closehanded - with close approach of hands, at close quarters + closeted.
malbongusta (Esperanto) - in bad taste, coarse
the thing (notebook 1923), not the thing (notebook 1923)→ Crawford: Thinking Black 161: 'here is the true tale of a mirage. Back came our faggot-searchers one by one, solemnly reporting a lake to be seen away on the Southern skyline. The oldest Biheans with us stoutly refused to believe the thing'.
calflove - romantic attachment or affection between a boy and a girl
selfseeker - one that seeks only his own adventage or pleasure [Joyce's note: 'selfseeker']
inch - to advance by inches or small degrees
disarrange - to undo the arrangement of, to put into a state of disorder
modesty - womanly propriety of behaviour; scrupulous chastity of thought, speech, and conduct
fumble - to use one's hands or fingers awkwardly or ineffectually; to grope about + Joyce's note: 'fumble *V*'.
forte - a musical direction indicating a strong, loud tone in performance + forte (it) - strong + fore
bodice - an inner garment for the upper part of the body, quilted and strengthened with whalebone; a corset, stays
billy - comrade, companion, brother + (notebook 1923): 'billydoo' (the second 'o' replaces a cancelled 'ux') → billydoo (Slang) - loveletter (from French billet doux).
doos (Dutch) - box + deux (fr) - two + (breasts).
too + twy (Archaic) - two.
stray - to wander from the path of rectitude, to err
split - to turn evidence or informer, to give information detrimental to others, to betray confidence (Const. on or upon (a person))
idiotes (gr) - peculiarity
every time he got the chance (notebook 1924) → Connacht Tribune 29 Mar 1924, 3/4: 'Guard v. Publican': (part of a court examination) '- Did Mr. Hickey follow you up the second flight of stairs? - Yes. - Was he hanging on to your neck all the time? - Yes, every time he got the chance (laughter)'.
thick - excessive in some disagreeable quality; spec. Too gross, indecent, or indelicate; close in confidence and association; intimate, familiar.
Piggly Wiglly - a type of self-service store → "For the Piggly Wiggly was nothing more than a clerkless grocery store in which a customer helped himself to goods off the shelves and paid at the door as he went out."
make much of - to treat with marked courtesy and show of affection
bilge - nonsense, 'rubbish', 'rot' (slang.) + (notebook 1924): 'talk bilge'.
dither - to vacillate, to act indecisively, to waver between different opinions or courses of action
glad - bright, shining, beautiful (obs.)
globe - a body having (accurately or approximately) the form of a sphere
raspberry - red or black edible aggregate berries usually smaller than the related blackberries
horriferous - bringing or inducing horror
pry - to look, esp. to look closely or curiously; to inquire into or investigate closely
pregnant - Of words, symbolic acts, etc.: Full of meaning; containing a hidden sense, implying more than is obvious + (notebook 1924): '*V* pregnant questions' → Key: John McCormack, His Own Life Story 215: 'Mario Sammarco came to me. 'Giovanni,' he said, 'what you do in March?' It was a pregnant question, and I asked my baritone friend what he meant by it'.
got to do
fling - a hasty, reckless, or wanton movement, a rush + thing
squit - to squirt + sitting
tabernacle - a temporary place of worship + tobar (tuber) (gael) - well, spring + (sitting on toilet).
pitcher - a large vessel usually of earthenware, with a handle (or two ears) and usually a lip, for holding and pouring out liquids, a jug; 'the pitcher goes often to the well, but is broken at last (etc.)': said of a long-continued course of success (or impunity), ending at length in failure (or punishment) + turning pictures to the wall.
Gladstone's + (HCE).
Black Watch - the 42nd Highland regiment of the British army
ranger (Slang) - penis
busybody - an officious or meddlesome person; one who is improperly busy in other people's affairs
go bráth (Irish) - until Judgement Day
friar - In the Roman Cath. Ch.: A brother or member of one of certain religious orders founded in the 13th c. and afterwards, of which the chief were the four mendicant orders + jump out of the fryingpan into the fire - to escape from one evil only to fall into a greater one.
horrible + whore.
columnist - one who writes a 'column' in the newspaper press + communists.
epic - a story, or series of events, worthy to form the subject of an epic
Paragraph, Peter - name under which Samuel Foote, in The Orators (1762), satirized George Faulkner, a Dublin bookseller + Paul/Peter (motif).
