Pilgrim's Progress

Pilgrim's Progress Glossary

accoutered (66)

equipped

(All definitions come from The Barnes and Noble Classics edition of The Pilgrim's Progress, by John Bunyan, with introduction and notes by David Hawkes, 2005.)

angel (258)

a coin

anon (142)

immediately

arch (298)

worst

bands (178)

pains, concerns

beck (124)

call

bottom (139)

valley

breeding (313)

pregnant

bugbear (189)

boogeyman

caitiff (146)

rogue

carper (9)

complainer

check (276)

prohibition

checkle (191)

chuckle

churl (92)

boor, lout, yokel

civet-box (339)

package containing fragrances

clout (143)

either 'cloud' or 'cloth'

compass (79)

surround

conceited (293)

understood

congee (117)

bow

coxcombs (17)

fools

cozenage (118)

fraud

damp (62)

render ineffective

diffidence (131)

distrust in God's mercy

divers (106)

various

doting (193)

foolish

dumpish (206)

grumpy

dunghill (63)

garbage dump

embrace (215)

sexual assault

engines (65)

weapons

entertained (207)

welcomed

fat (62)

attractive or desirable

firstling (188)

firstborn

frenzy distemper (14)

feverish illness

full sore (301)

very fiercely

garner (44)

granary

green-headed (321)

naive

gunshot (100)

range

habergeon (149)

coat of chain mail

halt (296)

limp

halter (171)

noose

haply (27)

by any chance

harbour (299)

a resting place

hosen out (302)

stockings torn

howlet (328)

owlet, a proverbial figure for poverty

importunate (87)

demanding

incommodity (316)

inconvenience, unpleasantness

inditing (159)

writing

irons (59)

fetters

jot and tittle (159)

iota

kite (190)

a hearty but indigestible repast

leered (81)

sneaked

letted (216)

hindered

lime-twigs (7)

traps to catch birds

limner (329)

sketcher

made shift (144)

managed

maw (252)

throat

mellow (215)

ripe

motions (162)

thoughts

mystery (30)

allegory

nimble fancies (194)

quick minds

noddy (190)

twit

non-age (69)

before the legal age of maturity

nosegay (332)

garland carried by bridesmaids

palliate (6)

moderate

pelting (239)

sweating

perspective-glass (140)

telescope

pickthank (108)

one who tries to exhort gratitude, or thanks, from another

plash (215)

'bend down,' or possibly, 'crush'

plat (21)

patch of ground

porter (54)

pastor

practick (93)

practical

prating-row (91)

to 'prate' is to chatter nonsense

precise (62)

puritanical: a 'precision' was a puritan

prithee (192)

ask you to

professor (41)

religious man

purchased (214)

redeemed

quag (75)

swamp

rack (43)

drive along

railingly (238)

angrily

raiment (43)

clothes

rating (131)

scolding

rub up (289)

wake up

savour (92)

taste

score (157)

bill

settle (54)

bench

shift (144)

care

shining one (59)

angel

shivers (264)

splinters

sirrah (110)

derogatory term used by a social superior toward an inferior

slabbiness (324)

muddiness

slough (20)

swamp

slut (95)

dirty, not necessarily in the sexual sense

sociate (224)

associate

soho (80)

a hunting cry; Bunyan uses it as a greeting

stick (207)

delay

surfeits (127)

diseases caused by over-eating

tarry (43)

wait

tempered (80)

blended

temporary (168)

a turncoat

terms (110)

name-calling

the gripes (252)

indigestion

trace (262)

wander

trencher (275)

plate

tro (214)

warrant

trow (49)

believe

turncoat (81)

traitor

vestry (229)

the storehouse and dressing-room in a church

virginals (257)

harpsichords

wain (309)

The group of stars also known as ‘the big dipper’; it was also sometimes called ‘King Charles’s Wain.’ A wain was a heavy wagon used on farms.

wanton (82)

horny

wax (60)

become

weed (302)

clothing

whitely (293)

pale

wicket gate (15)

a small gate set within a larger gate or door

wot (25)

knew