abbastanza bene (Italian) rather well. (A Farewell to Arms)
Abruzzi a region of central Italy, on the Adriatic Sea. (A Farewell to Arms)
absinthe a green, bitter, toxic liqueur made with wormwood oil and anise, now illegal in most countries. (The Sun Also Rises)
Abyssinia the former name for the country now known as Ethiopia. (The Sun Also Rises and A Farewell to Arms)
Adolpho Luque pitcher for the Reds and Giants and a native of Havana, Cuba. (The Old Man and the Sea)
"Africana" song title. (A Farewell to Arms)
agua mala (Spanish) jellyfish; Portuguese man-of-war. (The Old Man and the Sea)
aguardiente (Spanish) clear brandy (The Sun Also Rises)
albacore a tuna with unusually long pectoral fins, important as a game and food fish in all warm seas. (The Old Man and the Sea)
Algabeno, Gallo bullfighters (The Sun Also Rises)
Alger Horatio Alger (1832-1899), U.S. writer of boys' stories; his books typically deal with rags-to-riches stories of young boys advancing from poverty to wealth and acclaim. (The Sun Also Rises)
Alpini (Italian) Alpine troops. (A Farewell to Arms)
Alsace a historical region of northeastern France, under German control from 1871 to 1919. (The Sun Also Rises)
"Alto piano . . . but no piano" (Italian) "Upland plain . . . but no plain." (A Farewell to Arms)
Amalfi a town in south Italy, on the Gulf of Salerno. (A Farewell to Arms)
The American news was all training camps It is unclear whether this refers to spring training prior to the baseball season, to the training of newly-enlisted soldiers, or to both. (A Farewell to Arms)
American Women's Club list apparently a list of recommended tourist sites. (The Sun Also Rises)
amontillado a pale, relatively dry sherry. (The Sun Also Rises)
Anatole France pseudonym of Jacques Anatole Francois Thibault (1844-1924); French novelist and literary critic. (The Sun Also Rises)
Anatolia the great plains area of Turkey. (Hemingway's Short Stories)
Anis del Mono a brand of French or Spanish liqueur flavored with aniseed. (The Sun Also Rises)
ANIS DEL TORO (Spanish) anise of the bull; brand of French or Spanish liqueur flavored with aniseed. (The Sun Also Rises)
Anti-Saloon League American temperance organization. (The Sun Also Rises)
Antitetanus inoculation against tetanus, an acute infectious disease, often fatal, caused by the specific toxin of a bacillus which usually enters the body through wounds: it is characterized by spasmodic contractions and rigidity of some or all of the voluntary muscles, especially of the jaw, face, and neck. (A Farewell to Arms)
Aosta the Valle d'Aosta, a region of northwest Italy. (A Farewell to Arms)
apéritif an alcoholic drink taken before a meal to stimulate the appetite. (The Sun Also Rises)
The apple the fruit of knowledge, offered by the serpent to Eve. When she shared the apple with Adam, they were cast out of Eden by God. (A Farewell to Arms)
Aquila town in the Abruzzi region of Italy. (A Farewell to Arms)
Archbishop Ireland American archbishop, apparently, with whose case Henry is unfamiliar. (A Farewell to Arms)
arc-light a lamp in which brilliant light is produced by maintaining an arc between two electrodes. (The Sun Also Rises)
Ardennes a wooded plateau in northeastern France, southern Belgium, and Luxembourg; the scene of heavy fighting in World War I. (The Sun Also Rises)
armistice a temporary stopping of warfare by mutual agreement, as a truce preliminary to the signing of a peace treaty. The armistice referred to here is the one that ended World War I, on November 11, 1918. (The Sun Also Rises)
armoire a large, usually ornate cupboard or clothespress. (A Farewell to Arms)
Arriba (Spanish) up, upwards. (The Sun Also Rises)
arriero (Spanish) mule driver. (The Sun Also Rises)
articulation a joint between bones. (A Farewell to Arms)
Asti a wine from the city of the same name in the Piedmont region of northwest Italy. (A Farewell to Arms)
the attack The setting of this story is northern Italy during World War I; an Italian town has been attacked by an Austrian military offensive. (Hemingway's Short Stories)
Avenue de l'Opéra a boulevard running southwest from the Place de l'Opera to the Palais Royal, on the right bank of the Seine in Paris. (The Sun Also Rises)
Avila a city of central Spain, west of Madrid. (The Sun Also Rises)
Ayuntamiento town hall. (The Sun Also Rises)
Babbitting metal a soft white metal of tin, lead, copper, and antimony in various proportions, used to reduce frictions as in bearings. (A Farewell to Arms)
Bacchus the Roman god of wine and revelry; identified with the Greek Dionysus. (A Farewell to Arms)
baggage-truck a handcart used for moving luggage. (The Sun Also Rises)
Bainsizza plateau a plateau in present-day Slovenia. (A Farewell to Arms)
baize a thick woolen cloth made to resemble felt and often dyed green, used to cover billiard tables. (The Sun Also Rises)
bal musette (French) bagpipe dance (The Sun Also Rises)
bal musette a public dance hall. (Hemingway's Short Stories)
ballet skirts During the time that Hemingway wrote the story, Greek troops in the mountains wore uniforms exactly like Hemingway describes. (Hemingway's Short Stories)
banderillero (Spanish)a bullfighter who assists the matador by placing banderillas, or harpoons, in the withers of the bull. (The Sun Also Rises)
baronet a man holding the lowest hereditary British title, below a baron but above a knight. (The Sun Also Rises)
barracuda any of a family of fierce, pikelike tropical fish: some species are edible. (The Old Man and the Sea)
barrera the protecting wall enclosing the floor of a bull ring at bullfights. (The Sun Also Rises)
Basques a people living in the western Pyrenees of Spain and France. (The Sun Also Rises)
"A basso gli ufficiali!" (Italian) "Down with the officers!" (A Farewell to Arms)
bateau mouche a pleasure steamer. (The Sun Also Rises)
battery an emplacement for heavy guns, or a fortification equipped with such guns. (A Farewell to Arms)
bawdy house a house of prostitution. (A Farewell to Arms)
Bayonne a city in southwestern France. (The Sun Also Rises)
because she had no hat traditionally, women are discouraged from entering churches in Europe bareheaded. (The Sun Also Rises)
beggar the word Hemingway originally used was "bugger," a derogatory British term for someone or something disagreeable; however, the term is also synonymous with a sodomite, which was distasteful to Hemingway's editor @md thus his substitution of "beggar." Remember that this story was originally published in 1936; today, in the United States, we casually use the term "bastard" with the same non-literal frequency. (Hemingway's Short Stories)
Belmonte Juan Belmonte was a matador renowned throughout Spain during the early 1920s. In other words, Hemingway here features an actual person as a minor character in his fictional story. (The Sun Also Rises)
bersaglieri (Italian) riflemen. (A Farewell to Arms)
Béziers a city in south France. (A Farewell to Arms)
Biarritz aresort town in southwestern France, on the Bay of Biscay. (The Sun Also Rises)
big birds here, vultures, carrion eaters attracted to Harry's rotting flesh. (Hemingway's Short Stories)
big blue runner any of various edible jack fishes of warm seas, as a bluish species and a striped bluish species. (The Old Man and the Sea)
big log booms a chain of floating logs making a barrier to enclose other free-floating logs. (Hemingway's Short Stories)
big Skoda guns a type of artillery. (A Farewell to Arms)
Bilbao a port in the Basque country, in northern Spain, near the Bay of Biscay. (The Sun Also Rises)
bilge (Slang) worthless or silly talk or writing; nonsense. (The Sun Also Rises)
a black band the black cloth band that the major wears around the upper part of his arm of his uniform, signifying that he is in mourning. (Hemingway's Short Stories)
Black Forest a wooded mountain region in southwest Germany. (A Farewell to Arms)
Black's a home remedy medical book. (Hemingway's Short Stories)
bladder a bag consisting of or lined with membraneous tissue in the body of many animals, capable of inflation to receive and contain liquids or gasses. (The Sun Also Rises)
blind (Slang) drunk. (The Sun Also Rises)
"Blow, blow, ye western wind . . . Christ, that my love were in my arms and I in my bed again. That my love Catherine. That my sweet love Catherine down might rain. Blow her again to me." Falling asleep in the cab of the ambulance, Lieutenant Henry recites to himself a garbled version of a poem from the sixteenth century, the author of which is unknown. The best-known lines from this poem are as follows: "O Western wind, when wilt thou blow,/That the small rain down can rain?/Christ, that my love were in my arms/And I in my bed again!" Note the portentous rain imagery. (A Farewell to Arms)
boat train a train scheduled to be at a port in time for the prompt transfer of passengers to or from a ship. (The Sun Also Rises)
Bocanegra (Spanish) Blackmouth. (The Sun Also Rises)
bock a dark beer traditionally drunk in the early spring. (A Farewell to Arms)
bodegas cafes serving alcoholic beverages. (Hemingway's Short Stories)
the Bois the Bois de Boulogne, an enormous Parisian park. (The Sun Also Rises)
Bonaparte hats hats like those worn by Napoleon Bonaparte (1769-1821), a French military leader and emperor of France (1804-1815), born in Corsica. (The Sun Also Rises)
Bonapartist Groups those who supported the Bonaparte dynasty in France (The Sun Also Rises)
bonito any of a genus of marine game and food scombroid fishes. (The Old Man and the Sea)
bootblack a person whose work is shining shoes and boots. (The Sun Also Rises)
Bootblack a person whose work is shining shoes and boots. (The Sun Also Rises)
Bordeaux a seaport in southwestern France, on the Garonne River. (The Sun Also Rises)
borghese (Italian) civilian clothes. (A Farewell to Arms)
boric boric acid, a mild disinfectant. (Hemingway's Short Stories)
Borracho! Muy borracho! (Spanish) Drunk! Very drunk! (The Sun Also Rises)
Bosphorus the strait that separates Asia from Europe, made famous by Romantic poets who would try to swim across. (Hemingway's Short Stories)
bota (Spanish) wineskin. (The Sun Also Rises)
boucherie chevaline a horse butcher; in many parts of Europe, horse meat is eaten quite commonly. (Hemingway's Short Stories)
Boulevard Boulevard St.-Germain, the "main drag" of Paris's Latin Quarter. (The Sun Also Rises)
Boulevard des Capucines an avenue connecting the Boulevard de la Madeleine with the Place de l'Opera, on the Right Bank. (The Sun Also Rises)
Boulevard du Port Royal an avenue in Montparnasse; west of Boulevard St. Michel; its name changes to Boulevard Montparnasse. (The Sun Also Rises)
Boulevard here, the Boulevard St. Michel. (The Sun Also Rises)
Boulevard Montparnasse the "main drag" of the Montparnasse district. (The Sun Also Rises)
