GANGNES: In this case, according to the Oxford English Dictionary, "common well-being; esp. the general good, public welfare, prosperity of the community."

GANGNES: In this case insipidity would be defined as "want of taste or judgement; weakness, folly" (Oxford English Dictionary). The narrator is not altogether pleased with the French operator's comments; France cheers England's "triumph" over the Martians, after having offered no aid during the crisis. Essentially, his "tousand congratulation" are in poor taste considering the circumstances.

GANGNES: "to supplement, supply the deficiencies of anything" (Oxford English Dictionary)

GANGNES: "a ringing of a bell or bells, bell-ringing; the sound or music so produced" (Oxford English Dictionary)

GANGNES: "a bottle for wine, spirits, etc., twice the standard size and now usually containing 1½ litres (formerly two quarts); the quantity of liquor held by such a bottle" (Oxford English Dictionary)

GANGNES: In this case, according to the Oxford English Dictionary, "a device for fastening or checking the motion of something, esp. a latch or other mechanism for fastening a door, window, etc."

GANGNES: In this case, according to the Oxford English Dictionary: "to pull or tear at (an object)."

GANGNES: In this case, the word refers to an organism's sex based on chromosomes (which most Victorians would conflate with gender). The "budding off" makes it clear that Martians do not have sexual intercourse, so any differences in chromosomes (if any) are inconsequential. The Martians have achieved a kind of asexual utopia, where their energies and emotions are not "wasted" on finding a mate. Human beings, with our base impulses and inefficient digestive systems, don't stand a chance against advanced beings who quickly process sustenance, never sleep, and don't have to bother with courtship and breeding.

GANGNES: Vivisection is "the action of cutting or dissecting some part of a living organism; spec. the action or practice of performing dissection, or other painful experiment, upon living animals as a method of physiological or pathological study" (Oxford English Dictionary).

Since Wells cut this section from the volume, no explicit reference to vivisection remains in a collected edition of the novel. However, the practice is central to Wells's 1896 novel The Island of Doctor Moreau.

More information:

• "A History of Antivivisection from the 1800s to the Present: Part I (mid-1800s to 1914)" on The Black Ewe
• Nuno Henrique Franco, "Animal Experiments in Biomedical Research: A Historical Perspective"
• Lewis Carroll, "Some Popular Fallacies About Vivisection"

GANGNES: In this case, according to the Oxford English Dictionary, "An opening, an open space between portions of solid matter; a gap, cleft, chasm, or hole."

From MCCONNELL 238: "a still-common English term for a suburban dwelling house"

From HUGHES AND GEDULD 216: "a fashionable name for a kind of small suburban house--in this case a two-family structure--popularly considered to be a 'better class' of dwelling"

GANGNES: Americans might call this kind of house a high-end "duplex," in that the structure itself is the size of a large house, but there are two "homes" within it, separated by a long dividing wall. Many semi-detached houses have two floors.

GANGNES: In this case, according to the Oxford English Dictionary, "very small pieces or splinters of wood."

GANGNES: according to the Oxford English Dictionary, "to frown, scowl; to look angry or sullen"

GANGNES: in this case, someone who is fleeing from danger; see Oxford English Dictionary

GANGNES: In this case, according to the Oxford English Dictionary, the door to "subsidiary building in the grounds of or adjoining a house, as a barn, shed, etc."

GANGNES: In this instance, according to the Oxford English Dictionary, "a person's spirit; courage, strength of character; vigour, spiritedness, vivacity"

GANGNES: In this instance, according to the Oxford English Dictionary, "a low wall or barrier, often ornamental, placed at the edge of a platform, balcony, roof, etc. ... to prevent people from falling"

GANGNES: according to the Oxford English Dictionary, "partially cooked by boiling"

GANGNES: In this case, according to the Oxford English Dictionary, the door to "subsidiary building in the grounds of or adjoining a house, as a barn, shed, etc."

GANGNES: according to the Oxford English Dictionary, "absence or suspension of motive power, activity, or feeling"

From DANAHAY 75: church bells ringing

GANGNES: Which is to say, the church bells rang in such a way that indicated the time was midnight.

