco inhaled through the nose.
solicitor: A lawyer who handles wills and estates and most matters not involving a court.
spectre: A ghost or apparition.
Temple Bar: A London landmark located near Tellson's Bank.
Tower of London: The state prison in London.
tumbril: A crude two-wheeled cart used to carry prisoners to be executed in the French Revolution.
turnkey: A jailor.
Versailles: A city southwest of Paris known for the opulent French royal palace built for King Louis XIV.
ward: someone for whom someone else has responsibility, especially financially
Whitefriars: In Dickens's time, a disreputable district of London.
wood-sawyer: A man who chops wood.
ClassicNote on Tale of Two Cities
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