Jonathan Swift: The Selected Poems Glossary

Jonathan Swift: The Selected Poems Glossary

Ye

you, "ye" is the plural form of "thou"

ragged

wearing torn clothes

forlorn

unhappy and miserable

garrets

attic room

rhymers

poets

consign'd to

delivered to

'tis

it is

quaint

strange

still-born poems

unsuccessful poems

revive

regain life

plague

a disease caused by bacteria

brutes

monsters

pious

religious

basest tongue

speaking in a mean manner

rapine

seizing somebody's land

jest

joke

wag

a person who cracks jokes

dunce

a slow learner

wit

a genius

for't

for it

disputes

disagreements

swine

pigs

contrite

expressing regret

gluttony

greediness

vigilance

being watchful

sloth

laziness

mimic

imitate

bespatter

splash a liquid over something

zeal

a great amount of energy

licentious

immoral in sexual

frigid

freezing, cold

diligence

a very careful effort

zealous

passionate

chaplain

a clergyman in a private chapel

Preferment

promotion

chimeric

difficult to achieve

fav'rite

favourite

aversion

a strong dislike

writ

written

fleece

getting a large amount of money usually by overcharging somebody

libelling

giving a false statement

degenerate

decline in qualities, moral

rake

gather

dexterously

skillfully

cully

a friend

mangled

destroyed or disfigured

bashful

shy

presage

foreshadow something ominous

prognostics

predicting what can happen to somebody in the future medically

sable

dark

swilled

swallowed

deluge

massive floods

hackney-coach

a cart driven by a horse

confluence

the meeting point of two rivers

bailiff

an official in the sheriff's office

discompose

disturb somebody

'prentice

apprentice

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