Boulevard Raspail an avenue connecting Boulevard St. Germain and Boulevard du Montparnasse, on the Left Bank of the Seine. (The Sun Also Rises)
Boulevard St. Michel an avenue connecting Montparnasse with the Latin Quarter. (The Sun Also Rises)
bread pudding with hard sauce a custard dessert made with pieces of bread, raisins, or other fruit, etc., served in this case with a sweet, creamy mixture of butter, powdered sugar, and a flavoring such as vanilla extract, rum, or brandy. (A Farewell to Arms)
Brescia commune in Lombardy, north Italy, at the foot of the Alps. (A Farewell to Arms)
a brick (Old Informal) a fine person. (The Sun Also Rises)
brigata (Italian) brigade. (A Farewell to Arms)
Brigata di Pace (Italian) Peace Brigade. (A Farewell to Arms)
Brindisi a seaport in Apulia, southeast Italy, on the Adriatic. (A Farewell to Arms)
Bring up half a dozen bottles of beer and a bottle of Fundador Mike intends to stay severely intoxicated. (The Sun Also Rises)
brioche a light, rich roll made with flour, butter, eggs, and yeast. (The Sun Also Rises)
brisa (Spanish) breeze. (The Old Man and the Sea)
British East Africa the former name of the country now known as Kenya. (The Sun Also Rises)
Bruges French name for a city in northwestern Belgium. (The Sun Also Rises)
Brussels the capital of Belgium, in the central part. (The Sun Also Rises)
Bryan William Jennings (1860-1925); U.S. politician and orator. (The Sun Also Rises)
buck to dislodge or throw by bucking. (The Sun Also Rises)
buck up to cheer up. (The Sun Also Rises)
Buen hombre (Spanish) Good man. (The Sun Also Rises)
buffalo the buffalo mentioned in this story is nothing like the American buffalo, or bison. The Cape Buffalo is a large, horned creature that is considered by hunters to be the most dangerous of all African big game. It is mean and cunning and extremely strong, invulnerable to all but the best-placed shots. (Hemingway's Short Stories)
Bulgaria Bulgaria too became allied with the Central Powers after the start of the war. (A Farewell to Arms)
Burguete a town in northern Spain, in the foothills of the Pyrenees. (The Sun Also Rises)
burnt timber The reference is to the forest fire that destroyed vast acres of woodland, as well as the town of Seney, Michigan. (Hemingway's Short Stories)
"But at my back I always hear/Time's winged chariot hurrying near" Lieutenant Henry quotes from "To His Coy Mistress," a lyric poem by Andrew Marvell (see below). The reference to the poem itself, about a woman who is sexually unavailable, is ironic, considering all of Henry and Catherine's premarital sexual activity. But the lines themselves are consistent with the sense of doom that pervades the novel. (A Farewell to Arms)
Bwana "Mister" or "Master"; a term of respect. (Hemingway's Short Stories)
Bwana Mister, or master; a term of respect. (Hemingway's Short Stories)
by-line a line identifying the writer of a newspaper or magazine article. (The Sun Also Rises)
Cadore region in the Carnac Alps, east of Cortina D'Ampezzo. (A Farewell to Arms)
Café de la Paix a Parisian café, the name of which means, significantly, Café of Peace. (The Sun Also Rises)
Café de Versailles a Parisian café. (The Sun Also Rises)
Café Iruña a café that still stands on the Plaza del Castillo in Pamplona. (The Sun Also Rises)
Café Napolitain a Parisian café. (The Sun Also Rises)
Café Select a café in the Montparnasse district, southwest of the Latin Quarter on the Left Bank of the Seine. (The Sun Also Rises)
Caffeine, we are here. pun on Charles E. Stanton's "Lafayette, we are here" (Paris, July 4, 1917). (The Sun Also Rises)
caisson a two-wheeled wagon for transporting ammunition. (A Farewell to Arms)
calambre (Spanish) cramp (muscular). (The Old Man and the Sea)
camion a motor truck or heavy dray wagon. (A Farewell to Arms)
Campoformio Campoformido, town in northeast Italy, south of Udine. (A Farewell to Arms)
Canary Islands group of islands in the Atlantic, off northwest Africa, forming a region of Spain. (The Old Man and the Sea)
Cannes a city in southeastern France, on the Riviera. (The Sun Also Rises)
cant-hooks wooden levers with movable metal hooks near one end that are used for handling logs. (Hemingway's Short Stories)
capitano (Italian) captain. (A Farewell to Arms)
Caporetto village in present-day Slovenia, the scene of a battle in World War I in which the Italian army was defeated by Austro-German forces (1917). (A Farewell to Arms)
Capracotta a village in the Abruzzi region. (A Farewell to Arms)
Capri an island near the entrance to the Bay of Naples. (A Farewell to Arms)
capri bianca an Italian white wine. (A Farewell to Arms)
carabineers a soldier armed with a carbine (a rifle). (The Sun Also Rises)
carabinieri (Italian) military police. (A Farewell to Arms)
carapace the horny, protective covering over all or part of the back of certain animals, as the upper shell of the turtle, armadillo, crab, etc. (The Old Man and the Sea)
carbines rifles with a short barrel, originally for use by cavalry. (A Farewell to Arms)
carbons carbon copies of typewritten pages. (The Sun Also Rises)
Carmel, California . . . Provincetown, Massachusetts a town on the California coast north of Los Angeles, and a town at the tip of Cape Cod. Traditionally, both towns have welcomed artists and writers. (The Sun Also Rises)
Carpathians the Carpathian Mountains, a mountain system in central Europe, extending southeast from south Poland through the Czech Republic and Ukraine into northeast Romania. (A Farewell to Arms)
Carrera San Jeronimo a street in central Madrid. (The Sun Also Rises)
the car-tracks The reference is to electric streetcar tracks. (Hemingway's Short Stories)
Caruso (1873@nd1921) Enrico, world-famous Italian operatic tenor. (A Farewell to Arms)
Casablanca seaport in northwest Morocco, on the Atlantic. (The Old Man and the Sea)
Castagnola a town on the shore of Lake Maggiore. (A Farewell to Arms)
Castile region and former kingdom in northern and central Spain: gained autonomy in tenth century and united with Leon, and later with Aragon (fifteenth century), and became the nucleus of the Spanish monarchy. (The Sun Also Rises)
catch crabs in rowing, to fail to clear the water on the recovery stroke accidentally, thereby unbalancing the boat or impeding its movement. (A Farewell to Arms)
the cathedral Milan's famous cathedral, designed and built in the Gothic style. It is the second-largest church in Italy, after St. Peter's Basilica in Rome. (A Farewell to Arms)
cesarean a surgical incision made through the abdomen and uterus to deliver a baby when vaginal delivery is dangerous to both mother and baby. (Hemingway's Short Stories)
C'est entendu, Monsieur (French) It is understood, sir. (The Sun Also Rises)
Chablis a dry white Burgundy wine made in or near the town of Chablis, France. (The Sun Also Rises)
Chalet a type of Swiss house, built of wood with balconies and overhanging eaves. (A Farewell to Arms)
chamois a small goat antelope of the mountains of Europe and the Caucasus, having straight horns with the tips bent backward. (A Farewell to Arms)
chateau a large country house and estate, especially in France. (The Sun Also Rises)
Château Margaux a French wine. (The Sun Also Rises)
Che mala fortuna (Italian) What bad luck. (The Sun Also Rises)
Cheery oh Dr. Valentini is trying to ingratiate himself with Catherine through the use of the British expression "cheerio." Hemingway's spelling indicates that his pronunciation isn't quite idiomatic. (A Farewell to Arms)
cheesecloth coarsely, loosely woven gauze. (Hemingway's Short Stories)
Chernex, Fontanivent alpine villages. (A Farewell to Arms)
Chesterton G. K. Chesterton, a British novelist and poet. (Hemingway's Short Stories)
chez (French) the home of. (The Sun Also Rises)
chianti a dry red wine produced in the Tuscany region of Italy. (A Farewell to Arms)
chica (Spanish) girl. (The Sun Also Rises)
cholera any of various intestinal diseases; specifically, an acute, severe, infectious disease (Asiatic cholera) common in Asia, caused by bacteria and characterized by profuse diarrhea, intestinal pain, and dehydration. (A Farewell to Arms)
Chope de Negre a Parisian café (The Sun Also Rises)
choucroute (French) sauerkraut. (A Farewell to Arms)
Christian Scientist a follower of Mary Baker Eddy (1821-1910), an American religious leader. (Hemingway's Short Stories)
Ciaou (Italian) Hello. (A Farewell to Arms)
Cienfuegos seaport on the south coast of Cuba. (The Old Man and the Sea)
cinders burned remains. (Hemingway's Short Stories)
CINZANO brand of aperitif. (The Sun Also Rises)
Cinzano brand-name of an aperitif. (A Farewell to Arms)
Circe in Homer's Odyssey, an enchantress who turns men into swine. (The Sun Also Rises)
Cividale Cividale del Friuli, town in northeast Italy between Udine and the Isonzo River. (A Farewell to Arms)
cloistered secluded or confined as in a cloister (a monastery or convent). (A Farewell to Arms)
the Coast the West Coast of the United States. (The Sun Also Rises)
cocher (French) coachman, driver. (The Sun Also Rises)
cock-eyed (Slang) drunk. (The Sun Also Rises)
cogido (Spanish) gored. (The Sun Also Rises)
cognac a French brandy distilled from wine in the area of Cognac, France. (The Sun Also Rise and A Farewell to Armss)
cogwheel railway a railway for a very steep grade with traction supplied by a central cogged rail that meshes with a cogwheel on the engine. (A Farewell to Arms)
cold (Informal) unlucky or ineffective. (The Sun Also Rises)
Cologne a city in Germany, on the Rhine, in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia. (The Sun Also Rises)
Comment? (French) Why? (The Sun Also Rises)
Communards After the French defeat in the Franco-Prussian War (1871), a communal government, in opposition to the national one, was set up in Paris. There followed a brief civil war; afterward, 17,000 Parisian followers of the Communards were executed, including women and children. Hemingway is referring to the descendants of these people. (Hemingway's Short Stories)
the Concha San Sebastian beach. (The Sun Also Rises)
concierge the manager of an apartment house in Europe. (Hemingway's Short Stories and The Sun Also Rises)
condensed milk canned milk. (Hemingway's Short Stories)
Connais pas (French) I don't know. (The Sun Also Rises)
consigne (French) baggage-check room. (The Sun Also Rises)
Constantine officers At the time, these royal officers bore the name of the king of Greece, King Constantine. (Hemingway's Short Stories)
Constantinople the former name for what is now Istanbul. (Hemingway's Short Stories)
convex having a surface that bulges outward. (Hemingway's Short Stories)
convoy a group of vehicles traveling together for mutual protection or convenience. (A Farewell to Arms)
copper a coin of copper or bronze, as a penny. (The Sun Also Rises)
