be a party to (Joyce's note)
demoralising homelife (Grandpapa) (notebook 1923)
sap - fig. To weaken or destroy insidiously (esp. health, strength, or courage).
firm - the members of a business organization that owns or operates one or more establishments + firm faith (phrase).
frem (Danish) - further
at home - at or in one's own house, or place of abode
chary - characterized by great caution and wariness
charity begins at home (proverb) - a person's first obligation should be to help the member of his own family before he can begin thinking of talking about helping others + I Corinthians 13:13: 'faith, hope, charity'.
in the main - mostly, usually
supper - to take one's supper + William Shakespeare: Hamlet III.1.57-58: 'Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer / the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune / Or to take arms against a sea of troubles, / And by opposing end them? To die: to sleep; / No more; and by a sleep to say we end / The heart-ache and the thousand natural shocks / That flesh is heir to, 'tis a consummation / Devoutly to be wish'd. To die, to sleep.
outrager - one who subjects to outrage or gross violence, a violator
restore - to return to its original or usable and functioning condition + restaurer (fr) - to restore, to refresh.
Alcott, Louisa May (1832-88) - American author of Little Women, whose heroine had trouble with gloves at a ball + James Joyce: A Portrait III: 'restore those illgotten goods'.
gloove = glove (obs.)
yella (Dublin Pronunciation) - yellow + iella (it) - bad luck + 'yellow peril' - supposed danger of Oriental invasion of Europe and United States.
beset - to decorate or cover lavishly with gems; annoy continually or chronically
green - naive and easily deceived or tricked
gerils (Irish Pronunciation) - girls.
rhodon (gr) - rose + ride a Rhoda.
darà Dora (it) - Dora will give
hobbyhorse - a child's plaything consisting of an imitation horse mounted on rockers + (notebook 1924): 'hobbyhorsical' → Irish Rivers, The Tolka 397/1: 'a round house with a conical roof, which looks like a squat Esquimaux variety of one of our genuine Irish round towers... That odd building is an inconvenient parish school-house, built by the good-natured and hobbyhorsical Delany; it was his little whim' + hobby-horsical - devoted to one's hobby-horse or favourite pastime.
breeches part - a part in which men's clothes are worn by an actress → Pearce: Sims Reeves, Fifty Years of Music in England 169: (Madame Vestris) 'established her fame as an unapproachable impersonator of what was known in her days as a "breeches" part'.
bessy - folk dance played by a man dressed as a woman + Sudlow, Bessie - Dublin actress, wife of Michael Gunn, manager of Gaiety Theatre, Dublin (employed many local girls as seamstresses).
fleshcoloured - of the colour of flesh
panto - pantomime
earth - to hide in the earth like a hunted animal; chase into a burrow or den + working
coalhole - a small store-place for coals, a coal-cellar
boil - to bring to the boiling point: esp. said of food, wholly or partly liquid, in the process of cooking
big gun (Slang) - person of note + Michael Gunn.
leg before wicket (cricket) - one of the ways in which a batsman can be dismissed. An umpire will rule a batsman out LBW under a series of circumstances which primarily include the ball striking the batsman's body (usually the leg) when it would otherwise have continued on to hit the batsman's wicket.
lag - to hang (back) or fall (behind) in movement, progress, development, etc.; lock up or confine, in or as in a jail; urinate (Slang)
whicker - a snigger, a whinny + Humpty Dumpty (nursery rhyme): 'Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall, Humpty Dumpty had a great fall'.
whack - to beat or strike vigorously, as with a stick
femur (l) - thigh + femora (l) - thighs.
candle (Slang) - penis + candlelight.
Hayes, Conyngham and Robinson - Dublin chemists + HCE.
forgla (forgle) (gael) - choice, pick or cream of + glim (Slang) - candle + forglem mig ej (Danish) - forget me not.
Mac Aodha (moke) (gael) - son of Aodh ("fire"); anglic. McKay.
forestand - to oppose, withstand; understand + forstand (Danish) - reason.
tilgive (Danish) - forgive + lit. zugeben (ger) - admit.
biter - one who or that which bites; spec. A deceiver, one who amuses himself at another's expense.
bitter - that which is bitter; bitterness + tears + the biter bit (phrase).
vigil - Eccl. The eve of (i.e. preceding) a festival or holy day, as an occasion of devotional watching or religious observance.
Charlotte Quay, Dublin
O'Mongain (o'mongan) (gael) - descendant of Mongan (diminutive of mongach, "hairy").