GANGNES: In this case, the equivalent of dinner or an evening meal (hence it being "six in the evening"). See Oxford English Dictionary: "locally in the U.K. (esp. northern) ... a cooked evening meal"

GANGNES: In this case, according to the Oxford English Dictionary: "waging or carrying on regular recognized war; actually engaged in hostilities," which is to say, the narrator is imagining, and is excited about, an epic war between the British and the Martians.

GANGNES: In this case, according to the Oxford English Dictionary, "something continued or constantly repeated without change; a stereotyped phrase, formula, etc.; stereotyped diction or usage."

GANGNES: This indicates that the weather is volatile and likely heralds an imminent storm. See Oxford English Dictionary on "barometer": "an instrument for determining the weight or pressure of the atmosphere, and hence for judging of probable changes in the weather, ascertaining the height of an ascent, etc" and Encyclopædia Britannica entry.

GANGNES: In this usage, according to the Oxford English Dictionary: "of the atmosphere or weather: Like that of a closed up room; confined, stifling, without free circulation."

GANGNES: This term was relatively new when Wells wrote the novel; it first emerged in the mid-nineteenth century and was generally used in scientific journals.

Source:

• Oxford English Dictionary entry on prefix "extra-"

From MCCONNELL 286: "growing rotten or decayed"

From DANAHAY 179: rotting

From DANAHAY 180: recklessness

From MCCONNELL 288: fortification

From DANAHAY 181: "a fort put up before a battle to protect troops and artillery"

From MCCONNELL 288: "causing decay or rottenness"

GANGNES: "Special constables" in the Victorian period were private citizens who were appointed or volunteered to help the official police keep the peace in times of crisis. The "white badge" (below) likely refers to the white armbands issued to special constables in the nineteenth century. "Staff" may indicate their truncheons, or the narrator was given another kind of wooden weapon.

More information:

• "History of the Metropolitan Police Service - 19th Century" on Wikipedia
• "The History of the Special Constabulary" on the Old Police Cells Museum website

From DANAHAY 187: "light cavalry, named after the fifteenth-century Hungarian units on which they were modeled"

GANGNES: A "score" is 20 miles, so roughly 20-40 miles.

From MCCONNELL 298: "At conjunction, the Earth and Mars are on opposite sides of the Sun."

From HUGHES AND GEDULD 225: "Mars and Earth are in (superior) conjunction, and farthest from each other, when they are lined up with the sun between them; they are in opposition, and closest to each other, when they are lined up with Earth between Mars and the sun."

From DANAHAY 189: "It is far away from earth, but will be 'in opposition' again."

From DANAHAY 190: "having to do with the stars"

From DANAHAY 191: "to speak rapidly, inarticulately, and often foolishly"

From MCCONNELL 244: "Like the tympanum, the vibrating membrane of the middle ear."

From DANAHAY 143: "A tympan is a drum, so the Martian skin here is like a drum."

From DANAHAY 144: "a small glass tube used by chemists to move liquid from one area to another"

From MCCONNELL 245: "growing in silica-rich soil, crystalline"

From DANAHAY 145: "crystalline, made of silica or sand"

GANGNES: In this case, strange and unbelievable (not inherently a good thing).

From DANAHAY 145: "the bulbs of a lily that reproduce by budding off from each other through the process of fission, a form of asexual reproduction"

From MCCONNELL 246: "a sedentary marine animal with a fixed base like a plant, and sensitive tendrils (palp) around its mouth with which it snares its prey"

From DANAHAY 145: "a sedentary type of animal form characterized by a more or less fixed base, columnar body, and free end with mouth and tentacles"

From MCCONNELL 246: "marine animals with saclike bodies and two protruding openings for the ingestion and expulsion of water (their means of locomotion)"

From STOVER 190: "The Tunicates ... are Sea Squirts, belonging to the Urchordata, a subphylum of chordata or 'vertebrated animals [to which they are] first cousins.'"

From DANAHAY 146: "a subspecies of sea animals that have saclike bodies and minimal digestive systems"

From DANAHAY 147: bright red

From HUGHES AND GEDULD 219: "'Sticks' was a common abbreviation for 'shooting-sticks'; pistols."

From MCCONNELL 258: "a very large kettle, usually made of iron; a common feature of kitchens at the turn of the century"

From DANAHAY 155: a large kettle

GANGNES: In this case, a tool or object the narrator can use to knock the curate unconscious or make him quiet some other way.

