5 Matching Annotations
  1. May 2017
    1. setting your cap

      Said of a woman who determines to gain the affections of a man....Origin: from the French nautical phrase 'mettre le cap sur' - 'to set a course for'... Women commonly wore caps of white linen or muslin in the 18th century. Any woman who was intent on attracting a man would certainly wear her best cap, probably ornamented with lace and ribbons, and set it at the most becoming angle… By the early 19th century the phrase was common enough to have taken on a metaphorical usage. ('Set One's Cap At' - the Meaning and Origin of This Phrase. Phrasefinder.)

    2. pointers

      "Any of several breeds of large gun dog which on scenting game, esp. birds, adopt a distinctive pose, standing rigid with the muzzle pointed towards the game, often with one foot raised; a dog of one of these breeds" (OED).

    3. felicity

      “Happiness; prosperity; blissfulness; blessedness” (Johnson).

    4. walk

      "In Jane Austen’s day most people walked to work, town, church, and market square, or to their neighbors. Six miles was not considered an undue distance to travel by foot one way. The gentry were another breed. They either owned their own carriages or hired a public horse cab." (Victorian and Edwardian Horse Cabs by Trevor May, a Book Review, Jane Austen's World)

  2. Apr 2017
    1. garden

      “A piece of ground adjoining a building (esp. a private property), often with grass, flowers, trees, etc., and generally used for recreation” (OED).