Dracula Dictionary

I will go through each entry as it comes out, try to find the parts I think people might not understand immediately, and attempt to give a sensible explanation.

spell of cessation: stopping for a bit

cringing: behaving in a very fearful or servile way

relieved: released from restraints

stupendous: very large

paroxysm: a sudden outburst of emotion

setting, (in the context of dogs): to point out the position of prey

servile: too eager to serve and please someone else

haughty: unfriendly and seeming to consider yourself better than other people:

squall: a short-lived commotion

Bother them all: Fuck 'em

I don't care a pin: I don't care at all

chloral: a sedative

Morpheus: the greek god of sleep

Carfax: the house Dracula is buying

Real Presence: the presence of something supernatural or divine

paroxysm: a sudden violent emotion or action

wan: sickly

anæmic: having a low number of red blood cells

pall: something that covers or conceals

in a faint: unconscious

herewith: hereby

Carfax: Carfax Abbey, the house that Dracula is buying

Purfleet: a town east of London, just outside the Greater London area

forthwith: immediately

obviate: prevent

peculiar: weird, strange

to the westward: towards the west

wont: habit

brain fever: a nervous breakdown, due to extreme emotional distress, often with associated fever like symptoms

sanatorium: a facility offering long-term medical care or treatment

Klausenburg: german name of the romanian city Cluj-Napoca, unofficial capital of the Transylvania region

shawl: a piece of cloth worn as a covering for the head, neck, or shoulders

overmastering: overpowering

unclad: not wearing clothes (or in this case, wearing very few clothes, which at the time was almost the same as being naked)

daub: coat with a dirty substance

close: a narrow passage leading from a street to a court and the houses within

wynd: a very narow street

reflex: reflection

Spohr: Louis Spohr, a german composer

cortège: a funeral procession

Viaduct: a type of bridge that consists of a series of arches supporting a long elevated road

agglomeration: a heap or cluster of different elements

severe tea: a lot of food for dinner

bow-window: a curved window that sticks out past the wall of the building

New Woman: a feminist ideal that emerged in the late 19th century

strand: land bordering a body of water, typically a beach

stoppages: stops

curate: a member of the clergy in charge of a parish

fight for it with the dusty miller: fighting off sleep

Varna: a large city in Bulgaria, on the coast of the Black Sea

ballast: heavy material that is put in the hold of a ship to make it more stable

silver sand: a fine white sand used in gardening

consign: to give over to another's care

consul: a government official sent to another country to represent the interests of his own country

charter-party: a contract between the person who owns a ship and another person who wants to use the ship

nine days' wonder: something that generates interest for a limited time and is then abandoned

S. P. C. A.: Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals

rescript: something that has been rewritten

supercargo: the person on a ship who is in charge of managing the cargo

cum grano (salis): with a grain of salt, with skepticism

sultry: humid and hot

Mulgrave Woods, Robin Hood's Bay, Rig Mill, Runswick, Staithes: villages close to Whitby

steamer: a steamship

Scarborough: a seaside town just south of Whitby

eminence: a rise of ground; a hill

mares'-tails: clouds that have a long slender flowing appearance

assemblage: a gathering

athwart: across

R. A. and R. I.: the Royal Academy of Art and the Royal Institute of Art

schooner: a ship with at least two masts where the sails go from front to back rather than from side to side

undulating: moving up and down like waves

rapidity: speed

convulse: disturb or upset severely

spume: foam

lanthorn: lantern

stanchion: a fixed vertical bar or pole used as a support

gunwale: the upper edge of a ship's side

old salt: an old sailor

fetch up: stop

hitherto: until now

a pall: something that covers or conceals

mirabile dictu: it's a miracle

lashed: tied

concussion: a hard blow

spar: a wooden pole that supports sails and rigging

stay: a large strong rope used to support a mast

top-hammer: (should be top-hamper), matter or weight (such as spars or rigging) in the upper part of a ship

derelict: run-down, abandoned

aft: towards the back of a ship

to and fro: back and forth

Admiralty Court: a court that deals with all laws related to the sea

salvage: the ship or cargo saved in a rescue

contravention: contradict, violate

statutes of mortmain: laws that say that property cannot be owned by a "dead hand" (although the "dead hand" usually means a corporation (especially the church) and not an actual dead person)

