Gerald Durrell - The Whispering Land

a dewy-eyed expression – a very innocent and gentle one (dewy is a poetical word for eyes wet with tears)

Geoffroy's cat – a variety of wild cat discovered by Estienne-Louis Geoffroy (1725–1810), a famous French zoologist

seraphic – angelic

to leave somebody to his own devices – to allow him to do as he likes

tyro ['taierou] – a beginner, an inexperienced person

gato (Sp.) – a cat

chico gato montes (Sp.) – a small mountain cat

conundrum – puzzling question or problem; a mystery

with fourteen Martians in tow – followed by fourteen imaginary inhabitants of the planet Mars

loco (Sp.) – mad, crazy

tabby – the common type of domestic cat, grey with dark stripes (the name is usually applied to a female cat)

takes the edge off his potential viciousness – makes him less vicious. Literally, the expression means 'to make blunt': e. g. to take the edge off a knife; but it is also widely used figuratively, meaning 'to make less sharp or keen: e. g. to take the edge off an argument.

Lifemanship – the art of living, of coexistence (a word coined by analogy with penmanship 'the art of, or skill in, writing')

outboard engine ( or motor) – a small internal-combustion engine with a propeller, fastened to the stern of a small boat and producing a loud noise

debauched (from debauch, v.) – dissipated, given to intemperance (as excessive eating or drinking)

by virtue of your grasshopper-like activities – owing to the way you keep rushing from one place to another (again Durrell chooses an elaborate, scientific-sounding mode of expression, with by virtue of and activities )

frond – the usual name for a palm leaf (or that of a fern)

you could do worse than go and investigate – you might just as well go and investigate

the time off – here a leave of absence

to get into one's stride – literally, to begin walking with long and measured steps; figuratively, to be carried away in some process (e. g. of talking)

semi-inebriated – half-drunk, half-intoxicated (a bookish word)

to sport – here to wear or exhibit, especially in great quantities

Durrell means that the wagon-driver's moustache was allowed to grow without any hindrance, as plants are in a nature reserve.

blancmange (Pr.) – a sweet jelly-like dessert made of a starchy substance and milk, sugar and almond

mucha agua (Sp.) – much water

in next to no time – very quickly, almost instantly

to play a fish – to let a fish tire itself out while hooked by tugging at the line

que pasa? (Sp.) – what has happened?

nafta no hay (Sp.) – there's no fuel

our nether regions – the lower part of our bodies (nether – jocular for lower, under, as in nether garments)

in his shirt-tails – without trousers, in his shirt only (this humorous expression is a cross between the two idiomatic phrases:

in one's shirt-sleeves 'without a coat' and in one's tails 'in full dress, in a dress-coat')

to roar into life – to come to life with a roar (an engine roars when being started up)

water hazard – here an obstacle in the form of a river (the term comes from golf, where the word hazard means 'any obstruction in playing a stroke, including bunkers, traps, ponds, roadways, etc')

apron – here a shield made of some hard material and placed below a dam or across a river-bed to protect it from damage by water

purchase – here a mechanical advantage, a fast hold

to nose – here to push or move with the nose or front forward

to stall – of an engine, to stop working (from overload, etc.)

Fairy Godmother – a good fairy from fairy tales, who appears quite unexpectedly at the very moment she is badly wanted and helps her god-child out of trouble (e. g. in the tale of Cinderella). Being a fairy she can appear in different disguise, hence the authors description ("heavily disguised…").

took in our predicament in a glance – understood at once our awkward situation (in a glance = at a glance)

An ironical reference to the Duke of Wellington's (1769–1852) military preparations before the battle of Waterloo (1815), where his army defeated Napoleon

to quarter – here to pass over an area of ground in every direction in search of game (the word is usually applied to hunting-dogs)

bibulous – addicted to alcoholic liquor, to drinking; in this roundabout way the author describes invitations to differ-ent drinking-parties

jardin zoologico (Sp.) – a zoological garden, a zoo

the well of the house – a shaft in a building or between buildings, open to the sky for light and air; airshaft

yellow-naped macaw [me'ko: ] – a large, bright-colored, harsh-voiced parrot of Central and South America

Brazilian rabbit – a burrowing rodent of the hare family, smaller than most hares and having soft fur, long ears, and a bobbed tail (the rodents are characterized by constantly growing incisors, or cutting teeth, adapted for gnawing or nibbling; on this group of mammals see also p. 119)

agouti – a rodent of the guinea-pig family, the size of a rabbit; orange-rumped – having an orange-colored rump, i.e. posterior (including the buttocks)

nervous breakdown – a state of extreme depression

patio ['paetiou] (Sp.) – a courtyard or inner area open to the sky, common in Spanish and South-American architecture

accoutrement – personal outfit or equipment; when used in the plural, the word generally means military outfit

to relieve – here to make less monotonous, to brighten

canary-yellow – a light yellow color, like that of a canary bird, a small yellow song bird, native to the Canary Islands, Madeira and Azores

to take kindly to something – to get easily accustomed to something