satyrs in classical mythology, minor woodland deities having the head and trunk of a man and the hind legs of a goat, and as being fond of riotous merriment and lechery.
self-immolation suicide, usually by burning oneself in a public place; deliberate self-sacrifice.
Sermon on the Mount from Matthew 5–7.
servants of corruption from 2 Peter 2:19–20.
shine on the just and the unjust alike an echo of the Sermon on the Mount (Matt. 5:45).
Sigh gratis act or feel without expecting reward; from Hamlet (Act II, Scene 2, Line 323).
Sileni plural form of Silenus, a satyr and follower of Bacchus.
sin, the world and the devil a reference to "the world, the flesh, and the devil," traditional temptations to sin mentioned in The Book of Common Prayer (Anglican Church).
Sins of the fathers Exodus 20:5: "I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me."
Sixth Standard in the National School the highest level available in school supported by government funds run by the National Society for Promoting the Education of the Poor in the Principles of the Established Church. The first schools were established in 1811.
Skein a quantity of thread or yarn wound in a coil; something like this, as a coil of hair.
some mutely Miltonic, some potentially Cromwellian an allusion to Thomas Gray's "Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard" (lines 59–60).
somnambulistic getting up and moving about in a trance-like state while asleep.
springe [Now Rare] a snare consisting of a noose attached to something under tension, as a bent tree branch.
Stale (dialect) to urinate.
stave a set of verses, or lines, of a song or poem; stanza.
stile a vertical piece in a panel or frame, as of a door or window.
Stodded waggon (dialect) a wagon that is stuck.
Stopt-diapason note suggests Tess' voice, which, like an organ with stops, or tuned sets of pipes, is characterized by a full range of harmonious sound.
Stubbard-tree a kind of apple tree.
Stupefaction stunned amazement or utter bewilderment.
summut (dialect) somewhat.
sumple supple (dialect).
Superincumbent lying or resting on something else.
supernumerary that exceeds or is beyond the regular or prescribed number; extra.
supervened came or happened as something extraneous or unexpected; to take place; ensued.
swede-hacking a swede is a Swedish turnip, or rutabaga.
Syrinx Syrinx was pursued by Pan, but the gods turned her into a reed, from which Pan made his pipe.
taciturnity the condition of being silent or uncommunicative.
Take, O take those lips away from Shakespeare's Measure for Measure (Act I, Scene 1, Line 1).
tale told by an idiot from Macbeth 5.5.26–27.
teave (dialect) work or struggle.
Temple of the Winds also known as the "tower of the winds," a temple in Athens used for telling time.
texes (dialect) texts.
that scene of Milton's scene from Paradise Lost, and the passage quoted (Book IX:626–631) is spoken by Eve to Satan in the form of a serpent.
the seven thunders from Revelation 10:3–4.
The unbelieving husband is sanctified by the wife . . . in 1 Corinthians, 7:13–14, Paul advises wives not to leave husbands who lack belief.
the world, the flesh, nor the devil traditional temptations to sin mentioned in The Book of Common Prayer.
the wrath to come an echo of Matthew 3:7.
Thermidorean weather here, warm summer months; Thermidor is a reference to the month from July 19 to August 17 in the French calendar, instituted in 1793 after the Revolution.
thimble-riggers cheaters or swindlers.
thirtover (dialect) thwart-over, meaning perverse.
those who are true… list of virtues comes from Paul; Philippians 4:8.
thought of Pascal's translated it means: "To the same degree as one has intelligence, one notices that many individuals possess distinctive qualities. People of an ordinary kind do not notice the differences between individuals." From the Pensees of Blaise Pascal (1602–1674), French philosopher and mathematician.
Tishbite Elijah, who in 1 Kings 18 mocks the god worshipped by the priests of Baal.
to take Orders to become an ordained minister.
Tole (dialect) to entice.
Tophet a place mentioned in the Bible where children were burned; it became identified in Judaism with an underworld where wickedness was punished after death; a synonym for hell that came into Middle English from Hebrew.
Touchwood dried, decayed wood or dried fungus used as tinder.
Traceried having ornamental work of interlacing or branching lines, as in a Gothic window, some kinds of embroidery, etc.
Tractarian derived from the Oxford Movement, which favored a return to early Catholic doctrines in the Church of England.
tranters (dialect) carriers; hawkers.
treacle molasses.
trencher-woman a woman who eats much and heartily
Trilithon a monument consisting of two upright megaliths with a third stone serving as the lintel.
Tuscan saint a reference to the images typical of Florentine art during the Renaissance.
Uncribbed, uncabined after murdering Banquo, in Macbeth (3.4.24–25), Macbeth refers to himself as "cabined, cribbed, confined."
