Артур Дойл - Лучшие расследования Шерлока Холмса / The Best of Sherlock Holmes

The Morning Postwas a conservative daily newspaper published from 1772 to 1937.

peeressis a title of nobility applied to a woman. The British Peerage is an ancient still-existent legal system of nobility. In the 19 thcentury peerage was inheritable.

St. George’s Hanover Squareis a fashionable Anglican church in central London, place of many noble weddings.

basket-chairis a twigged curved armchair with back and arms in one. Basket-chairs were very popular in Victorian times.

Scandinavia is a historical region in Northern Europe. In the 19 thcentury as well as today it included three Kingdoms: those of Denmark, Norway and Sweden.

tomboyis a girl who behaves like a boy

fait accompli – accomplished fact ( French ), something that has already happened and can’t be reversed.

Thoreau, Henry David(1817–1862) – an American poet and practical philosopher, known as the author of the book “Walden” dedicated to nature-friendly simple lifestyle.

Рâté de foie grasis goose liver paste usually made of the liver of a specially fattened bird.

Union Jackis an informal name of the UK flag. It derives from a small British union flag flown as the jack of a ship. It symbolizes the union of crowns of England, Scotland and Ireland as it is formed of a combination of the crosses of St. George (England), St. Andrew (Scotland) and St. Patrick (Ireland).

Northumberland Avenueis a fashionable street named after the Dukes of Northumberland that stretches from Trafalgar Square to the Thames Embankment. In the 19 thcentury its name was synonymous with luxury hotels: The Metropole Hotel, the Hotel Victoria, the Grand Hotel.

Morocco caseis a case covered with morocco leather, which is leather made of goatskin and bearing a bird’s-eye pattern on the grain side.

Streathamis a South London district. It was a fashionable “dormitory” suburb of Victorian London.

Carriage-sweepis a semicircular drive for carriages in front of the manor entrance.

Will-o’-the-wispis a mysterious flickering light seen over bogs, marshes and swamps at night. It is believed to stay always out of reach advancing as approached.

The Daily Telegraphis a daily newspaper published in London since 1855.

causes célèbres — famous cases ( French )

Nova Scotia is one of Canada’s provinces on the Atlantic coast. In the third quarter of the 19 thcentury it was a part of the British Empire’s dominion in Canada. Halifax is the capital of Nova Scotia.

Winchesteris the county city of the county of Hempshire, South England.

Bradshaw= Bradshaw’s Monthly Railway Guide, a book of railway’s timetables printed in the UK from 1839 to 1961. The first publisher was George Bradshaw, a famous English cartographer. By the third quarter of the 19 thcentury there were about 150 railway companies in the UK that operated with no coordination with each other, so Bradshaw’s Guides were really useful for the passengers.

locus standi – point of view ( Latin ). Holmes means that he and Dr. Watson had no legal reason to stay in the Copper Beeches.

Dartmooris a granite plateau covered with moors in south Devon (Devonshire), a county of South West England. It’s a wild and gloomy place. There are several racetracks and stables in Devon that could be the reason for using Dartmoor as the scene of action of the story.

Exeteris the county town of Devon.

Readingis a town situated at approximately 40 miles west of London

Telegraph and the Chronicle – The Daily Telegraph is a daily newspaper published in London since 1855. The Daily Chronicle is a daily newspaper that was published from 1872 to 1930 (since 1876 by Edward Lloyd a famous British publisher).

Isonomy stockmeans descendant of Isonomy, a famous racehourse who sired several racewinners.

rode in Colonel Ross’s colours – each stable had its own colours worn by the jockeys who rode for it

touts – here: persons who buy and sell secret information about a racehorse

Penang lawyeris a kind of walking stick made of areca, a palm from eastern Asia. The name was given by colonials. It is either a distorted Malay phrase ‘wild areca’ or a reference to the use of these canes as deadly crushing weapons. Penang, formerly a British colony, is today known as Negeri Pulau Pinang and is a state of Malaya.

A.D.P. brier-root pipe – brier-root pipes are made of a very hard and heat-resistant wood of the tree heath (Erica arborea) and not from briars. A.D.P. was a common brand of Conan Doyle’s time.

Weiss & Co. – John Weiss & Son was a London surgical instruments manufacturer

A long shotmeans something that has only a slight chance of success, but provides a great prise if successful.

(park) dragwas a private covered coach; it was small and elegant.

off-foreleg= right foreleg

Pullman cars – in Great Britain these were luxury lounge cars where passengers could order food and drinks

pulling jockey – a jockey who intentionally prevents his horse from winning

Clapham Junctionis a railway station in central London.

Victoria Station(aka Victoria) is a railway terminus in central London on the same line as the Clapham Junction.

the Parkhere refers to the Regent’s Park, one of the Royal Parks of London. Regent’s Park is the nearest to Baker Street.

The Crystal Palacewas a giant iron-and-glass hall built in Hyde Park to house the Great Exhibition of 1851. After the Exhibition the Crystal Palace was relocated and rebuilt in a South London suburb where it hosted art galleries, exhibits, concerts and so on.

St. Vitus’s dance(aka Sydenham chorea, aka chorea minor, aka infectious chorea or rheumatic chorea) is a neurological disease characterized by involuntary and incontrollable jerks of different muscles.