Touchwood dried, decayed wood or dried fungus used as tinder.
almanack (dialect) almanac.
handkercher (dialect) handkerchief.
Ballyragging bullying, intimidating, or browbeating.
pummy ground apples used in making cider.
fagged to have worked hard and become very tired; [Brit. Informal] to have served as a servant.
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.
enervating depriving of strength, force, vigor, etc.; weakening physically, mentally, or morally.
Ethiopic hot, African-like scorching of the farmland and pasture.
