Mostly taken from OED, hence the British spelling
Aristos (17)
An aristocrat.
Lizzie Barry (36)
A great English actress of the Restoration. She had a bad start in the theater, was then coached by the Earl of Rochester, who had made a bet that he could turn her into a great actress. She worked with the Duke’s company from 1675 – 1682.
Bear garden (31)
A place originally set apart for the baiting of bears, and used for the exhibition of other rough sports, fig. a scene of strife and tumult.
Bedlam (51)1. The Hospital of St. Mary of Bethlehem, used as an asylum for the reception and treatment of the mentally ill; originally situated in Bishopsgate, in 1676 rebuilt near London Wall. In extended use: an asylum for the mentally ill; a madhouse, ‘lunatic asylum’.
2. A scene of mad confusion or uproar.
Breeches part (17)
A part in which men's clothes are worn by an actress.
Clapped by a Holborn drab (36)
Getting the clap (most likely gonorrhea) from a prostitute in Holborn, a seedy neighborhood in London.
Johnny Downes (35)
Prompter at the Duke’s Company for most of the Restoration period. His "historical review of the stage", Roscius Anglicanus (1708), is an invaluable source for historians both of Restoration and Stuart theater.
Florimel (16)
The spirited and witty heroine in Dryden’s Secret Love, or The Maiden Queen. Nell played this breeches part, in male clothing, to much acclaim.
Gordian Knot (48)
An intricate knot tied by Gordius, king of Gordium in Phrygia. The oracle declared that whoever should loosen it should rule Asia. Alexander the Great cut through the knot with his sword.
fig. or allusively: (a) A matter of extreme difficulty. to cut a Gordian knot: to get rid of a difficulty by force or by evading the supposed conditions of solution. (b) An indissoluble bond.
Resembling the Gordian knot; consisting of twisted convolutions, intricate, involved.
Guttersnipe (17)
1. The common snipe, gutter bird.
2. A child brought up ‘in the gutter’; one of the lowest class; an urchin.
Hemmed (2)
Furnished with a hem or border; sewed with a hem; hemmed in: shut in, confined, imprisoned.
Lee (9)
1. Protection, shelter, rarely pl. Also in phrases in, under (the) lee (of) both in material and immaterial senses. †Also, a resting-place.
2. A sheltered position or condition; hence, calmness, peace, tranquility.
Luminescence (7)
The quality of emitting light, or having the property of emitting light, otherwise than as a result of incandescence.
Mumchance (22)
Silence. To play mumchance: to keep a dogged silence.
Odd’s fish (10)
Od’ is a euphemistic substitute for God. Ex od’s will, od’s bones, od’s blood and od’s flesh, of which Odd’s Fish is an alteration. Such compounds were very common in the 17th and 18th centuries.
Pinardic Ode (13)
Pinardic ode, ceremonious poem by or in the manner of Pindar, a Greek professional lyrist of the 5th century BC. A poem intended to be sung or one written in a form originally used for sung performance lyric poem, typically one in the form of an address to a particular subject, written in varied or irregular metre.
Poxy (57)
1. Infected with Pox (any of several diseases characterized by a rash of pustules, incl. small pox, chicken pox, also Syphilis), spotty
2. Of poor quality, useless, worthless (freq. as a general term of abuse)
Prosaic (4)
1. Dull or commonplace matters, considerations, observations,
2. Of or relating to prose; consisting of or written in prose (opposed to poetic).
Rake (5)
1. A fashionable or stylish man of dissolute or promiscuous habits.
2. A woman of similar character.
Compounds: rake-ruined adj. poet. Obs. debased or degraded by dissolute and self-indulgent behaviour.
Roundhead (13)
A member or adherent of the Parliamentary party in the Civil War of the 17th century, so called from their custom of wearing the hair close cut.
Rover (9)
1. One who roves or wanders, esp. to a great distance; a roving person or animal.
2. An inconstant lover; a male flirt
3. A marauder, robber.
Sappho (10)
The ancient Greek poetess of Lesbos (ca. 600 BC).
Scatterwit (36)
One who is incapable of serious connected thought; a thoughtless, giddy person.
Thomas Shadwell (36)
A prolific Restoration playwright and rival to Dryden.
Slattern (40)
A woman or girl untidy and slovenly in person, habits, or surroundings; a slut.
Sod that (52)
Damn that, slang.
Soft touch (36)
a person easily manipulated; spec. one easily induced to part with money; also, a task or opponent easily handled.
Sotted (36)
Rendered foolish, sottish or stupid; besotted, intoxicated.
Stratagem (2)
1. An operation or act of generalship; usually, an artifice or trick designed to outwit or surprise the enemy.
2. Any artifice or trick; a device or scheme for obtaining an advantage. In generalized sense: Skill in devising expedients; artifice, cunning.
Surinam (8)
A country in South America, formerly Dutch Guiana, before that it was a British colony.
Terschelling, The Great Bonfire (54)
August 1666 Rear Admiral Robert Holmes leads a raid on the Dutch island of Terschelling, destroying 150 merchant ships, and pillaging the town of West-Terschelling, an act later known as "Holmes's Bonfire". The town was burned to the ground.
Third-day profits (12)
The income from the third day of the performance was paid to the playwright. This was the way the writer was paid. Some productions never made it to the third day.
Toute suite (3)
Right away; promptly quickly. (Pronounced "toot sweet." From French toute de suite.)
The Tower (39)
The Tower of London, a prison where important political prisoners were taken and potentially tortured and executed.
Wastrel (58)
1. A good-for-nothing, idle, worthless, disreputable person.
2. Running to waste, spendthrift.
1. Of a plant, growing wild
2. Developed without culture or training, like a wild plant; natural, native.
Wits (36)
A person of lively fancy, who has the faculty of saying smart or brilliant things, now always so as to amuse; a witty person.
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