cord wood a pile of logs that will be used for burning in a fireplace. (Hemingway's Short Stories)
cordon a keychain (The Sun Also Rises)
corking (Informal) very good or well; excellently. (The Sun Also Rises)
Cormons town west of Gorizia, in northeast Italy. (A Farewell to Arms)
cornada (Spanish) goring. (The Sun Also Rises)
Cornigrams items about bullfighting, presumably. (The Sun Also Rises)
Corriere Della Sera (Italian) Evening Courier, a newspaper. (A Farewell to Arms)
Cortina D'Ampezzo town in the Carnac Alps, in Italy due north of Venice. (A Farewell to Arms)
counsel a lawyer or group of lawyers giving advice about legal matters and representing clients in court. (The Sun Also Rises)
coup de main a surprise attack or movement, as in war. (A Farewell to Arms)
Course de taureaux (French) running of bulls. (The Sun Also Rises)
court games squash, handball, and other games played in exclusive men's clubs. (Hemingway's Short Stories)
courts tennis courts. (The Sun Also Rises)
the Cova restaurant in Milan. (A Farewell to Arms)
cove (British slang) a boy or man; chap; fellow. (The Sun Also Rises)
Crillon a well-known Paris hotel, used frequently in Hemingway's works. (Hemingway's Short Stories)
the Crillon the Bar du Crillon at the Hôtel du Crillon, across from the U.S. Embassy on the Place de la Concorde; one of Europe's grandest hotels. (The Sun Also Rises)
Croat a person born or living in Croatia, a country in southeast Europe that was at one time part of Austria-Hungary. (A Farewell to Arms)
cross-cut saw a saw for cutting wood against the grain. (Hemingway's Short Stories)
Croyant (French) believing. (A Farewell to Arms)
cypress an evergreen, cone-bearing tree, with dark foliage and a distinctive symmetrical form. (A Farewell to Arms)
dago (slang) a person, often dark-skinned, of Spanish, Portuguese, or Italian descent: a term of hostility and contempt. (A Farewell to Arms)
Damoy's a Montparnasse café. (The Sun Also Rises)
darb a person or thing regarded as remarkable or excellent. (The Sun Also Rises)
The Dark Forest a novel by the British author Horace Walpole. (Hemingway's Short Stories)
daughter's debut a monied coming-out party for a young lady, to formally introduce her to high society. (Hemingway's Short Stories)
death mask a cast of a person's face taken soon after death. (The Sun Also Rises)
demi demi-blonde beer. (A Farewell to Arms)
Dempsey Jack, born William Harrison Dempsey (1895-1983); U.S. professional boxer. (The Sun Also Rises)
Dent du Jaman mountain in the Alps. (A Farewell to Arms)
Dent du Midi mountain in the Alps. (A Farewell to Arms)
dentuso (Spanish) big-toothed; (in Cuba) a particularly voracious and frightening species of shark with rows of large, sharp teeth; here, a descriptive term for the mako shark. (The Old Man and the Sea)
depart (French) start (of the race). (The Sun Also Rises)
desencajonada (Spanish) releasing. (The Sun Also Rises)
Dick Sisler famous baseball player and coach on numerous baseball teams, including the Cardinals, the Reds, and the Yankees. (The Old Man and the Sea)
diligence a public stagecoach, especially as formerly used in France. (The Sun Also Rises)
The Dingo a Parisian café. (The Sun Also Rises)
Dio te salve, Maria (Italian) God hail you, Mary. (A Farewell to Arms)
Dites garçon, un pernod (French) Tell the waiter, a pernod. (The Sun Also Rises)
"Does she @md ?" The dash here takes the place of a vulgar term for a sexual act. Throughout the novel, Hemingway will substitute dashes for obscene expressions. (Ironically, A Farewell to Arms was nevertheless banned in Boston because of its supposed obscenity.) (A Farewell to Arms)
dogfish any of various small sharks. Lieutenant Henry means to be insulting. (A Farewell to Arms)
dolce (Italian) dessert. (A Farewell to Arms)
dolphin a game fish with colors that brighten and change when the fish is taken out of the water. (The Old Man and the Sea)
the Dome, Lavigne's, Closerie des Lilas Parisian cafés. (The Sun Also Rises)
dorado (Spanish) gilding or gilt (literally); here a descriptive term for the golden dolphin. (The Old Man and the Sea)
drag (Slang) influence that gains special or undeserved favors; pull. (The Sun Also Rises)
Dred Scott case a controversial U.S. Supreme court decision (1857) that denied the claim of a U.S. black slave to be free as a result of living in free territory. (The Sun Also Rises)
dressing station a temporary hospital. (A Farewell to Arms)
dressing-gown a loose robe for wear when one is not fully clothed, as before dressing or when lounging. (A Farewell to Arms)
drygoods cloth, cloth products, thread, and so on. (The Sun Also Rises)
dugout a shelter, as in warfare, dug in the ground or in a hillside. (A Farewell to Arms)
duster a lightweight coat worn to protect the clothes from dust, as formerly in open automobiles. (The Sun Also Rises)
dysentery any of various intestinal inflammations characterized by abdominal pain and frequent and intense diarrhea with bloody, mucous feces. (The Sun Also Rises)
the Ebro a river in northeastern Spain; the second longest river in Spain. (Hemingway's Short Stories)
eggnog a thick drink made of beaten eggs, milk, sugar, and nutmeg, often containing whiskey, rum, wine, etc. (A Farewell to Arms)
El Campeón (Spanish) The Champion. (The Old Man and the Sea)
elastic barrier modern starting-gate. (A Farewell to Arms)
encierro (Spanish) enclosure. (The Sun Also Rises)
Engadine the valley of the upper Inn River, east Switzerland: site of many resorts. (A Farewell to Arms)
Es muy flamenco (Spanish) It is very flamenco (The Sun Also Rises)
Escorial a huge quadrangle of granite buildings near Madrid, built in the sixteenth century by Philip II of Spain; it encloses a palace, a church, a monastery, and so on. (The Sun Also Rises)
esta ciudad (Spanish) this town. (The Sun Also Rises)
Estella, Sanguesa towns in Navarra. (The Sun Also Rises)
Evviva l'esercito (Italian) Long live the army. (A Farewell to Arms)
the express a direct, non-stop train. (Hemingway's Short Stories)
eye teeth the canine, or pointed and conical, teeth located in the upper jaw. (Hemingway's Short Stories)
featherweight a boxer between a junior featherweight and a junior lightweight, with a maximum weight of 126 pounds. (The Sun Also Rises)
a female English probably a literal translation of the woman's phrasing in Spanish. (The Sun Also Rises)
femme de ménage a housekeeper. (Hemingway's Short Stories)
fez a brimless felt hat shaped like a truncated cone, usually red, with a flat crown from which a long, black tassel hangs: the Turkish national headdress of men in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. (A Farewell to Arms)
fiacre (French) hackney-coach, cab. (The Sun Also Rises)
fiasco (Italian) flask. (A Farewell to Arms)
Fiat radiator the nose of a car or truck made by the Italian automobile manufacturer. (A Farewell to Arms)
file that line he got off this morning report on the news conference mentioned earlier. (The Sun Also Rises)
fine à l'eau (French) brandy and water. (The Sun Also Rises)
fines (French) brandies. (The Sun Also Rises)
fire-gaps avenues through the woods created by cutting down trees, so as to discourage the spread of forest fires. (The Sun Also Rises)
fistula an abnormal passage from an abscess, cavity, or hollow organ to the skin or to another abscess, cavity, or organ. (The Sun Also Rises)
five against one (slang) masturbating. (A Farewell to Arms)
.505 Gibbs a very large caliber hunting rifle. While his clients may use smaller guns, a safari guide must carry a sure killer in case the amateur misses and he must make the kill at the last moment @md as in the case of Macomber and the lion. (Hemingway's Short Stories)
Flamand (French) Flemish. (The Sun Also Rises)
Flemish of Flanders or its people, language, or culture. (The Sun Also Rises)
a fly an artificial fishing lure, often resembling an insect. (Hemingway's Short Stories)
fly-book a book-like case to hold artificial fishing flies. (The Sun Also Rises)
flying fish a warm-sea fish with winglike pectoral fins that enable it to glide through the air. (The Old Man and the Sea)
fonda (Spanish) inn. (The Sun Also Rises)
Fontainbleau a town in northern France, near Paris; the site of a palace of former kings of France. (The Sun Also Rises)
football soccer. (The Sun Also Rises)
ford a shallow place in a stream or river where one can cross by wading or riding on horseback, in an automobile, and so on. (The Sun Also Rises)
Ford Henry (1863-1947); U.S. automobile manufacturer. (The Sun Also Rises)
Fordham a Jesuit university located in the Bronx, New York. (The Sun Also Rises)
Forest Lovers a novel written by Maurice Hewlitt and published in 1898. In the story, Bill has recommended that Nick read this novel, whose plot includes a young man breaking off his relationship with a girl of lesser social status. (Hemingway's Short Stories)
four hundred twenty a 420-millimeter mortar. (A Farewell to Arms)
Foyot's a Parisian restaurant. (The Sun Also Rises)
franc the basic monetary unit of Belgim, France, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, and Switzerland. (A Farewell to Arms and The Sun Also Rises)
the France a luxury ocean liner. (The Sun Also Rises)
Frankie Fritsch a college football star of the 1920s known as "the Fordham Flash." (The Sun Also Rises)
Franz Joseph (d. 1916) emperor of Austria (1848@nd1916) and king of Hungary (1867@nd1916). (A Farewell to Arms)
Frederico Enrico or Enrico Federico? Bassi wants to know if the Lieutenant's name is Frederic Henry or Henry Frederic. (It is the former.) (A Farewell to Arms)
Free Mason a member of an international secret society having as its principles brotherliness, charity, and mutual aid. (A Farewell to Arms)
the French will hog them all The major predicts, correctly, that most of the American troops will be sent to the Western Front. (A Farewell to Arms)
fresa, barbera wines sampled by Henry and Catherine. (A Farewell to Arms)
frescoes a painting made with watercolors on wet plaster. (A Farewell to Arms)
Frisco (slang) San Francisco. (A Farewell to Arms)
gaff a large, strong hook on a pole, or a barbed spear, used in landing large fish. (The Old Man and the Sea)
galanos (Spanish) mottled ones (literally); here a descriptive term for the shovel-nosed sharks. (The Old Man and the Sea)
Gallarate town in Lombardy region of north Italy, between Milan and Lake Maggiore. (A Farewell to Arms)
Garde Republicaine resplendently uniformed troops that guarded the French Parliament. (Hemingway's Short Stories)
Gare d'Orsay a neoclassical train station, across the Seine from the Louvre and the Tuileries; now a museum of nineteenth- and early twentieth-century art. (The Sun Also Rises)
Gare St. Lazare railroad station located in Paris's 8th Arrondisement. (The Sun Also Rises)
Garibaldi Giuseppe (1807@nd82); Italian patriot and general: leader in the movement to unify Italy. (A Farewell to Arms)