BRITAIN COURT - Off Great Britain (now Parnell) Street, between Gardiner Street and Temple Street. Britain Quay where the Grand Canal and the Dodder River enter the Liffey, is just across the Grand Canal from Charlotte Quay.
feast - a religious anniversary appointed to be observed with rejoicing (hence opposed to a fast), in commemoration of some event or in honour of some personage
weeper - one who weeps or sheds tears, esp. one who is constantly weeping
halter - a rope, cord, or strap with a noose or head-stall, by which horses or cattle are led or fastened up + 'to lead a bride to the altar,' as the place at which the marriage service in a church is concluded.
heyday - the period of greatest prosperity or productivity
puny - of inferior size
petunia - any of numerous tropical herbs having fluted funnel-shaped flowers
point a moral - to give point to (words, actions, etc.); to give force, piquancy, or sting to + William Shakespeare: King John IV.2.11-16: 'to paint the lily... / is wasteful and ridiculous excess'.
henna - a shrub, Lawsonia inernis, having fragrant redish flowers; a reddish brown dye used especially on hair + hell + henna (Hebrew) - here, to here.
swell - 'great', 'fine' + put one's best foot foremost - to do one's best to get on.
foulard - a thin flexible material of silk, or of silk mixed with cotton; a handkerchief of this material
pneumonia - inflammation of the substance of the lungs
shirtwaist - a shirt-blouse [(notebook 1923): 'shirtwaist']
irreconcilable - that cannot be brought into harmony or made consistent; incompatible
reservation - the fact or habit of being reticent, reservedness in discourse (obs. rare.) + risus (l) - laugh + feminine reserve.
lace - a delicate decorative fabric woven in an open web of symmetrical patterns
Limerick - a type of embroidered lace made originally at Limerick
on the whole - considering the whole of the facts or circumstances; all things considered; 'taking it all together'
holes tied together / = lace (Joyce's note) → Black Thinking 363: Why is it that, right down from the days of Mother Eve, as soon as a woman arrives at her self-consciousness first thought is of a new dress? In the local homespun she would have been handsome, but now she is horrid. A sprinkling of loud yellow patches on a red ground is her ideal. They despise even fine lace, think it a rag, and call it "a lot of holes tied together." Alas!
mere - renowned, famous, illustrious; beautiful, noble
languid - faint, weak; inert from fatigue or weakness; wanting in vigour or vitality
lingerie - linen articles collectively; all the articles of linen, lace, etc. in a woman's wardrobe or trousseau; women's underwear and nightclothes + Linger Longer, Loo (song).
Santa Claus - an imaginary being who is thought to bring presents to children at Christmas + scented clothes.
hose - an article of clothing for the leg
verity - truth, either in general or with reference to a particular fact + Vanity Fair - a place or scene where all is frivolity and empty show + William Makepeace Thackeray: Vanity Fair.
whalebone - a strip of whalebone, esp. used as stiffening in women's stays, dresses, etc.
busk - a strip of wood, whalebone, steel, or other rigid material passed down the front of a corset, and used to stiffen and support it + butt - a terminal point + Taff (stiffstuffs)/Butt.
thwack - to beat or strike vigorously, as with a stick + William Makepeace Thackeray.
Dickens, Charles + tickets please!
Jones - one of the commonest British family names, used esp. in the plural to designate one's neighbours or social equals + Jonah in the Whale + Jonas Chuzzlewit - a character in Charles Dickens' Martin Chuzzlewit.
mutual - common to or shared by two or more parties
fan - a keen follower of a specified hobby or amusement, and gen. an enthusiast for a particular person or thing + Charles Dickens: Our Mutual Friend.
filles (fr) - girls, daughters + Charles Dickens: David Copperfield.
compulse - to force to move; to compel, force (obs.) + composing penitential pslams.
spasm - fig. Any sudden or convulsive movement of a violent character.
Uriah the Hittite - husband of Bathsheba, sent by David into the forefront of the battle and killed (2 Samuel, 11) + Uriah Heep - a character in David Copperfield by Charles Dickens.
copiosity - abundance, plentifulness + cupio (l) - I desire + Charles Dickens: The Old Curiosity Shop.
darkle - to show itself darkly, to lie in the dark; Of the countenance, etc.: To become dark with anger, scorn, etc.
autocrat - a monarch of uncontrolled authority; an absolute, irresponsible governor + Oliver Wendell Holmes: The Autocrat of the Breakfast-Table.
metamorphose - to turn to or into something else by enchantment or other supernatural means + Martin Murphy - owner of Irish Independent (became antiparnellite).
skirt + kort (Danish) - short.
Gravesend bus (Slang) - a hearse (vehicle for conveying a dead person to a church or cemetery)
commute - to change (a punishment, or a sentence) for (to, into) another of less severity + grave sin is committed.
reappear - to appear again
autism - a condition in which a person is morbidly self-absorbed and out of contact with reality + artist.
Swinburne, Algernon (Algy) Charles (1837-1909) - English poet + Ulysses.1.77: 'Algy' (Algernon Charles Swinburne).
pulcher (l) - beautiful, handsome
performer (Slang) - whoremonger
alias - otherwise (called or named) + olea (l) - olive.
crusader - one who engages in a crusade