GANGNES: the end of the handle of the meat cleaver

From MCCONNELL 259: "a large key-ring, for keeping all the keys of a household"

GANGNES: red or red-brown

GANGNES: In this case, vulnerability or lack of safety.

GANGNES: Gladiolus are flowering plants, not vegetables. The flowers and greens are edible to humans, but eating the bulbs is not advised.

More information:

• Edible Flowers: Part Two on Eat the Weeds

From DANAHAY 161: fertility

From DANAHAY 161: "quench, to drink until no longer thirsty"

From MCCONNELL 225: "crewmembers of a lighter, or unpowered barge used to unload cargo ships in harbor"

From HUGHES AND GEDULD 215: "sailors on or owners of lighters or barges (boats used in the 'lightening,' or unloading, of large ships)"

From MCCONNELL 232: smacks are "single-masted, light sailing vessels used as tenders for warships"

From MCCONNELL 227: "ships carrying coal"

From MCCONNELL 228: "a warship with a heavy iron beak or prow for penetrating the hull of an enemy"

From MCCONNELL 228: the point at which the river meets the sea's tide

From MCCONNELL 229: "walls above the main deck to protect the passengers from wind and driving rain"

From MCCONNELL 230: a spray of water

From MCCONNELL 231: port/left

GANGNES: area of London on the south bank of the Thames, east of Twickenham, north of Richmond, and south of Chiswick; essentially the same area as Sheen

GANGNES: explosion

GANGNES: unconscious

From MCCONNELL 240: "Popular newspapers frequently issued these supplements, cheap and crude reproductions, 'suitable for framing,' of famous works of art or stirring historical scenes; they decorated the homes of many lower middle class families."

From MCCONNELL 241: "room in which food is cleaned or cut before being taken to the kitchen for cooking; hence the most malodorous and usually the dirtiest room of the house"

From MCCONNELL 207: "A tall, dense, puffy cloud. Many readers during the First World War viewed this as a forecast of the use of poison gas."

From MCCONNELL 207: carbon dioxide

From STOVER 149: carbon dioxide is heavier than air; it is emitted from erupting volcanoes into the low-lying areas around them

From DANAHAY 113: a heavy artillery fire

From DANAHAY 114: rapid-fire artillery (like minute-guns)

From DANAHAY 116: "sack"=looting

GANGNES: The narrator's brother is one of the first to arrive during the process of looting a bicycle shop, which allows him to steal a bicycle before they are all taken.

From MCCONNELL 212: a one-horse, two-wheeled cab for two passengers with the driver seated above and behind the cab

From DANAHAY 116: "these were frequently for hire on the streets of London like taxis"

DANAHAY 117: small carriage light enough for one pony to pull

From DANAHAY 117: related to boxing

From DANAHAY 118: unconscious

From MCCONNELL 215: one pound = five dollars

From DANAHAY 120: a grating/grinding sound

From DANAHAY 122: a bit is a piece of metal that fits in a horse's mouth and forms part of the reins

From DANAHAY 122: large cart breweries used to deliver beer

From MCCONNELL 220: European evergreen with white flowers

From DANAHAY 124: spilled out

From MCCONNELL 220: gold coins worth two pounds, eighteen shillings (each)

From DANAHAY 124: gold coins worth two pounds each ("the man has a lot of heavy money in his bag")

GANGNES: Note that MCCONNELL's and DANAHAY's respective accounts of a sovereign's worth are not the same as one another or as HUGHES AND GEDULD's (and STOVER's) below.

From HUGHES AND GEDULD: "refers to sovereigns: gold coins worth one English pound each."

GANGNES: Note that HUGHES AND GEDULD's account of a sovereign's worth is not the same as MCCONNELL's or DANAHAY's above. STOVER (157) agrees with HUGHES AND GEDULD.