gasoline park a station for refueling motor vehicles. (A Farewell to Arms)
gazette any of various official publications containing announcements and bulletins. (The Sun Also Rises)
gelatinous like gelatin or jelly; having the consistency of gelatin or jelly; viscous. (The Old Man and the Sea)
General Grant Ulysses Simpson Grant (1822-1885); eighteenth President of the U.S. (1869-1877); commander in chief of the Union forces in the Civil War. (The Sun Also Rises)
gentille (French) pretty, nice, graceful; amiable, pleasing. (The Sun Also Rises)
gentry people of high social standing; especially, in Great Britain, the class of landowning people ranking just below the nobility. (The Sun Also Rises)
get excited become sexually aroused. (A Farewell to Arms)
get off some cables send newspaper stories overseas via telegram. (The Sun Also Rises)
giant killer liquor; in this case, Scotch whiskey. (Hemingway's Short Stories)
the Giants the New York Giants, a Major League baseball team from 1902-32. (Hemingway's Short Stories)
Gib a town in Spain; also a pun by Hemingway at Jake's expense @md a gib is a castrated male cat. (The Sun Also Rises)
Gibraltar a small peninsula at the southern tip of Spain, extending into the Mediterranean. (The Sun Also Rises)
gimlet a popular British colonial drink made from gin and lime juice. Originally it was believed that gimlets were good for staving off scurvy. Since then it has become a popular American drink and is often made with vodka and lime juice. (Hemingway's Short Stories)
glasses opera glasses or binoculars. (The Sun Also Rises)
Globos illuminados (Spanish) illuminated balloons. (The Sun Also Rises)
glühwein (German) mulled wine. (A Farewell to Arms)
a goner (Slang) doomed (The Sun Also Rises)
Gorizia a town in present-day northeast Italy, on the Isonzo River. At the time during which the story takes place, it lay within the boundaries of Austria-Hungary. (A Farewell to Arms)
gout a hereditary form of recurrent, acute arthritis with swelling and severe pain, resulting from a disturbance of uric acid metabolism and characterized by an excess of uric acid in the blood and deposits of uric acid salts usually in the joints of the feet and hands, especially in the big toe. (A Farewell to Arms)
grade a sloping surface. (The Sun Also Rises)
grade the degree of rise or descent of a sloping surface. (A Farewell to Arms)
Gran Ligas (Spanish) the two main leagues of professional baseball clubs in the U.S., the National League and the American League: also the Major Leagues. (The Old Man and the Sea)
Gran Sasso D'Italia literally, "Great Stone of Italy." (A Farewell to Arms)
granatieri (Italian) Grenadiers. (A Farewell to Arms)
Grand Cerf a hotel in or near Senlis, apparently. (The Sun Also Rises)
Grappa an Italian brandy distilled from the lees left after pressing grapes to make wine. (A Farewell to Arms)
Great Commoner nickname for William Jennings Bryan. (The Sun Also Rises)
great giants, cigar-store Indians, thirty feet high, Moors, a King and a Queen enormous effigies carried through the streets to celebrate the fiesta. (The Sun Also Rises)
grebe a diving or swimming bird with broadly lobed toes and legs set far back on the body. (A Farewell to Arms)
green turtle, hawk-bill, loggerhead turtles. (The Old Man and the Sea)
Grenadier a member of a special regiment or corps. (A Farewell to Arms)
grummet a ring of rope or metal used to fasten the edge of a sail to its stay, hold an oar in place, etc. (A Farewell to Arms)
Guanabacoa one of the oldest European settlements in Cuba; now part of the urban conglomerate of present-day Havana. (The Old Man and the Sea)
guardia di finanza (Italian) customs service. (A Farewell to Arms)
gunny-sacking a sack or bag made of gunny, a coarse, heavy fabric of jute or hemp. (The Sun Also Rises)
gunwale the upper edge of the side of a ship or boat. (A Farewell to Arms)
gut shot a shot into the stomach of an animal. (Hemingway's Short Stories)
half-breed a derogatory term used to refer to a person of mixed racial ancestry, especially American Indian and Caucasian. (Hemingway's Short Stories)
Hardy Thomas (1840-1928); English novelist and poet. (The Sun Also Rises)
harlot prostitute. (A Farewell to Arms)
haversacks bags carried over only one shoulder to transport supplies. (Hemingway's Short Stories)
He can't believe it didn't mean anything. Brett understands that sleeping with her was meaningful to Cohn, though the experience was of little import to her. (The Sun Also Rises)
He had a pile of saucers in front of him As each saucer represents one drink brought by the waiter, Stone has been drinking for a long time. (The Sun Also Rises)
He is the legitimate son of President Wilson The doctor is trying to encourage special attention for Lieutenant Henry. (A Farewell to Arms)
He thinks it was me. Not the show in general. Because he is inexperienced, Romero attributes his pleasure to Brett in particular, rather than to sex generally. (The Sun Also Rises)
He who ruleth his spirit is greater than he that taketh a city. The quotation is from the Bible, Proverbs 16:31-32. (Hemingway's Short Stories)
Heinie Zim Heinie Zimmerman, a Chicago Cubs baseball player; he was traded to the New York Giants. (Hemingway's Short Stories)
hell's own (Slang) the ultimate with respect to. (The Sun Also Rises)
Helvetia Switzerland. (A Farewell to Arms)
Hendaye a seacoast town in southwestern France, in that country's Basque region. (The Sun Also Rises)
her hair was brushed back like a boy's. She started all that. Jake seems to be claiming that Brett initiated the 1920s fashion for short, or "bobbed," hair on women. (The Sun Also Rises)
Her lodge the concierge's booth in the lobby of Jake's building. (The Sun Also Rises)
hernia the protrusion of all or part of an organ through a tear in the wall of the surrounding structure; especially, the protrusion of part of the intestine through the abdominal muscles; a rupture. (A Farewell to Arms)
He's quite one of us a reference to wartime experience; Jake is a veteran, and Brett served as a nurse. Again, Cohn did not serve, perhaps because he was simply too young; therefore, he is "one of them." (The Sun Also Rises)
the hill Montmartre. (The Sun Also Rises)
his compatriot Moses, who led the Israelites into the Promised Land. A reference to Cohn's Jewishness. (The Sun Also Rises)
Holy Cross a college located in Worcester, Massachusetts. (The Sun Also Rises)
hombre man (Hemingway's Short Stories)
horse ambulance an ambulance drawn by horses. (A Farewell to Arms)
Hotel Cavour a fancy Milanese hotel. (A Farewell to Arms)
"Hoyle" a book of rules and instructions for indoor games, especially card games, originally compiled by Edmond Hoyle (1672@nd1769), English authority on card games and chess. (A Farewell to Arms)
Hugo's English grammar an English-language textbook. (A Farewell to Arms)
Hun term of contempt applied to German soldiers, especially in WWI. (A Farewell to Arms)
Hundred Years War series of English-French wars (1337@nd1453), in which England lost all of its possessions in France except Calais (lost to France in 1558). (A Farewell to Arms)
"I did everything. I took everything but it didn't make any difference." Catherine has tried to prevent pregnancy with various forms of contraception that would now be considered unscientific and ineffective. (A Farewell to Arms)
I tapped with my fingertips on the table. Jake is superstitiously "knocking on wood" so as to counteract Romero's statement, which seems to tempt fate. (The Sun Also Rises)
I think I'll go to San Sebastian Jake is returning to the scene of Brett's affair with Cohn. (The Sun Also Rises)
"I will never forget Romulus suckling the Tiber." According to legend, Romulus, founder of Rome, was said to have been suckled by a she-wolf. The Tiber is the river on which Rome was built. This is nonsensical, drunken talk. (A Farewell to Arms)
Il Generale Cadorna Italian general. (A Farewell to Arms)
I'll paint all this The doctor is offering to swab Lieutenant Henry's wounds with antiseptic. (A Farewell to Arms)
Imola town in the Emilia-Romagna region of north Italy. (A Farewell to Arms)
impala a type of antelope that makes prodigious leaps to see if enemies are near. It is very similar to the eland antelope. (Hemingway's Short Stories)
in the fall possibly an autumn during 1918, the last year of World War I. Hemingway was injured in July 1918 while delivering chocolates and cigarettes to Italian soldiers stationed on the Piave River. (Hemingway's Short Stories)
in the mill-race literally, in the channel in which the current of water that drives a mill wheel runs. A colloquialism meaning past the point of no return. (A Farewell to Arms)
infantry that branch of an army consisting of soldiers equipped and trained to fight chiefly on foot. (A Farewell to Arms)
inflation Germany suffered a terrible inflation in the middle 1920s and was eventually helped economically to recover by the United States and its so-called Dodge Plan. (Hemingway's Short Stories)
interne a recent graduate of medical school undergoing hands-on, practical training. (Hemingway's Short Stories)
Intra a town on the shore of Lake Maggiore. (A Farewell to Arms)
Irati River River in the Basque region of Spain. (The Sun Also Rises)
the island the Ile St.-Louis, in the River Seine. (The Sun Also Rises)
Isola Bella an island in Lake Maggiore, on the Italian side of the border. (A Farewell to Arms)
Isola Madre an island in Lake Maggiore. (A Farewell to Arms)
the Isonze the Isonzo River, in northeast Italy. At the time during which the story takes place, it lay within the boundaries of Austria-Hungary. (A Farewell to Arms)
It looked badly marked that is, bruised from his fight with Cohn. (The Sun Also Rises)
ivresse drunkenness. (Hemingway's Short Stories)
jack pines North American evergreens with soft wood and short, twisted needles. (Hemingway's Short Stories)
the jaundice colloquial reference to a disease, usually hepatitis, causing the eyeballs, the skin, and the urine to become abnormally yellowish as a result of increased amounts of bile pigments in the blood. (A Farewell to Arms)
Jefferson Davis (1808-1889); U.S. statesman; president of the Confederacy (1861-1865). (The Sun Also Rises)
Jerez (Spanish) sherry. (The Sun Also Rises)
Jo Davidson (1883-1952); U.S. sculptor. (The Sun Also Rises)
jodpurs A type of trousers, named after the Indian state of Jodhpur, they end right below the knee and flare around the hips. (Hemingway's Short Stories)
Joe DiMaggio famous baseball player who played for the Yankees and is widely regarded as the best all-around player in baseball history. (The Old Man and the Sea)
John J. McGraw manager of the Giants from 1902 to 1932. (The Old Man and the Sea)
juegos (Spanish) games. (The Old Man and the Sea)