Casabianca: a poem about a boy who refuses to leave his post on a burning ship after everyone else has already fled

mortuary: a place where dead bodies are kept before burial

inquest: an investigation conducted by a coroner into the cause of death of a person

Yorkshire: a part of northern England

vastness: very great in size, extent, or quantity

brool: a murmuring sound as of wind blowing through a forest

presage: or warning of a future occurrence; an omen

ground swell: waves generated by winds a long way away, possibly arriving at shore without local winds

"I'm afraid, my deary, that I must have shocked you by all the wicked things I've been sayin' about the dead, and such like, for weeks past; but I didn't mean them, and I want ye to remember that when I'm gone. We aud folks that be daffled, and with one foot abaft the krok-hooal, don't altogether like to think of it, and we don't want to feel scart of it; an' that's why I've took to makin' light of it, so that I'd cheer up my own heart a bit. But, Lord love ye, miss, I ain't afraid of dyin', not a bit; only I don't want to die if I can help it. My time must be nigh at hand now, for I be aud, and a hundred years is too much for any man to expect; and I'm so nigh it that the Aud Man is already whettin' his scythe. Ye see, I can't get out o' the habit of caffin' about it all at once; the chafts will wag as they be used to. Some day soon the Angel of Death will sound his trumpet for me. But don't ye dooal an' greet, my deary!"—for he saw that I was crying—"if he should come this very night I'd not refuse to answer his call. For life be, after all, only a waitin' for somethin' else than what we're doin'; and death be all that we can rightly depend on. But I'm content, for it's comin' to me, my deary, and comin' quick. It may be comin' while we be lookin' and wonderin'. Maybe it's in that wind out over the sea that's bringin' with it loss and wreck, and sore distress, and sad hearts. Look! look!" he cried suddenly. "There's something in that wind and in the hoast beyont that sounds, and looks, and tastes, and smells like death. It's in the air; I feel it comin'. Lord, make me answer cheerful when my call comes!":

yawing: swerving off course

flannels: underwear

in the bows: inside the front part of the ship

gave It my knife: stabbed it

forward hatchway: trapdoor leading down into the bows

port: porthole, window on a ship

Straits of Dover: the narrowest part of the English Channel

North Foreland: part of England close to the English Channel that sticks out into the Nort Sea

"It be all fool-talk, lock, stock, and barrel; that's what it be, an' nowt else. These bans an' wafts an' boh-ghosts an' barguests an' bogles an' all anent them is only fit to set bairns an' dizzy women a-belderin'. They be nowt but air-blebs. They, an' all grims an' signs an' warnin's, be all invented by parsons an' illsome beuk-bodies an' railway touters to skeer an' scunner hafflin's, an' to get folks to do somethin' that they don't other incline to. It makes me ireful to think o' them. Why, it's them that, not content with printin' lies on paper an' preachin' them out of pulpits, does want to be cuttin' them on the tombstones. Look here all around you in what airt ye will; all them steans, holdin' up their heads as well as they can out of their pride, is acant—simply tumblin' down with the weight o' the lies wrote on them, 'Here lies the body' or 'Sacred to the memory' wrote on all of them, an' yet in nigh half of them there bean't no bodies at all; an' the memories of them bean't cared a pinch of snuff about, much less sacred. Lies all of them, nothin' but lies of one kind or another! My gog, but it'll be a quare scowderment at the Day of Judgment when they come tumblin' up in their death-sarks, all jouped together an' tryin' to drag their tombsteans with them to prove how good they was; some of them trimmlin' and ditherin', with their hands that dozzened an' slippy from lyin' in the sea that they can't even keep their grup o' them.":