From MCCONNELL 224: extensions

From DANAHAY 127: new branches of "black smoke"

From DANAHAY 127: blob

GANGNES: gunpowder for cannons and other artillery

From DANAHAY 99: "a vaudeville type of entertainment in a theater comprised of singing, comedy and dancing"

From MCCONNELL 192: Sunday Leagues were "religious groups which gathered to protest the opening of pubs on the Sabbath"

From DANAHAY 99: a Sunday League was a group "opposed to opening the pubs on Sundays [who] organized wholesome alternatives such as excursions"

From MCCONNELL 193: "light cavalry specializing in swift attack"

From DANAHAY 100: "a collection of wild or foreign animals kept for exhibition"

From DANAHAY 101: small carriages with two wheels

From DANAHAY 102: evening prayer

From DANAHAY 102: young women

From MCCONNELL 195: "The reorganization of the British Army included an emphasis upon the reserve forces; but there was considerable doubt throughout the years before World War I whether a 'reserve' soldier would really be able to function in a battlefield situation."

From DANAHAY 102: "somebody in the army reserve force"

From DANAHAY 102: working-class young men

From MCCONNELL 196: "heavy cannon mounted on carriages"

From MCCONNELL 196: "Field pieces with finely-wound wire, coiled under tension, inside their barrels. An early form of rifling (introduced in 1855), the wire coil made it possible to construct a much thinner and lighter barrel than previously, and also increased greatly the effective range of the projectile. Wire guns were used extensively during the period, and in the First World War."

From DANAHAY 103: "artillery with wire wound in the barrels that increased their power and range"

From DANAHAY 104: "people who sold in the streets by shouting out the name of their product"

From MCCONNELL 198: "the 'Coventry' tricycle, two wheels with a much larger supporting wheel to one side, current around 1876"

From HUGHES AND GEDULD 213: sometimes nicknamed "Tuppence-farthing bikes" (because of their appearance)

From DANAHAY 105: "people dressed in their best clothes out for a stroll"

From MCCONNELL 199: courting

GANGNES: early hours after midnight ("wee hours")

From DANAHAY 106: alarm bell or warning

GANGNES: In this case, not unintelligent, but rather, unaware or unknowing.

From MCCONNELL 202: "in a body, in a crowd"

From DANAHAY 107: "in one huge mass"

From MCCONNELL 203: "prepared to fire"

From MCCONNELL 203: "crying or moaning"

From DANAHAY 109: "a high-pitched cry that goes up and down the scale"

From MCCONNELL 206: "guns designed to fire at intervals of one minute"

From STOVER 148: "Small hills of South African locution made familiar to English readers in accounts of the Boer War, from behind which Boer guerrillas sniped on English troops. Although the war did not officially break out until 1899, the landscape of the coming conflict was reported by [Rudyard] Kipling."

From MCCONNELL 173: "four to eight guns in the Horse Artillery of the time"

From MCCONNELL 175: "a surveying instrument with a telescopic sight, for establishing horizontal and vertical angles"

From DANAHAY 85: "A mirror mounted on a pole, used in this situation to communicate the whereabouts of the Martians and warn the artillery of their approach."

From MCCONNELL 175: "a moveable mirror, usually mounted on a tripod, used to transmit signals by sun flashes"

From DANAHAY 85: "An apparatus for telegraphing by means of the sun's rays flashed from a mirror."

Note: There is a photograph of heliograph operators in DANAHAY Appendix I.

From DANAHAY 86: busily

From MCCONNELL 177: "Guns capable of firing a twelve-pound ball. Heavy artillery, like every other aspect of warfare, underwent a gigantic growth in the late nineteenth century--especially after the German munitions maker, Alfred Krupp, developed the first all-steel gun in 1851."

From DANAHAY 86: "artillery, heavier than field guns described previously"

From DANAHAY 87: "a broad embankment raised as a fortification"

From DANAHAY 87: a horse-drawn bus

From DANAHAY 87: "literally means day of worship; people are dressed as if for going to church on Sunday"

From MCCONNELL 178: "the priest of a parish"

From MCCONNELL 178: "Originally, grenadiers were especially tall soldiers in a regiment employed to throw grenades. This practice was discontinued by the end of the eighteenth century, though the tallest and finest soldiers of their regiments continued to be called 'grenadiers.' After 1858, the only regiment officially referred to by the name was the Grenadier Guards, the First Regiment of the Household Cavalry."

