a knight errant a knight who wanders in search of adventure.
a wattling of tripe a roof made of tripe, or cow's stomach.
Agincourt a village in Northern France where King Henry V defeated the French in 1415.
alaunts, gaze-hounds, lymers and braches different kinds of hounds.
Alderbaran, Betelgeuse, and Sirius three stars.
Aldermen members of an English borough council.
anseriformes geese.
Aristotle (384–322 BC) Greek philosopher and pupil of Plato, noted for works on logic, metaphysics, ethics, politics, and so on.
assonances rhymes ("what" and "wat").
astrolabe an instrument used to find the altitudes of stars.
atomy a tiny being.
austringers people who train and fly hawks.
baldrick a belt worn over one shoulder and across the chest to the hip, used to support a sword or horn.
barbican a defensive tower or similar fortification at a gate or bridge leading into a town or castle.
bartizans a small, overhanging turret on a tower or a castle.
beasts of venery animals pursued in hunting.
beys a Turkish title of respect and former title of rank.
blue-stocking a learned, bookish, or pedantic woman.
bosh foolishness.
bosses ornamental projecting pieces, as at the intersection of the ribs of an arched roof.
Boxing Day the first weekday after Christmas, when gifts or "boxes" are given to employees, postmen, and so on.
brachet a hunting dog.
bracken large, coarse, weedy ferns, occurring in meadows, woods, and especially wastelands.
brambles and bindweed and honeysuckle and convolvulus and teazles and the stuff which country people call sweethearts various types of wild plants.
burghers inhabitants of a borough or town.
byres cow barns.
cabalistic pertaining to signs and symbols of secret societies or factions.
canary a fortified wine similar to Madeira, made in the Canary Islands.
cardamom a spice from the seeds of various East Indian plants.
catechism a handbook of questions and answers for teaching the principles of a religion.
chaffinch a small European finch that has a white patch on each shoulder.
char-a-banc a coach.
chine a cut of meat containing part of the backbone.
chitterlings the small intestines of pigs, used for food, usually fried in deep fat.
cigarette cards trading cards that used to be given out in cigarette packs.
Circe the ancient Greek goddess of witchcraft; in The Odyssey, she turns unwitting sailors into swine.
cloisonne pottery and china in which colored enamels are kept separate by thin metal strips.
coney a rabbit.
conies rabbits.
corkindrill a mythological beast.
crofter one who rents and works on a small farm.
Cromwell Oliver Cromwell (1599–1658), British Puritan general and Lord Protector of England from 1653–58.
curlew a large, brownish shorebird.
