Array Коллектив авторов - 20 лучших повестей на английском / 20 Best Short Novels

Mephisto – Mephistopheles, a fallen angel, a literary character invented in the tradition of magic and demonology by an anonymous author in 1587; one of the main characters in ‘Faust’

Waterloo – a main line railway station in London, south of the Thames

victoria – a light carriage for two persons

jubey – here: wonderful

‘Carmen’ – one of the most popular operas of all time, written by George Bizet (1838–1875), a French composer

Habanera – a widely known song from the opera ‘Carmen’

the Hudson – a river and bay in New York state, named for Henry Hudson

the Tappan Zee – a part of the Hudson River on the west bank where the river widens and forms the Tappan Zee

St. Nicholas(4th century AD) – one of the most popular Christian saints, the bishop of Myra, a town in Lycia in Asia Minor

Greensburgh – a town on the Hudson River in the state of New York

Tarry Town – a village in Greensburgh town in southeastern New York state

the Sabbath – the day of rest (Sunday for Christians)

glen – a narrow valley

Sleepy Hollow – North Terry Town until 1996

powwows – conferences of North American Indians

Hendrick Hudson – Henry Hudson (1565–1611), an English navigator and explorer who tried to discover a route from Europe to Asia through the Arctic Ocean

Hessian(s) – or Chatti, a Germanic tribe from the eastern bank of the Rhine River

Connecticut – a small state in the northwest of the USA (12960 square km), one of the original thirteen states of the USA and one of the six New England states

psalmody – 1. singing psalms (religious hymns); 2. a book of psalms with musical settings.

by hook or by crook – idiom by any means (fair or not)

Cotton Mather(1663–1728) – an American religious leader and author; he believed in the existence of witchcraft, studied the subject and wrote about it.

Saardam – a town in Holland

Kentucky – a state in the south of the USA (102 624 square km) on the border with Virginia; in 1792 Kentucky became the 15th state.

Tennessee – a state to the south of Kentucky (107 040 square km); the first European explorers came to the land in 1540.

piazza – Am. veranda (from Italian )

Herculean – very strong and powerful

Mercury – in Roman religion, the god of trade and merchants

Colt – a type of a revolver invented and manufactured by Samuel Colt (1814–1868), an American arms manufacturer

Mynheer – a form of polite address to a man of Dutch origin (Mister, Sir) ( Dutch )

koek – a kind of pastry

cruller – Am. fried pastry

St. Vitus – a saint whom people in the late Middle Ages asked for cure from a neurological disease, characterized by involuntary spasmodic movements of muscles (the so called St. Vitus dance)

frigate – a fast sailing warship

heretical – contrary to generally accepted opinion or belief

goblin – in English and Scottish folklore, a small malicious fairy which inhabits houses, frightens people, makes noise, spoils things, etc.

pillions – seats for the second rider behind the rider of the horse

tête-à-tête – private talk between two persons

psalm – a religious hymn

corduroy – a thick, coarse cotton cloth

orthodox= generally accepted

gala night – a festive occasion (at the theatre, etc.)

fête – festival or holiday

the Conqueror – William the Conqueror or William I (1028–1087), the duke of Normandy, and after 1066 (the Norman Conquest of England) king of England

All-Hallows Eve – Halloween, October 31, the eve of All Saints’ Day, a religious holiday for some Christians and a secular celebration for the majority

Midsummer – Midsummer’s Eve, June 21, a holiday celebrating the longest day of the year

farcical – adj from farce – a play with ridiculous situations that make people laugh

days of yore – long ago

Freemasons – a secret order, the largest secret society in the world; its teachings include esoteric wisdom, mysticism and some religious beliefs of the past.

curate – a clergyman who helps a parish priest

MS= manuscript

lessee – a person who uses land, a house, etc. on a lease

Surrey – a historic county west of London on the River Thames

penny – a British bronze coin (until 1971), 1/12 of a shilling

quart – 1.14 litre

tarpaulin – waterproof canvas

Edward IV(1442–1483) – king of England, one of the main participants in the Wars of the Roses

abbot – the head of an abbey (monastery)

Waterloo – the Waterloo Battle (1815), the final defeat of Napoleon in the battle with the combined European forces

Lord Napier – Sir Charles Napier (1786–1860), a British admiral and commander of the Baltic Fleet