From DANAHAY 88: "originally 'grenade throwers,' but by this time an elite army regiment"

From MCCONNELL 180: "willows cut back to the trunk, so as to produce dense masses of branches"

From DANAHAY 90: a large travelling bag or suitcase

From MCCONNELL 182: "The first portable camera, the Kodak, had been patented by George Eastman in 1888. Wells himself was an ardent amateur photographer."

From DANAHAY 91: "These were very large, box-like cameras."

From MCCONNELL 182: "an abrupt rise of tidal water flowing inland from the mouth of an estuary"

From MCCONNELL 183: "The word [used in this way] was still new at the time, and referred primarily to factory whistles."

From MCCONNELL 183: "a path along the bank of a river for the horses or men who tow boats on the river"

From DANAHAY 92: a loud, metallic ringing sound

From MCCONNELL 184: "welt or ridge"

From DANAHAY 93: "a member of the clergy who is either in charge of a parish or who is serving as an assistant in a parish."

From DANAHAY 94: "small clumps of trees, not large enough to be a wood"

From DANAHAY 95: "A mackerel is a seawater fish that has rows of dark markings on its back. The rows of clouds resemble these markings."

From MCCONNELL 190: European scarab beetle

From DANAHAY 97: large European flying beetle

From DANAHAY 68: weariness, lack of energy

From DANAHAY 68: a word for cart

From MCCONNELL156: "military engineers, builders of trenches, fortifications, etc."

From DANAHAY 69: "engineers who built bridges, forts and other structures the army might need"

From MCCONNELL156: "The famous 'Blues,' or Royal Horse Guards, consolidated in 1819."

From DANAHAY 69: the Royal Horse Guards: elite British army cavalry unit

From DANAHAY 71: "a piece of mobile artillery, usually pulled by horses"

From DANAHAY 71: large group

From MCCONNELL 159: "a light, two-wheeled vehicle with two seats, back to back: horse-drawn"

From MCCONNELL 159: fence pickets

From DANAHAY 72: a large metal cover used to keep food hot

From DANAHAY 73: speeding

From MCCONNELL 161: "European variety of rose, with very pale red flowers"

From DANAHAY 74: "a round of coordinated fire by a body of soldiers"

From DANAHAY 74: good luck

From DANAHAY 75: struck or hit

From MCCONNELL 163: "Any three-legged support, although the most common instance of the 'tripod' for Wells's readers would probably have been the tripod on which older cameras were mounted."

From DANAHAY 76: in its path

GANGNES: In the 1898 edition, "wallowing" is removed.

From DANAHAY 76: jointed, able to bend and/or move

From DANAHAY 76: without consciousness

From DANAHAY 77: a squatter is "a person living in a building without paying rent"

From DANAHAY 78: force

From MCCONNELL 169: "giant figures"

GANGNES: an exclamation to quietly get someone's attention; similar to "Psst!"

From MCCONNELL: "To 'unlimber' a gun is to detach it from its limber, a two-wheeled carriage drawn by four to six horses, and prepare it for firing."

From DANAHAY 81: "the part of the carriage on which the gun is pulled, and from which it has to be 'unlimbered' or detached"

From MCCONNELL 171: "formation for a conventional attack"

From DANAHAY 82: disjointed, told in short bursts

From DANAHAY 83: the hood of a monk's garment

From DANAHAY 56: "spoke to or grabbed hold of"

From DANAHAY 57: thin

GANGNES: In this case, as defined by the Oxford English Dictionary: "a body of persons appointed to go on a mission on behalf of another or others"

From MCCONNELL 143: "a spiny shrub with yellow flowers, very common throughout England and Europe"

From DANAHAY 59: "Literally collecting together, but here figuratively meaning becoming more numerous."

From DANAHAY 60: bowl shaped

From DANAHAY 60: immediately

From DANAHAY 60: twilight

GANGNES: riding a horse

GANGNES: In this case, an attack or conflict. Stent and Ogilvy sent their telegraph before there was any sign of overt hostility from the Martians; they contacted the barracks so that the soldiers might come to the pit and protect the Martians from being attacked by humans, not the other way around.

From MCCONNELL 146: "a small knoll or hill"

From MCCONNELL 148: "Collars at the time were detached from the shirt, generally made of celluloid, and fastened around the neck with a stud."

