trumpet-major
121private — Used to address a private soldier, one who holds no special rank. In use since the sixteenth century, following the earlier use of ‘private person’ to denote someone who held no civil office. ‘Private’ can be used on its own, or as a prefix… …
122sailor — Used typically to a uniformed sailor by, e.g., a waitress in a café. ‘Soldier’ would be similarly used. The jokey message ‘Hello, sailor’ was at one time a regular sight in British sea side towns, displayed on funny hats worn by girls on… …
123sneerer — ‘You young sneerer. You are laughing at me that’s who you are laughing at,’ says Festus Derriman to Anne Garland, in Thomas Hardy’s The Trumpet Major. The vocative is a good example of one which is suggested by the immediate circumstances,… …
124son — This is used by parents to their son, and sometimes, preserving a practice that was common in Shakespeare’s time, to their son in law. In The Merry Wives of Windsor Page says: ‘Come, son Slender’ to Abraham Slender, his prospective son in law …
125stager, old — ‘Why, you chicken hearted old stager,’ says Festus Derriman to an actress, in The Trumpet Major, by Thomas Hardy. The lady concerned claims to be twenty two, and although she is older than that, she hardly qualifies for the description ‘old… …
126thing — ‘O thou thing!’ says Leontes to his wife Hermione, in Shakespeare’s The Winter’s Tale. He means that she is not worthy to be called a person since he believes, mistakenly, that she has been unfaithful to him. This contemptuous use of ‘thing’,… …
127Mouthpiece (brass) — Trumpet mouthpiece from the side On brass instruments the mouthpiece is the part of the instrument which is placed upon the player s lips. The purpose of the mouthpiece is a resonator, which passes vibration from the lips to the column of air… …
128Frederick Cavendish Ponsonby — Major General Sir Frederick Cavendish Ponsonby, GCMG, KCB, KCH (July 6 1783 – January 11 1837) was a British military officer, the second son of the 3rd Earl of Bessborough and Henrietta Spencer.Early careerEducated at Harrow, he joined the army… …