It's nonsense, all of it; that's what it is and nothing else. These curses and spirits and ghosts and bogie-men and the the like are only fit to make children and dizzy women cry. They're nothing but illusions. They, and all the scary signs and warnings were invented by priests, and mean-spirited academics, and highwaymen to scare and confuse halfwits, and to get people to do things that they otherwise wouldn't have. It makes me angry to think about them. They're the ones who aren't happy just printing lies on paper and preaching them from their altars, so they have to cut them into tombstones as well. Look in whatever direction you want; all these stones trying to hold their heads up out of pride - they should all be falling over under the weight of the lies that are written on them. "Here lies the body" or "Sacred to the memory" written on all of them, even though half of them don't even have a body under them; and their memory is worth about as much a pinch of snuff, it's certainly not sacred to anyone. All of it is lies, nothing but lies one way or another! My god, it’ll be a strange pushing and shoving at the Day of Judgment when they come tumbling up here in their shrouds, all jumbled together and trying to drag their tombstones with them to prove how good they were in life; some of them will be trembling and frail, with their hands so numb and slippery from lying in the sea that they can't even keep their grip on them.

"Yabblins! There may be a poorish few not wrong, savin' where they make out the people too good; for there be folk that do think a balm-bowl be like the sea, if only it be their own. The whole thing be only lies. Now look you here; you come here a stranger, an' you see this kirk-garth." I nodded, for I thought it better to assent, though I did not quite understand his dialect. I knew it had something to do with the church. He went on: "And you consate that all these steans be aboon folk that be happed here, snod an' snog?" I assented again. "Then that be just where the lie comes in. Why, there be scores of these lay-beds that be toom as old Dun's 'bacca-box on Friday night." He nudged one of his companions, and they all laughed. "And my gog! how could they be otherwise? Look at that one, the aftest abaft the bier-bank: read it!":

Perhaps! A few of them might not be wrong, except for those parts where people are being praised too much; because there are people who mistake a chamber-pot for the sea, as long as it's their own. Now look here, you came here as a stranger and you see this churchyard. Do you believe that all these stones are standing above people that are burried here? That is where the lies start. Many of these graves are as empty as old Dun's tobacco box on a friday night. And my god, how else could it be? Look at that one, the first one behind the bench: read it!"

"Who brought him home, I wonder, to hap him here? Murdered off the coast of Andres! an' you consated his body lay under! Why, I could name ye a dozen whose bones lie in the Greenland seas above"—he pointed northwards—"or where the currents may have drifted them. There be the steans around ye. Ye can, with your young eyes, read the small-print of the lies from here. This Braithwaite Lowrey—I knew his father, lost in the Lively off Greenland in '20; or Andrew Woodhouse, drowned in the same seas in 1777; or John Paxton, drowned off Cape Farewell a year later; or old John Rawlings, whose grandfather sailed with me, drowned in the Gulf of Finland in '50. Do ye think that all these men will have to make a rush to Whitby when the trumpet sounds? I have me antherums aboot it! I tell ye that when they got here they'd be jommlin' an' jostlin' one another that way that it 'ud be like a fight up on the ice in the old days, when we'd be at one another from daylight to dark, an' tryin' to tie up our cuts by the light of the aurora borealis.":

Who brought him back home to burry him here, I wonder? Murdered off the coast of Andres! And you really believe his body is buried here! I could name a dozen people whose bones lie in the sea of Greenland up north, or wherever the currents have taken them. Theirs are the headstones around us. With your young eyes you can read the lies from here. This Braithwaite Lowrey - I knew his father, used to serve on the Lively, lost off the coast of Greenland in 1820; or Andrew Woodhouse, drowned in the same seas in 1777; or John Paxton, drowned by Cape Farewell a year later; or old John Rawlings, whose grandfather sailed with me, drowned in the Gulf of Finland in 1850. Do you think all of them will be rushing back to Whitby when the trumpet sounds for Judgement Day? I have my doubts about it! If they did all come here they would pushing and shoving each other in such a way that it would look like one of the fights on the ice back in the old days, when we were at each other's throats from dawn to dusk, and trying to bandage our wound by the light of the aurora borealis.