GANGNES: In this instance, unbelievable; the narrator is relieved that his wife believes his story about what happened to him because his neighbors did not.

From DANAHAY 64: a cloak or cape

From HUGHES AND GEDULD 205: "a chemically inactive, odorless, colorless, gaseous element, no. 18 on the Periodic Table of the Elements. It had just been discovered and was in the news. Wells had written it up in 'The Newly Discovered Element' and 'The Protean Gas,' Saturday Review 79 (February 9 and May 4, 1895): 183-184, 576-577."

GANGNES: The above articles from the Saturday Review are available in scanned facsimile here ("The Newly Discovered Element") and here ("The Protean Gas").

GANGNES: An artillery projectile. See Wikipedia entry) on different kinds of shells.

From MCCONNELL 151: "term describing an unusual state of irritability or stimulation in an organism"

From MCCONNELL 151: burning/roasting

From DANAHAY 66: a joke or hoax

GANGNES: In this case, courting.

GANGNES: MCCONNELL is somewhat at odds with HUGHES AND GEDULD and STOVER here; H&G's identification of "Smith" as referring to the newsagent W. H. Smith is important to the print culture of Victorian Britain. I include MCCONNELL to show that critical/annotated editions are not infallible.

From HUGHES AND GEDULD 205: "Cutting into or 'poaching on' W. H. Smith's monopoly of selling newspapers inside the station. The chain of W. H. Smith to this day has the exclusive rights to selling newspapers, magazines, and books in m any British railroad stations."

From MCCONNELL 153: "'Trenching' means encroaching. The newsboy is selling his papers at a station where Mr. Smith has a permanent newsstand."

From STOVER 91: "Reference to W.H. Smith, whose chain of stationery stores to this day has the exclusive rights to sell newspapers, books, and magazines in British railway stations."

From DANAHAY 66: "the Victorian term for any large detached modern house"

From MCCONNELL 154: "Hussars are light cavalry. The Maxim is the Maxim-Vickers, the first truly automatic machine gun, manufactured in the 1880s." The Cardigan regiment is from Cardiganshire: a county in West Wales.

From HUGHES AND GEDULD 206: "The Maxim gun, patented in 1884 by Sir Hiram Stevens Maxim, was an early form of machine gun. After some modification it was adopted by the British Army in 1889. In the field, Maxims were usually mounted on wheeled carriages. ... The Cardigan regiment was named for Cardiganshire, a western county of Wales located between Fishguard and Aberystwyth."

From DANAHAY 41: minute organisms, protozoa

From MCCONNELL 124: ages-long

From DANAHAY 42: thinner; less dense

From MCCONNELL 126: "opposition" means that Mars is at the opposite side of the Earth from the Sun; the nearest Mars gets to Earth. The opposition of 1877 was when Schiaparelli discovered the Mars canali and an American discovered Mars's moons. The opposition of 1894 allowed for further examinations of Mars.

From MCCONNELL 128: a timepiece

GANGNES: tall windows that open out as glass double-doors

From DANAHAY 48: "ash that has formed a hard crust"

GANGNES: British "pubs"/bars

From DANAHAY 49: "a bartender opening the public house (pub) for the day"

DANAHAY 49: "the pub room where beer is served 'on tap'"

From HUGHES AND GEDULD 202: the game of "tag" in Britain

From DANAHAY 51: "a gardener who does occasional work for different people"

From MCCONNELL 135: "a hollow tube or ball used to regulate the flow of a liquid or gas"

From STOVER 69: "a harbor beacon erected on a floating hull containing bottled gas to fuel it"

From MCCONNELL 135: "Any chemical compound containing oxygen. The surface of the cylinder has been oxidized in the heat generated by its fall through the atmosphere."

GANGNES: You will see below that three different annotated editions of the novel give three different definitions of this reference, and they do not agree as to whether it is Wales or Ireland that is meant to be the "third kingdom."

From HUGHES AND GEDULD 203: England, Ireland, and Scotland

From STOVER 70: Of Great Britain

From DANAHAY 52: England, Scotland, and Wales

From DANAHAY 52: "Flys" and "basket chaises" are light horse carriages with two wheels pulled by one horse.

From MCCONNELL 143: "a spiny shrub with yellow flowers, very common throughout England and Europe"