Kaiser Jagers Alpine troops. (Hemingway's Short Stories)
Karagach a town in Turkey. (Hemingway's Short Stories)
kepi a cap with a flat round top and a stiff visor, worn by French soldiers. (The Sun Also Rises)
kike (Slang) a Jew; a hostile and offensive term. (The Sun Also Rises)
Kikuyu a member of a Kenya tribe. (Hemingway's Short Stories)
Kilimanjaro the highest peak in Africa, approximately 19,317 feet. (Hemingway's Short Stories)
King George V (1865-1936); king of Great Britain and Ireland (1910-1936); son of Edward VII. (The Sun Also Rises)
the King here, meaning Victor Emmanuel III (d. 1947), King of Italy (1900@nd46). (A Farewell to Arms)
kiosque (French) a small structure open at one or more sides. (The Sun Also Rises)
kippers and coffee the British are fond of kippered herring @md brine-soaked and smoked filets of fish, served most often for breakfast. (Hemingway's Short Stories)
kirsch a colorless alcoholic drink distilled from the fermented juice of black cherries. (A Farewell to Arms and Hemingway's Short Stories)
klaxon a kind of electric horn with a loud, shrill sound. (The Sun Also Rises)
Klim trade name for a kind of powdered milk (spell it backward). (Hemingway's Short Stories)
kosher convent To most people, a convent is associated with Catholicism; here, Max jokes that Al, probably Jewish, would have to be in a "kosher" convent; kosher is Yiddish for food that is ritually clean, according to dietary laws. (Hemingway's Short Stories)
Kuk a mountain in present-day Slovenia. (A Farewell to Arms)
kümmel a colorless liqueur flavored with caraway seeds, anise, cumin, etc. (A Farewell to Arms)
La France Sportive (French) Sporting France. (The Sun Also Rises)
la mar, el mar sea (Spanish feminine noun, Spanish masculine noun). (The Old Man and the Sea)
Lago Maggiore Lake Maggiore, which spans the border between Italy and Switzerland, northwest of Milan. (A Farewell to Arms)
Lake Como lake in Lombardy, north Italy. (A Farewell to Arms)
The Lancet medical journal. (A Farewell to Arms)
the Landes a region of southwestern France. (The Sun Also Rises)
landing-nets a small bag-like net attached to a long handle, for taking a hooked fish from the water. (The Sun Also Rises)
Lasted just four days. . . . Don't remember. Wrote you a postcard. Remember that perfectly. Bill drops the subjects of his sentences because he is drunk. (The Sun Also Rises)
Latisana town on the Tagliamento River in northeast Italy. (A Farewell to Arms)
Lausanne a city in west Switzerland, on Lake Geneva. (A Farewell to Arms)
L'Auto a Paris newspaper devoted to sports news. (Hemingway's Short Stories and The Sun Also Rises)
L'Avenue's a Parisian restaurant. (The Sun Also Rises)
"Le Feu" by a Frenchman, Barbusse . . . "Mr. Britling Sees Through It" contemporary novels. (A Farewell to Arms)
Le Toril a periodical covering bullfighting. (The Sun Also Rises)
leaders lengths of wire or gut or nylon connecting hooks to fishing lines. (Hemingway's Short Stories)
Lenglen Suzanne Lenglen (1899-1938); Wimbledon singles champion 1919-1923. (The Sun Also Rises)
Leo Durocher manager of the Brooklyn Dodgers from 1939 to 1946 and 1948. (The Old Man and the Sea)
Let's turn in early Mike is aroused and wants to have sex with Brett. (The Sun Also Rises)
letto matrimoniale (Italian) literally, "marriage bed"; a double bed. (A Farewell to Arms)
L'heure du cocktail (French) cocktail hour. (A Farewell to Arms)
lidia (Spanish) fight. (The Sun Also Rises)
Liège a province of eastern Belgium, or its capital, on the Meuse River. (The Sun Also Rises)
light heavyweight a boxer between a super middleweight and a cruiserweight, with a maximum weight of 175 pounds. (The Sun Also Rises)
the Lilas Closerie des Lilas, a café. (The Sun Also Rises)
lira the basic monetary unit of Italy. (A Farewell to Arms)
little chickens young girlfriends. (The Sun Also Rises)
Locarno a town in south Switzerland, on Lake Maggiore. Significantly, it would be the site of a peace conference in 1925. (A Farewell to Arms)
locataire a tenant. (Hemingway's Short Stories)
Lom town near the border between present-day Bulgaria and Romania. (A Farewell to Arms)
loopholes a hole or narrow slit in the wall of a fort, for looking or shooting through. (The Sun Also Rises)
lorgnon a single or double eyeglass, as a monocle or pince-nez. (The Sun Also Rises)
lorry British for truck. (Hemingway's Short Stories)
Lourdes a town in southwestern France to which Roman Catholics travel so as to be healed of injuries, illnesses, and so on. (The Sun Also Rises)
louts awkward and stupid people. (Hemingway's Short Stories)
LOVE Note that Brett's telegram is signed with her name only. Though profoundly attracted to Jake, she is perhaps incapable of love. (The Sun Also Rises)
Loyola any of a number of colleges and universities named for Saint Ignatius de Loyola, founder of the Society of Jesus, commonly known as the Jesuits. (The Sun Also Rises)
luge a small racing sled on which one or two riders lie face up with the feet forward. (A Farewell to Arms)
Luino, Cannero, Cannobio, Tranzano . . . Brissago . . . Monte Tamara towns and villages along the shore of Lake Maggiore. (A Farewell to Arms)
Luxembourg gardens formal gardens behind the Palais du Luxembourg, west of the Latin Quarter. (The Sun Also Rises)
Lyons the English name for Lyon, a city in east-central France, at the juncture of the Rhone and Salone rivers. (The Sun Also Rises)
the Lyrico Milanese theater. (A Farewell to Arms)
M.O.B. Montreaux Oberland Bernois railway. (A Farewell to Arms)
Mackinaw coat a short, double-breasted coat of heavy, plaid woolen material. (Hemingway's Short Stories)
the Madeleine a church at the opposite end of the Rue Royal from the Place de la Concorde, on the Right Bank. (The Sun Also Rises)
MADRID the capital of Spain, in the central part. (The Sun Also Rises)
maggiore (Italian) major. (A Farewell to Arms)
magnum a wine bottle holding about 1.5 liters, about twice as much as the usual bottle. (The Sun Also Rises)
Magyar a member of the people constituting the main ethnic group in Hungary. (A Farewell to Arms)
Malaga a seaport in southern Spain, on the Mediterranean. (The Sun Also Rises)
Malagueño (Spanish) native to or typical of Malaga. (The Sun Also Rises)
the male English Because he speaks English (and perhaps because of his clipped, curt manner) the woman has mistakenly assumed that Jake is from England rather than America. (The Sun Also Rises)
mama mia (Italian) my mother. (A Farewell to Arms)
Mannlicher an expensive German hunting rifle. (Hemingway's Short Stories)
man-of-war bird a large, tropical bird with extremely long wings and tail and a hooked beak. (The Old Man and the Sea)
marc the brandy distilled from the refuse of grapes, seeds, other fruits, etc. after pressing; the French counterpart to grappa. (A Farewell to Arms and Hemingway's Short Stories)
margaux Chateau Margaux, a French wine. (A Farewell to Arms)
marlin any of several large, slender, deep-sea billfishes. (The Old Man and the Sea)
marsala a dry or sweet, amber-colored fortified wine made in western Sicily. (A Farewell to Arms)
Martin Johnson an American hunter and motion picture producer who made many films about big game hunts. (Hemingway's Short Stories)
Marvell Andrew Marvell (1621@nd78), English poet. (A Farewell to Arms)
masthead the top part of a ship's mast. (The Old Man and the Sea)
Mathiaga Club a big game hunters club in Nairobi, Kenya. White hunters are professional hunters/guides who arrange and accompany clients on big game hunts, or safaris. (Hemingway's Short Stories)
Mattarone Italian name for the Matterhorn, a mountain in the Pennine Alps, on the Swiss-Italian border. (A Farewell to Arms)
mattock a tool for loosening the soil, digging up and cutting roots, and so on; it is like a pickaxe but has a flat, adz-shaped blade on one or both sides. (The Sun Also Rises)
McGraw John J. McCraw, manager of the New York Giants. (Hemingway's Short Stories)
mechano-therapy the treatment of disease, injuries, etc. by using mechanical devices, massage, etc. (A Farewell to Arms)
Medaglia d'argento (Italian) silver medal. (A Farewell to Arms)
Memsahib "Lady" in Swahili; a title of respect derived from a Hindu word. (Hemingway's Short Stories)
Memsahib a Hindustani word meaning "lady." (Hemingway's Short Stories)
Mencken H.L. (1880-1956); U.S. writer, editor, and critic. (The Sun Also Rises)
mess a group of people who regularly have their meals together. (A Farewell to Arms)
mess tins portable metal plates, bowls, and cups, for eating on the march or on the battlefield. (A Farewell to Arms)
Mestre a town in northeast Italy, just northwest of Venice. (A Farewell to Arms)
Metternich Prince von (1773@nd1859), Austrian statesman and diplomat. (A Farewell to Arms)
middleweight a boxer between a junior middleweight and a super middleweight, with a maximum weight of 160 pounds. (The Sun Also Rises)
Mike Gonzalez catcher for the Cardinals (1916@nd1918, 1924) and a native of Cuba. (The Old Man and the Sea)
Milano Italian name for Milan; a commune in northwestern Italy, in Lombardy. (The Sun Also Rises)
milt fish sperm, along with seminal fluid. (Hemingway's Short Stories)
miniature-painter a painter of very small paintings, especially portraits, done on ivory, vellum, and so on. (The Sun Also Rises)
minnenwerfer (German) literally, "mine-thrower." (A Farewell to Arms)
Modena commune in Emilia-Romagna region of north Italy. (A Farewell to Arms)
Monfalcone town in present-day northeast Italy, between the Isonzo River and the Gulf of Trieste. At the time during which the story takes place, it lay within the boundaries of Austria-Hungary. (A Farewell to Arms)
monkey suit (slang) a uniform. (A Farewell to Arms)
monsieur (French) sir, mister. (The Sun Also Rises)
Monte Carlo a town in Monaco; gambling resort. (The Sun Also Rises)
Montereau town in northern France, on the Seine southeast of Paris. (The Sun Also Rises)
Montmartre a district of Paris, in the northern part; noted for its cafés and as an artists' quarter. (The Sun Also Rises)
Montreaux a town in west Switzerland, on Lake Geneva. (A Farewell to Arms)
moraine a mound, ridge, or mass of rocks, gravel, sand, clay, and so on carried and deposited directly by a glacier along its side (lateral moraine), at its lower end (terminal moraine), or beneath the ice (ground moraine). (The Sun Also Rises)
mosquito bar a net on a bar hung over a cot to keep out insects, particularly mosquitoes. (Hemingway's Short Stories)
mosquito boots loose boots into which trousers are tucked. (Hemingway's Short Stories)
Mosquito Coast region on the Caribbean coast of Honduras and Nicaragua. (The Old Man and the Sea)
motor automobile. (The Sun Also Rises)
Mucha suerte (Spanish) Much luck. (The Sun Also Rises)
mufti ordinary clothes, especially worn by one who normally wears, or has long worn, a military or other uniform. (A Farewell to Arms)