"Well, what else be they tombstones for? Answer me that, miss! How will it pleasure their relatives to know that lies is wrote over them, and that everybody in the place knows that they be lies?" He pointed to a stone at our feet which had been laid down as a slab, on which the seat was rested, close to the edge of the cliff. "Read the lies on that thruff-stean":

Well, what else would the tombstones be for? Answer me that, miss! How would it please their relatives to know that there are lies written about them, and that everybody here knows that they're lies? Read the lies on that gravestone.

"Ye don't see aught funny! Ha! ha! But that's because ye don't gawm the sorrowin' mother was a hell-cat that hated him because he was acrewk'd—a regular lamiter he was—an' he hated her so that he committed suicide in order that she mightn't get an insurance she put on his life. He blew nigh the top of his head off with an old musket that they had for scarin' the crows with. 'Twarn't for crows then, for it brought the clegs and the dowps to him. That's the way he fell off the rocks. And, as to hopes of a glorious resurrection, I've often heard him say masel' that he hoped he'd go to hell, for his mother was so pious that she'd be sure to go to heaven, an' he didn't want to addle where she was. Now isn't that stean at any rate"—he hammered it with his stick as he spoke—"a pack of lies? and won't it make Gabriel keckle when Geordie comes pantin' up the grees with the tombstean balanced on his hump, and asks it to be took as evidence!":

You don't see anything funny! Ha ha! But that's because you don't know that the sorrowing mother was a malicious woman with a fierce temper who hated him because he was a cripple, and he hated her so he commited suicide so she wouldn't get any of his life insurance. He blew off the top of his head with an old musket they had for scaring off the crows. It didn't scare the crows off then, because it brought the flies and the crows to him. That's how he fell off the rocks. And as far as the hopes of a glorious resurrection go, I often heard him say myself that he hoped he'd go to hell, because his mother was so devout that she would definitely go to heaven, and he didn't want to end up where she was. Now isn't this gravestone a pack of lies? And won't it make the archangel Gabriel cackle when George comes hobbling up the stairway to heaven with the tombstone on his back and asks it to be taken as evidence!

"That won't harm ye, my pretty; an' it may make poor Geordie gladsome to have so trim a lass sittin' on his lap. That won't hurt ye. Why, I've sat here off an' on for nigh twenty years past, an' it hasn't done me no harm. Don't ye fash about them as lies under ye, or that doesn' lie there either! It'll be time for ye to be getting scart when ye see the tombsteans all run away with, and the place as bare as a stubble-field. There's the clock, an' I must gang. My service to ye, ladies!":

English Channel: a part of the Atlantic Ocean that separates Southern England from northern France

run before wind: sailing in the same direction as the wind, taking full advantage of its force to propel the boat forward

stolidly: in a way that is calm and does not show emotion or excitement

Sir Oracle: the only person who is allowed to speak, who everyonte else must listen to, (referencing The Merchant of Venice by Shakespeare)

dictatorial: oppressive to or arrogantly overbearing toward others

downface: defend an opionion that's being challenged

cronies: close friends

assent: agree

Andres: San Andrés, an island in the Carribbean Sea

æt: at the age of (short for latin "aetatis")

gusto: vigor and enthusiasm

Day of Judgment: in Christian belief the day when Jesus returns to the earth and god judges every person who has ever lived to give out rewards and punishments

Kettleness: a hamlet by the sea, just northwest of Whitby

heart-sick: very sad or disappointed

Esk: the river that runs through Whitby