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ei

Soft felt hat with a wide brim.

ej

Built for the Great Exhibition of 1851; it was a landmark for decades until it was destroyed by fire in 1936.

ek

Nervous disorder marked by uncontrollable arm and leg movements.

el

Failed miserably.

em

London Post Office abbreviation for “Eastern Central.”

en

Derogatory way of saying he looked Jewish.

eo

Burglar.

ep

Was it Oxford, Cambridge, or the University of London? Debate will never end.

eq

Justice of the Peace.

er

Two-year term on a tramp steamer with a top speed of 8 knots an hour.

es

Swear on the Bible.

et

Slang for “the money.”

eu

From bottom to top; a main-truck is the top of the mast.

ev

Hard salt beef.

ew

Region of Nepal near the base of the Himalayas.

ex

Victoria Regina, Latin for “Queen Victoria.”

ey

Searched for, sought (French); exquisite, rare; refined.

ez

Younger branch of the family; that is, one that did not inherit the family’s wealth.

fa

Stronghold or dungeon in a castle.

fb

Strong black coffee without milk or cream.

fc

Small lake or pond.

fd

Royalist during the English Civil War (1642-1651).

fe

Alexander Pope’s highly acclaimed translations of Homer’s Iliad (1720) and Odyssey (1725-1726).

ff

Burglarize two houses.

fg

Reference to Shakespeare’s Hamlet (act 2, scene 2, line 208; New York: Signet Classic, 1998): “Though this be madness, yet there is method in’t.”

fh

September 11, 1709, the date the last great battle of the War of the Spanish Succession was fought in Malplaquet, France.

fi

Seabird whose appearance was thought to be an omen of trouble.

fj

This most famous of all of Holmes’s lines occurs only this once.

fk

See endnote on p. 699.

fl

Term for a regiment of foot soldiers, as opposed to cavalry.

fm

General James George Smith Neill (1810-1857), killed during the Sepoy Mutiny.

fn

Reference to the Bible, II Samuel 11-12, which details David’s crime against Uriah.

fo

March 25; commemorates the Annunciation, the Archangel Gabriel’s announcement to the Virgin Mary that she would be the mother of Christ.

fp

Reappearance of a genetic trait after it skips one or more generations.

fq

Military engineer, especially one involved in digging trenches.

fr

Variant of “chivvy”: to chase or harass.

fs

Closed laboratory vessel, often with a long outlet tube, in which substances are distilled or decomposed.

ft

Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Italy.

fu

Lamp that burns alcohol rather than oil.

fv

Maid’s chores.

fw

Cheap woolen cloth.

fx

French Protestant sect of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.

fy

The oldest British regiment; it helped restore the Monarchy in 1660.

fz

Home to the prime minister (No. 10) and the chancellor of the Exchequer (No. 11).

ga

Native American, as opposed to a resident of India.

gb

Old sporting term meaning to knock or bring down.

gc

Reference to Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream (act 5, scene 1, lines 15-17; New York: Signet Classic, 1998): “the poet’s pen / . . . gives to airy nothing / A local habitation and a name.”

gd

Literally, masterstroke (French); stroke of genius.

ge

Dining car (French).

gf

Tuberculosis.

gg

A paraphrase of Plato’s final salute to Socrates in the Phaedo.

gh

Membership of the Royal College of Surgeons.

gi

Having a skull longer than it is wide.

gj

September 29 church festival in honor of the Archangel Michael.

gk

Difficulty in breathing.

gl

Two-wheeled, one-horse carriage.

gm

One who shoes horses, or who treats them medically.

gn

Committee that administers the affairs of that parish only.

go

Fencing term indicating a hit. Holmes alludes to Hamlet, act 5, scene 2, line 282; Signet.

gp

Gentleman or dandy.

gq

Gold coin worth half an English pound.

gr

Short-legged, stocky workhorses.

gs

One who grazes cattle.

gt

Moths and butterflies.

gu

Reference to Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream (act 1, scene 1, line 134; Signet): “The course of true love never did run smooth.”

gv

In other words, consideration for her kept me from