muleta (Spanish) a red flannel cloth draped over a stick and manipulated by the matador in his series of passes. (The Sun Also Rises)
Mumms a brand of Champagne. (The Sun Also Rises)
Munich a city in southeast Germany, capital of the state of Bavaria. (A Farewell to Arms)
Mürren alpine resort. (A Farewell to Arms)
musette a small bag of canvas or leather for toilet articles, etc., worn suspended from a shoulder strap. (A Farewell to Arms)
mustard gas an oily, highly flammable liquid; it was used during World War I as a chemical weapon. (Hemingway's Short Stories)
Muy Buenos (Spanish) Very Good. (The Sun Also Rises)
muzzle of a sawed-off shotgun the firing end of the gun. (Hemingway's Short Stories)
Nada (Spanish) Nothing. (The Sun Also Rises)
Nairobi the capital of Kenya. (Hemingway's Short Stories)
Nansen Fridtjof Nansen (1861-1938), Norwegian Arctic explorer, scientist, statesman, and humanitarian. During the period that Hemingway was writing this story, Nansen was high commissioner of refugees for the League of Nations. (Hemingway's Short Stories)
Navarrais from the province of Navarra, in northeastern Spain. (The Sun Also Rises)
Negre Joyeaux, Café Aux Amateurs Latin Quarter cafés. (The Sun Also Rises)
New York Herald a now-defunct daily newspaper. (The Sun Also Rises)
The News of the World a British tabloid newspaper. (A Farewell to Arms)
Ney Michel Ney, Duc D'Elchingen, Prince de La Muskova (1769-1815); French military leader under Napoleon I; executed. (The Sun Also Rises)
Niagara Falls a large waterfall on the Niagara River, between New York State and Canada; a traditional honeymoon destination. (A Farewell to Arms)
nickelled plated in nickel. (The Sun Also Rises)
Nix (Slang) no. (The Sun Also Rises)
Normal school a school, usually with a two-year program, for training high school graduates to be elementary schoolteachers. (A Farewell to Arms)
the Norte station a Madrid railroad station where trains from the north arrive. (The Sun Also Rises)
Notre Dame a Catholic university located in South Bend, Indiana. (The Sun Also Rises)
Notre Dame a famous early Gothic cathedral in Paris, built between 1163 and 1257; in full, Notre Dame de Paris. (The Sun Also Rises)
Nouvelle Revue Française (French) New French Revision. (The Sun Also Rises)
Nuestra Señora de Roncesvalles Our Lady of Roncesvalles. (The Sun Also Rises)
oakum loose, stringy hemp fiber gotten by taking apart old ropes and treated with tar, used as a caulking material. (The Old Man and the Sea)
observation balloons During World War I, military observers often ascended in balloons to observe the battle preparations of the enemy from aloft. (A Farewell to Arms)
odor Gangrene is literally a putrefaction, emitting a horrible, rotten stench. (Hemingway's Short Stories)
of title titled, having a title, especially of nobility. (The Sun Also Rises)
offal intestines or waste parts of butchered fish. (Hemingway's Short Stories)
An old lady's bags did that Mike either fell down or got into a fight, because he is drunk. (The Sun Also Rises)
on permission on leave. (A Farewell to Arms)
one of these bitches that ruins children an older woman who corrupts young men. (The Sun Also Rises)
Opéra L'Opera Garnier, rococo opera house created by Charles Garnier. (The Sun Also Rises)
Ospedale Maggiore the great hospital in Milan, which is the setting of part of Hemingway's A Farewell to Arms. (The Sun Also Rises)
Othello with his occupation gone The hero of Shakespeare's tragedy Othello commands the Venetian forces who travel to Cypress to fight the Turks. Othello's wife, Desdemona, dies near the conclusion of the play. (A Farewell to Arms)
Ouchy town near Lausanne, in west Switzerland. (A Farewell to Arms)
paddock an enclosure at a racetrack, where horses are saddled. (A Farewell to Arms)
Padiglione Ponte Ponte Pavilion, apparently the wing of the hospital where Jake was treated. (The Sun Also Rises)
Padiglione Zonda another hospital pavilion. (The Sun Also Rises)
Palermo a seaport and the capital of Sicily, on the north coast. (A Farewell to Arms)
Pallanza a town on the shore of Lake Maggiore. (A Farewell to Arms)
Pamplona a city in Navarre, in northeastern Spain. (The Sun Also Rises)
Pantheon quarter the Left Bank district surrounding the Pantheon, a "Temple of Fame" where Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Victor Hugo, Emile Zola, and others are buried. (The Sun Also Rises)
pari-mutuel a system of betting on races in which those backing the winners divide, in proportion to their wagers, the total amount bet, minus a percentage for the track operators, taxes, etc. (A Farewell to Arms)
pas encore (French) not really. (A Farewell to Arms)
paseo (Spanish) a leisurely walk, especially in the evening; stroll. (The Sun Also Rises)
Paseo de Sarasate a park in the center of Pamplona. (The Sun Also Rises)
pasta asciutta (Italian) dry pasta. (A Farewell to Arms)
patronne (French) proprietress. (The Sun Also Rises)
Paul Verlaine French poet (1844-96); considered one of the greatest poets of the nineteenth century. (Hemingway's Short Stories)
peat decayed, partly decomposed grass and weeds matter found in bogs; it is used for fertilizer. (Hemingway's Short Stories)
pelota jai alai; a game like handball, played with a curved basket fastened to the arm, for catching the ball and hurling it against the wall. (The Sun Also Rises)
pelouse (French) lawn. (The Sun Also Rises)
percale fine, closely woven cotton cloth. (The Sun Also Rises)
Pernod a particular brand of anise, a French or Spanish liqueur flavored with aniseed. (The Sun Also Rises)
peroxide a substance such as sodium peroxide that cleanses a wound. (Hemingway's Short Stories)
pesage (French) paddock. (The Sun Also Rises)
pesata a coin of small value. (Hemingway's Short Stories)
peseta the basic monetary unit of Spain. (The Sun Also Rises)
petcock a small faucet or valve. (A Farewell to Arms)
Petite Correspondance (French) little correspondence; letters to the editor. (The Sun Also Rises)
Piacenza commune in north Italy, in Emilia-Romagna, on the Po River. (A Farewell to Arms)
picador in bullfighting, any of the horsemen who weaken the neck muscles of the bull by pricking with a lance. (The Sun Also Rises)
Piccadilly a street in London, England; traditional center of fashionable shops, clubs, and hotels. (The Sun Also Rises)
pidgin a mixed language, or jargon, incorporating the vocabulary of one or more languages with a very simplified form of the grammatical system of one of these and not used as the main language of any of its speakers. (A Farewell to Arms)
piece (Slang) a woman regarded as a sexual partner. (The Sun Also Rises)
pie-eyed (Slang) intoxicated, drunk. (The Sun Also Rises)
pirotecnico (Spanish) fireworks. (The Sun Also Rises)
piste (Italian) tracks or trails. (A Farewell to Arms)
Place de la Contrescarpe, Rue Mouffetard, Aveue des Gobelins streets between St. Etienne du Mont and Parc Montsouris, on the Left Bank of the Seine. (The Sun Also Rises)
plankton the usually microscopic animal and plant life found floating or drifting in the ocean or in bodies of fresh water, used as food by nearly all aquatic animals. (The Old Man and the Sea)
plat du jour (French) special of the day. (A Farewell to Arms)
Plava town on the Isonzo River, in present-day Slovenia. (A Farewell to Arms)
a plug of tobacco a dense piece of chewing tobacco. (Hemingway's Short Stories)
pontoon bridge a temporary bridge supported by flat-bottom boats, or some other floating objects, such as hollow cylinders. (A Farewell to Arms)
Pope Pope Benedict XV (d. 1922), pope from 1914@nd22. (A Farewell to Arms)
Por ustedes (Spanish) For you (The Sun Also Rises)
Pordenone a town in northeast Italy, between the Piave and Tagliamento Rivers. (A Farewell to Arms)
Porta feriti! (Italian) Take the wounded! (A Farewell to Arms)
Porta Magenta one of the gates of the city of Milan. (A Farewell to Arms)
porto port, a sweet fortified wine usually served after a meal. (The Sun Also Rises)
Portogruaro a town in northeast Italy, just south of San Vito al Tagliamento. (A Farewell to Arms)
Portuguese man-of-war a large, warm-sea jellyfish that floats on the water and has long, dangling tentacles with powerful stinging cells. (The Old Man and the Sea)
posada (Spanish) an inn. (The Sun Also Rises)
poules (French) literally, hen; slang for prostitute. (The Sun Also Rises)
prepped attended a preparatory school. (The Sun Also Rises)
President Coolidge (John) Calvin (1872-1933); thirtieth President of the U.S. (1923-1929). (The Sun Also Rises)
Prince of Wales (1894-1972); son of George V; Duke of Windsor; later king of England, as Edward VIII; abdicated. (The Sun Also Rises)
Princeton an Ivy League university located in the town of Princeton, in central New Jersey. (The Sun Also Rises)
Puerta del Sol (Spanish) Gate of the Sun, in the very center of Madrid. (The Sun Also Rises)
purée de marron chestnuts ground or mashed until smooth. (A Farewell to Arms)
Purissimo very pure. (A Farewell to Arms)
puttees coverings for the lower leg, in the form of a cloth or leather gaiter, or cloth strips wound spirally. (A Farewell to Arms)
Pyrenees a mountain range along the French-Spanish border. (The Sun Also Rises)
Quai de Bethune a street on the Ile St.-Louis. (The Sun Also Rises)
Quai d'Orleans a street on the Ile St.-Louis. (The Sun Also Rises)
Quai d'Orsay a street running alongside the Left Bank of the Seine, north of the Invalides district (The Sun Also Rises)
the Quarter the Latin Quarter, a section of Paris south of the River Seine where many artists and students live. (The Sun Also Rises)
quay a wharf, usually of concrete or stone, used for loading and unloading ships. (A Farewell to Arms)
Que va (Spanish) No way. (The Old Man and the Sea)
quelqu'une (French) such a one. (The Sun Also Rises)
quid slang for the British pound, a currency that @md at the time of this story @md was worth approximately five dollars. (Hemingway's Short Stories)
an R.G. Dun report precursor of Dun & Bradstreet, an agency furnishing subscribers with information as to the financial standing and credit rating of businesses. (The Sun Also Rises)
rapier a slender, two-edged sword with a large, cupped hilt. (The Old Man and the Sea)
a review of the Arts a journal, perhaps published quarterly and probably containing fiction, poetry and criticism. (The Sun Also Rises)
Rhone a river flowing from southwest Switzerland south through France into the Gulf of Lions. (A Farewell to Arms)
Richard Feverel an 1859 novel by the British author George Meredith. (Hemingway's Short Stories)
Riff a mountain range along the northeastern coast of Morocco, extending from the Strait of Gibraltar to the Algerian border. (The Sun Also Rises)
