The Complete Sherlock Holmes, Volume I - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle [471]
z
Strong, red wine from Burgundy.
aa
Euclid, a Greek mathematician who lived around 300 B.C., developed a system of deduction based on definitions and propositions. For the purpose here, there’s nothing special about Euclid’s fifth proposition; any would make the point.
ab
A strong cheroot, open at both ends.
ac
Type of tobacco in which the ribs of the leaves are cut with the fiber.
ad
Slate-roof workers.
ae
See text beginning on page 147 for a description of the islands and their inhabitants.
af
Indian title of respect for Europeans, much like “sir” or “master.”
ag
Hindu term for “servant.”
ah
“Bad taste leads to crime” (French); an aphorism of the French writer Stendhal (1783-1842).
ai
Chronic invalid.
aj
Fastened with a latch.
ak
No such place. The name is a conflation of Senegal and Gambia, and indicates a region in western Africa, comprising areas around the Senegal and Gambia Rivers.
al
Sardonic (disdainfully humorous) grin (Latin).
am
“There are no fools more bothersome than those with wit” (French); no. 451 of Reflexions ou sentences et maximes morales (Reflections; or, Sentences and Moral Maxims, 1665) of François, duc de La Rochefoucauld.
an
“Of course, we know that men despise what they don’t comprehend” (German); from Johann Wolfgang von Goethe’s Faust, part 1, lines 1205-1206 (1808).
ao
Crossbreed between collie and greyhound used by poachers.
ap
Lantern.
aq
Charles Blondin (1824-1897), French acrobat known for crossing Niagara Falls on a tightrope.
ar
Type of bullet used in British army rifles.
as
Long, light rowboat used to transport passengers on waterways.
at
Owners or managers of commercial wharfs.
au
Slang for “three shillings and a sixpence.”
av
Personal advertisement column in a newspaper.
aw
Short, double-breasted overcoat worn by sailors.
ax
Attributed to William Gladstone, prime minister of England four times between 1868 and 1894.
ay
Whiskey and soda.
az
Ravine.
ba
Hemp chewed as a narcotic.
bb
European or Eurasian in India.
bc
Anglo-Indian slang for “jail.”
bd
“It’s a shame that Nature made you only one man; there was material enough for a worthy man and a rogue” (German); from Johann Wolfgang von Goethe’s Xenien (1796).
be
Since 1918 part of what is now the Czech Republic, it was for centuries a sovereign nation.
bf
Locked stand in which decanters of liquor and wine are displayed.
bg
Apparatus for carbonating water.
bh
Small coin worth two shillings and sixpence, about 1/8 of a pound.
bi
James Boswell (1740-1795), biographer of Samuel Johnson.
bj
Refers to a standard photograph size: 3 7/8“ by 5 1/2”.
bk
Jewel; here used figuratively.
bl
Invented by Charles Chubb, the first lock to employ tumblers in its internal design; still in use today.
bm
“Guinea” is slang for an English pound note.
bn
Used to test for leaks in pipes.
bo
Sir John Hare (1844-1921), noted English actor and stage manager.
bp
She appears in “A Case of Identity” (p. 225), written before this story but published later.
bq
“Everything unknown passes for something magnificent” (Latin); from The Life of Cnaeus Julius Agricola, by the Roman historian Tacitus (c.56-120 A.D.).
br
Position or job.
bs
A coster is a street vendor of fruits or vegetables.
bt
Cheap wood, made of fir or pine.
bu
Writing paper; so called because its watermark is in the shape of a jester’s cap and bells.
bv
Pablo de Sarasate (1844-1908), Spanish violinist and composer.
bw
Traditional sign of a pawnbroker.
bx
The murder and the treasure are references to The Sign of Four.
by
The stranger is referring to a card game, either bridge or whist.
bz
Lantern with a panel for blocking the light.
ca
Party of four; literally, a square party (French).
cb
Slang for “handcuffs.”
cc
“The man is nothing; the work everything” (French).
cd
Gem cut so as to have many facets and thus great brilliance.
ce
Love affair; literally, affair of the heart (French).
cf
Throat inflammation.
cg
There, that’s all (French).
ch
Courts in English counties that met periodically