Puff, Mr - in Sheridan's play, The Critic + Ulysses.16.525: 'the Tweedy-Flower grand opera company... providing puffs in the local papers could be managed'.
keepsake - something of sentimental value
catch, lay, take, etc., ahold of - to lay hold of, to take hold of, seize, apprehend. Also fig.
balloon - the balloon-shaped outline containing words represented in comic engravings as issuing from the mouth of a person; fig. Anything inflated, empty, and hollow.
slump - a sudden or heavy decline or falling off; a collapse + (notebook 1924): 'marriage slump'.
oil age - an age in which oil is used extensively, esp. as a source of power
pulex (l) - flea
six and seven, sixes and sevens, etc. - originally denoting the hazard of one's whole fortune, or carelessness as to the consequences of one's actions, and in later use the creation or existence of, or neglect to remove, confusion, disorder, or disagreement.
calamity - a grievous disaster, an event or circumstance causing loss or misery; a distressing misfortune
below par - at a discount, at a price below the face value
newlaid - Of eggs: Newly or freshly laid.
mar - something that mars or impairs, a drawback to + mar (Portuguese) - sea + pa and ma.
slack - Of pace: Slow, not smart or hurried.
unladylike + Lecky, William Edward (1838-1903) - Anglo-Irish historian. His History of European Morals was in Joyce's library. Isn't that the book that goes on about how virtuous women owe almost everything to whores? (Glasheen, Adaline / Third census of Finnegans wake) + lecke (ger) - to lick.
intoxication - the 'poisoning' of the moral or mental faculties
pig - to huddle together in a disorderly, dirty, or irregular manner
no direct connection (Joyce's note) → Key: John McCormack, His Own Life Story 47: 'I was chiefly concerned with anything which had no direct connection with Skerries'.
qua - in the character or role as, in the capacity of
intervener - one who intervenes or exercises intervention; spec. in Law, one who intervenes in a suit to which he was not originally a party + Joyce's note: 'intervener (fem corresp)'.
squad - a particular set or circle of people
thereinunder - after, before, below in that document, statute, etc.
subpoena - a writ issued by chancery commanding the presence of a defendant to answer the matter alleged against him + sub poena (l) - under penalty.
flummox - to bring to confusion + Joyce's note: 'flummoxed' → flummoxed (Colloquial) - utterly at a loss, confused + (notebook 1923): 'Flummox & Co'.
testificate - a writing wherein a fact is attested, a certificate; fig. Evidence, indication.
companykeeper - one who keeps company, a follower + (notebook 1924): 'company keeping' → Connacht Tribune 12 Apr 1924, 5/3: 'Doing the Devil's Work': (quoting the Bishop of Galway about the evil tendencies of modern Irish girls) 'it has fallen to my lot to come into Galway a few times in the winter after dark, and I was ashamed and horrified to find the amount of company keeping and the kind of company keeping that was going on publicly on these roads'.
demimonde - the class of women of doubtful reputation and social standing, upon the outskirts of 'society' (sometimes, though improperly, extended to include courtesans in general) + Joyce's note (notebook 1924): 'demi-monde / dammymonde'.
Lucia Anna Joyce - Joyce's daughter who went mad. Jung called Lucia her father's Anima or female inspiration. Her father called her a "vessel of election" and said, "Whatever spark of gift I possess has been transmitted to Lucia and has kindled a fire in her brain." Fire and bright (Lamp, Lucan) are in the girl's name, for Lucia is popularly derived from lux, and light links her to Lucifer, who, like Lucia, was incapable of creation.
swanky, swankie - a smart, active, strapping young fellow
overture - the opening up or revelation of a matter (obs.)
collion = cullion - As a term of contempt: A base, despicable, or vile fellow; a rascal + collions (Archaic) - testicles, rascals.
Boucicault and his actress wife joined Laura Keene's theatre in 1860 and began a series of his popular Irish plays: The Colleen Bawn (1860), Arrah-na-Pogue (1864), The O'Dowd (1873), and The Shaughraun (1874) + cailin ban (kolin ban) (gael) - white girl: pretty, girl + Colleen Bawn - London Cockney rhyming slang for an erection of the penis (horn).
nightbird (Slang) - whore
fancier - one who has a liking for, and a critical judgement in, some class of curiosities, plants, animals, etc. Chiefly with prefixed n., as in dog-, flower-, pigeon-fancier.
duff - something worthless or spurious + Dubh (duv) (gael) - Black + lucky dog - someone considered by others to be lucky.
Lindsays - in song "Battle of Otterbourne": "He chose the Gordons and the Graems/ With the Lindsays, light and gay..."
dose - to add or apply a dose of something to, to administer doses to
doctor - to take medicine, undergo medical treatment; to confer the degree or title of Doctor upon + Joyce's note: 'arrived & otherwise' → Key: John McCormack, His Own Life Story 124: 'musical-conductors, singers, arrived and otherwise, and musical agents'.