Rigel a supergiant, multiple star, usually the brightest star in the constellation Orion. (The Old Man and the Sea)
riparto (Italian) division. (A Farewell to Arms)
the Ritz a Parisian hotel founded by Cesar Ritz (1850-1918), Swiss hotel owner. (The Sun Also Rises)
rivederci, a rivederla (Italian) until we meet again; goodbye: implies temporary parting. (A Farewell to Arms)
Rockefeller John D(avison) (1839-1937); U.S. industrialist and philanthropist. (The Sun Also Rises)
Roncesvalles a pass through the Pyrenees, near the French border in the Navarra province of Spain, utilized often by pilgrims from Paris to Santiago de Compostela. (The Sun Also Rises)
Roncevaux French name for Roncesvalles. (The Sun Also Rises)
Ronda a town in the province of Andalusia, in southern Spain. (The Sun Also Rises)
the Rotonde a café that still stands on the Boulevard du Montparnasse. (The Sun Also Rises)
ruddy a euphemism for bloody (British Informal); confounded. (The Sun Also Rises)
Rue de Cardinal Lemoine a street in the Latin Quarter (The Sun Also Rises)
Rue de la Montagne Sainte Geneviève a street in the Latin Quarter. (The Sun Also Rises)
Rue de Rivoli a boulevard that parallels the Seine, on Paris's right bank. (The Sun Also Rises)
Rue Denfert-Rochereau a street on the Left Bank. (The Sun Also Rises)
Rue des Pyramides a street connecting the Avenue de l'Opera with the Rue de Rivoli. (The Sun Also Rises)
Rue des Saints Pères a street on the Left Bank, perpendicular to the Boulevard St. Germain. (The Sun Also Rises)
Rue du Faubourg Montmartre chic a particular kind of Parisian stylishness. (The Sun Also Rises)
Rue du Pot de Fer a street in the Latin Quarter. (The Sun Also Rises)
Rue Saint Jacques a street in the Latin Quarter. (The Sun Also Rises)
Rue Soufflot a street running from the Luxembourg gardens to the Pantheon. (The Sun Also Rises)
sabre a heavy cavalry sword with a slightly curved blade. Swords were rendered largely ineffectual by the development of firearms, thus Catherine's reference is ironic. (A Farewell to Arms)
a Saint Anthony a St. Anthony medal. St. Anthony of Padua is the Roman Catholic patron saint of miracles. He is also a patron saint of Italy. (A Farewell to Arms)
Saint Jean de Luz a seacoast town in the Basque region of France, near the Spanish border. (The Sun Also Rises)
"Saint Paul . . . was a rounder and a chaser and then when he was no longer hot he said it was no good. When he was finished he made the rules for those of us who are still hot." According the Book of Acts in the New Testament, St. Paul was originally a persecutor of Christians named Saul; he saw Jesus Christ on the road to Damascus and was converted. (A Farewell to Arms)
Saint Paul the Apostle Paul. (A Farewell to Arms)
San Dona town on the Piave River, in Italy just east of Venice. (A Farewell to Arms)
San Fermines Fiesta de San Fermín, which lasts from noon on July 6 to 14 every year. (The Sun Also Rises)
San Gabriele town near the present-day border between Italy and Slovenia. (A Farewell to Arms)
San Sebastian a seaport in the Basque region of northern Spain. (The Sun Also Rises)
San Siro a famous Milan racetrack. (A Farewell to Arms)
San Vito San Vito al Tagliamento, a town to the west of the River Tagliamento in northeast Italy. (A Farewell to Arms)
sans voir French for the concept of "not seeing." (Hemingway's Short Stories)
Sargasso weed floating brown algae found in tropical seas and having a main stem with flattened outgrowths like leaves, and branches with berry-like air sacs. (The Old Man and the Sea)
saucers In various cities in Europe, drinks are served on saucers; when refills are ordered, saucers are placed atop one another; when one pays the bill, the waiter counts the number of saucers. (Hemingway's Short Stories)
Savoia region in southeast France, on the borders of Italy and Switzerland: a former duchy and part of the kingdom of Sardinia: annexed by France (1860). (A Farewell to Arms)
scad (Informal) a very large number or amount. (The Sun Also Rises)
schutzen (German) marksmen. (A Farewell to Arms)
Schwarzwald The Black Forest of Bavaria, in the southern part of Germany. (Hemingway's Short Stories)
screens of corn-stalk and straw matting and matting over the top used here as camouflage. (A Farewell to Arms)
scythe a tool with a long, single-edged blade set at an angle on a long, curved handle, used in cutting long grass, grain, and so on, by hand. (The Old Man and the Sea)
Seine a river in northern France, flowing northwest through France into the English Channel. (The Sun Also Rises)
Senlis a town in northern France, northeast of Paris. (The Sun Also Rises)
Señor Mr.; sir; a Spanish title of respect. (The Sun Also Rises)
sergeant-adjutant a staff officer who serves as an administrative assistant to the commanding officer. (A Farewell to Arms)
seventy-sevens shells fired by the Austrians. (A Farewell to Arms)
shakes (Slang) ability, importance, and so on. (The Sun Also Rises)
shanties crudely built cabins, or shacks. (Hemingway's Short Stories)
She did not knock implies that Brett and Romero are intimate. (The Sun Also Rises)
sherry a Spanish fortified wine varying in color from light yellow to dark brown and in flavor from very dry to sweet. (A Farewell to Arms)
Sherry a Spanish fortified wine varying in color from light yellow to dark brown and in flavor from very dry to sweet. (The Sun Also Rises)
shot buckshot. (Hemingway's Short Stories)
shove it along (Slang) cut it out. (The Sun Also Rises)
shovel-nosed having a broad, flattened nose, head, or bill. (The Old Man and the Sea)
shrapnel an artillery shell filled with metal balls that explode in the air and rip into flesh. (Hemingway's Short Stories)
sight draft a means of wiring money overseas. (A Farewell to Arms)
Signor Tenente (Italian) Mr. Lieutenant. (A Farewell to Arms)
signorino (Italian) young master. (A Farewell to Arms)
simian of or like an ape or monkey. (The Sun Also Rises)
Simplon-Orient Also known as the Orient Express, it was, in its heyday, the most famous and elegant train on any continent. (Hemingway's Short Stories)
sinker a lead weight used in fishing. (The Sun Also Rises)
siphon siphon bottle, a heavy, sealed bottle with a tube on the inside connected at the top with a nozzle and valve which, when opened, allows the flow of pressurized, carbonated water contained within. (The Sun Also Rises)
skischule German for a skiing school. (Hemingway's Short Stories)
smistimento (Italian) sorting or shunting place. (A Farewell to Arms)
smooth-rolled before a bullfight, the sand of the bullring is flattened and smoothed by means of heavy rollers. (The Sun Also Rises)
the snake of reason a reference to the serpent in the story of the Garden of Eden, from the Book of Genesis in the Bible. (A Farewell to Arms)
SOL, SOL Y SOMBRA, and SOMBRA (Spanish) SUN, SUN AND SHADE, and SUN. (The Sun Also Rises)
some cylinders . . . a rubber mask attached to a tube apparatus for delivering nitrous oxide ("laughing gas"). (A Farewell to Arms)
Something the patronne's daughter said Presumably an insult regarding Georgette's profession. (The Sun Also Rises)
the Somme a river in north France, site of brutal fighting between Allied and German forces during World War I. (A Farewell to Arms)
sommelier the person in a restaurant or club who is responsible for the selection and serving of wines, especially with French cuisine; wine steward. (The Sun Also Rises)
the Sorbonne the University of Paris; specifically, the seat of the faculties of letters and science. (The Sun Also Rises)
Sorella (Italian) sister. (A Farewell to Arms)
sotto-tenente (Italian) second lieutenant. (A Farewell to Arms)
a sou any of several former French coins, especially one equal to five centimes. (The Sun Also Rises)
spaghetti course Sometimes called the primo piatto, or first course, it follows the antipasto in a traditional Italian meal and precedes the secundo piatto, or entrée. (A Farewell to Arms)
spile a heavy stake or timber driven into the ground as a foundation or support. (A Farewell to Arms)
the spilling open of the horses When the horses on which the picadors, or lancers, ride are gored by the bull, their entrails often fall out onto the floor of the bullring. (The Sun Also Rises)
Sporchissimo very dirty. (A Farewell to Arms)
sportif (French) sporting. (The Sun Also Rises)
sportifs the sporting kind. (Hemingway's Short Stories)
spraddle (blend of spread and straddle) (Informal or Dialectic) to spread (the legs) in a sprawling or straddling way. (The Sun Also Rises)
spring leaf curved plate that supports the vehicle above the suspension components and allows vertical suspension movement: also leaf spring; here the words are probaby presented in reverse order as they would be in Spanish. (The Old Man and the Sea)
sprinkling the streets wetting dirt streets to discourage clouds of dust from rising. (The Sun Also Rises)
Spur and Town and Country Two "high society" magazines. (Hemingway's Short Stories)
squaw an offensive term used to refer to a Native American woman or wife. (Hemingway's Short Stories)
St. Estephe a type of wine. (A Farewell to Arms)
St. Etienne du Mont a church on a hilltop northeast of the Pantheon, in the Latin Quarter of Paris. (The Sun Also Rises)
St. Ignace a resort town on the southeast part of the northern peninsula of Michigan. (Hemingway's Short Stories)
stazione (Italian) station. (A Farewell to Arms)
stern the rear part of a boat. (Hemingway's Short Stories)
stick bomb German hand grenades had handles; during World War II, the Allies often referred to them as "potato mashers." (Hemingway's Short Stories)
stick bombs hand grenades with handles. (Hemingway's Short Stories)
Strasbourg a city and port in northeastern France, on the Rhine. (The Sun Also Rises)
Strega an after-dinner drink. (A Farewell to Arms)
strega an Italian liqueur made from herbs and flowers. (The Sun Also Rises)
Stresa town on Lake Maggiore. (A Farewell to Arms)
strike the pull on the line by a fish seizing or snatching at bait. (A Farewell to Arms and The Sun Also Rises)
striking Here, the reference is to fish taking the bait. (Hemingway's Short Stories)
stud-book a register of purebred animals, especially racehorses. (The Sun Also Rises)
suckling unweaned. (The Sun Also Rises)
Sud (French) south, southerly. (The Sun Also Rises)
the Suizo a café or restaurant in Pamplona. (The Sun Also Rises)
summer-time the European equivalent of daylight savings time. (The Sun Also Rises)
Swahili the so-called "lingua franca," or universal language used through South Central Africa @md Kenya, Zaire, Tanzania, Zanzibar, and along the trading coast. Swahili is a mixture of native dialects (principally Bantu) with some Hindi, German, French and English added to it. (Hemingway's Short Stories)
swale a slightly lower tract of land either created or caused by running water. (Hemingway's Short Stories)
sweep a long oar (The Sun Also Rises)
Syndicat d'Initiative tourists' information bureau. (The Sun Also Rises)
synovial fluid the clear albuminous lubricating fluid secreted by the membranes of joint cavities, tendon sheaths, etc. (A Farewell to Arms)
Tafalla a town in Navarra, south of Pamplona. (The Sun Also Rises)
Tagliamento a river in the Venetia region of northeast Italy, to the west of Udine, that flows south to the Adriatic Sea. (A Farewell to Arms)
tannic tasting of tannins absorbed from grape skins and seeds and from oak barrels; somewhat bitter or astringent. (A Farewell to Arms)
Tell him Brett wants to come into @md the missing word or words are not precisely obvious, though clearly they are sexual in nature. (The Sun Also Rises)
templed again, according to Death in the Afternoon, temple is "the quality of slowness, suavity, and rhythm in a bullfighter's work." (The Sun Also Rises)
tenente (Italian) lieutenant. (A Farewell to Arms)
tenente-colonello (Italian) lieutenant-colonel. (A Farewell to Arms)
terasse (French) terrace or balcony. (The Sun Also Rises)
Ternova ridge in present-day Slovenia. (A Farewell to Arms)
that stick apparently, the Count uses a walking stick or cane. (The Sun Also Rises)
There's no hole in my side a reference to Jesus Christ, wounded in the side by a Roman spear. Henry's sacrilegious joke is inspired by his blistered palms, which recall Christ's stigmata. (A Farewell to Arms)
"They asked me if I would declare war on Turkey" Turkey became allied with the Central Powers (Germany and Austria-Hungary) after the start of World War I in 1914. (A Farewell to Arms)
Thrace A section of Greece, it was the scene of fighting between the Greeks and the Turks in 1922. (Hemingway's Short Stories)
three hundred fives 305-millimeter guns. (A Farewell to Arms)
three-handed bridge a version of the card game featuring three rather than the standard four players. (The Sun Also Rises)
thrown on every screen projected onto every movie screen. (The Sun Also Rises)
tiburon (Spanish) shark. (The Old Man and the Sea)
tick (Informal, chiefly British) credit; trust. (The Sun Also Rises)
tight (Slang) drunk. (The Sun Also Rises)
Tigres (Spanish) reference to the Detroit Tigers. (The Old Man and the Sea)
to the Crystal Palace, to the Cova, to Campari's, to Biffi's, to the galleria . . . the Gran Italia . . . the Scala Sites of interest around Milan. The galleria is the Victor Emmanuel Gallery, a glass-covered walkway lined with shops. La Scala is Milan's world-famous opera house. (A Farewell to Arms)
Tommies The reference is to the Thompson's gazelle, a small antelope. (Hemingway's Short Stories)
"Tomorrow maybe we'll sleep in @md " The dash replaces an obscenity. (A Farewell to Arms)
torero (Spanish) a bullfighter, especially a matador. (The Sun Also Rises)
Torino Italian name for Turin, commune in the Piedmont region of northwest Italy, on the Po River. (A Farewell to Arms)
Toro (Spanish) Bull. (The Sun Also Rises)
Tosca title of Puccini opera. (A Farewell to Arms)
Tour du Pays Basque (French) Circuit of the Basque Region. (The Sun Also Rises)
tourniquet any device for compressing a blood vessel to stop bleeding or control the circulation of blood to some part, as a bandage twisted about a limb and released at intervals. (A Farewell to Arms)
Tours a city in west-central France, on the Loire. (The Sun Also Rises)
translate to move from one place or condition to another; transfer. (The Sun Also Rises)
Treatments . . . for bending the knees, mechanical treatments, baking in a box of mirrors with violet rays, massage, and baths examples of mechano-therapy mentioned in Chapter XII. (A Farewell to Arms)
trench a long, narrow ditch dug by soldiers for cover and concealment, with the removed earth heaped up in front. Protracted trench warfare was characteristic of World War I, especially on the Western Front, in France. (A Farewell to Arms)
the Trentino region of north Italy. (A Farewell to Arms)
très (French) very. (The Sun Also Rises)
Trieste seaport in present-day northeast Italy, on an inlet (Gulf of Trieste) of the Adriatic Sea. At the time during which the story takes place, it lay within the boundaries of Austria-Hungary. (A Farewell to Arms)
trolling fishing by trailing a baited line from behind a slow-moving boat. (Hemingway's Short Stories)
tromper (French) to trick (The Sun Also Rises)
Tuileries the Jardin des Tuileries, public gardens on the right bank of the Seine. (The Sun Also Rises)
Turgenieff Ivan Sergeevich Turgenev (1818-1883); Russian novelist. (The Sun Also Rises)
"two other things; one is bad for my work and the other is over in half an hour or fifteen minutes." drinking and sex, presumably. (A Farewell to Arms)
Udine a commune (that is, the smallest administrative district of local government) between the Tagliamento and Isonzo Rivers in the Venetia region of northeast Italy. (A Farewell to Arms)
un espuela de hueso a bone spur. (The Old Man and the Sea)
V.A.D. Volunteer Air Detachment. (A Farewell to Arms)
V.A.D. Volunteer Air Detachment. (The Sun Also Rises)
V.E. soldiers troops fighting on the Italian side. (A Farewell to Arms)
Ça va bien? (French) Are you doing well? (A Farewell to Arms)
Vaya! (Spanish) Go! (The Sun Also Rises)
Vengo Jueves (Spanish)I come Thursday. (The Sun Also Rises)
the ventral fin A fin situated on or close to the abdomen of a fish. (Hemingway's Short Stories)
vermouth a sweet or dry, white fortified wine flavored with aromatic herbs, used in cocktails and as an aperitif. (A Farewell to Arms)
vermouth a sweet or dry, white fortified wine flavored with aromatic herbs, used in cocktails and as an aperitif. (The Sun Also Rises)
Verona town in Veneto region of north Italy. (A Farewell to Arms)
veronica a move in which the matador holds a cape out and pivots slowly as the bull charges past it. (The Sun Also Rises)
very Ritz very fancy. (The Sun Also Rises)
Veuve Cliquot a brand of champagne. (The Sun Also Rises)
Vevey a town in west Switzerland, on Lake Geneva. Significantly, it is the setting at the start of Henry James's Daisy Miller, a story that ends with the tragic death of its heroine. (A Farewell to Arms)
Via Manzoni a street in Milan. (A Farewell to Arms)
Vicenza commune in north Italy. (A Farewell to Arms)
vieux marc (French) literally, old dregs or grounds. An after-dinner drink. (The Sun Also Rises)
Villa San Giovanni, Messina, Taormina various locales in Italy. (A Farewell to Arms)
Virgin of Cobre reference to the statue of Our Lady of La Caridad de Cobre (Our Lady of Charity at Cobre), the most venerated in all of Cuba. (The Old Man and the Sea)
"Viva la Pace!" (Italian) "Long live peace!" (A Farewell to Arms)
Vive la France (French) Long live France. (A Farewell to Arms)
Voix The reference is to the town of Charlevoix, located in northern Michigan. (Hemingway's Short Stories)
Vorarlberg, Arlberg winter resorts in the Austrian Tirol country. (Hemingway's Short Stories)
W.H. Hudson William Henry Hudson (1841-1922), a writer raised in Argentina by American parents whose subjects include South America and England. (The Sun Also Rises)
wallahs persons connected with a particular thing or function. (A Farewell to Arms)
the war in Libya Libya was won by Italy from the Ottoman Empire in 1912. (A Farewell to Arms)
"We may drink @md " As before, the dash replaces an obscenity, in this case a slang reference to urine, most likely. (A Farewell to Arms)
we that live by the sword shall perish by the sword paraphrase of Matthew 26:52. (The Sun Also Rises)
"We will get Nice and Savoia from the French. We will get Corsica and all the Adriatic coast-line." The major is alluding to territories held at one time or another by Italian city-states but not currently in their possession. (A Farewell to Arms)
a week's mail stories Jake is a foreign correspondent for a North American newspaper. He refers here to his week's quota of articles to be mailed overseas. (The Sun Also Rises)
weinstube German for a tavern that specializes in various wines. (Hemingway's Short Stories)
Wengen a winter resort. (A Farewell to Arms)
"What are you eating meat for? . . . Don't you know it's Friday?" Traditionally, Roman Catholics refrain from eating meat on Friday. (A Farewell to Arms)
"What if I have it. Everybody has it. The whole world's got it. First . . . it's a little pimple. Then we notice a rash between the shoulders. Then we notice nothing at all. We put our faith in mercury." A description of the symptoms and treatment of syphilis. (A Farewell to Arms)
white elephant something of little or no value. (Hemingway's Short Stories)
white hands, wavy hair, white faces, grimacing, gesturing, talking a homosexual stereotype. (The Sun Also Rises)
wicket a small window or opening, as for a bank teller or in a box office. (The Sun Also Rises)
wildebeeste Dutch for wild beast, a form of gnu or antelope that is found in Africa. (Hemingway's Short Stories)
windy British slang for "nervous." (Hemingway's Short Stories)
wireless British for "radio." (Hemingway's Short Stories)
wistaria a twining woody vine or shrub of the pea family, with fruits that are pods and showy clusters of bluish, white, pink or purplish flowers. (A Farewell to Arms)
woodcock a migratory European shorebird, with short legs and a long bill: it is hunted as game. (A Farewell to Arms)
The Woolworth Building a New York skyscraper designed by Cass Gilbert and built in 1913; until 1931 it was the tallest building in the world. The Woolworth Building was known as the "cathedral of commerce," which makes Catherine's desire to go there vaguely ironic after her refusal to enter the actual cathedral in Milan. (A Farewell to Arms)
wop (slang) an Italian or a person of Italian descent: an offensive term of hostility and contempt. (A Farewell to Arms)
Would you mind opening it? Mike is too drunk too open his own beer bottle. (The Sun Also Rises)
wound-stripes insignie, like the American Purple Heart, indicating that the wearer has been wounded in battle. (A Farewell to Arms)
yellow jack an edible, gold-and-silver marine jack fish found near Florida and the West Indies. (The Old Man and the Sea)
You . . . have given more than your life Jake has made what the Italian liaison colonel considers the ultimate sacrifice: he was castrated in battle. (The Sun Also Rises)
You've been in the war This seems to imply that Bill is not a veteran, and yet he has referred to being in France at the end of the war; an apparent contradiction. Perhaps Bill was covering the war as a newspaper correspondent. (The Sun Also Rises)
zabaione a frothy dessert or sauce made of eggs, sugar, and wine, typically Marsala, beaten together over boiling water. (A Farewell to Arms)
Zona di Guerra (Italian) war zone. (A Farewell to Arms)
Zurich capital of canton in north Switzerland, on the Lake of Zurich. (A Farewell to Arms)