| A | B |
|---|
| Stave | The divisions of the book, just like a composer of a song or carol |
| the Ward | An officer working in one of the twenty-six parishes of London |
| Scrooge | Slang term for squeeze or crowd |
| Scrooge | Synonymous with the word miser |
| 'Change | The Royal Exchange. Means Scrooge has good credit with the bank |
| counting-house | Office |
| holly through the heart | In medieval times, it was customary to drive a stake of holly through the heart of a murderer |
| that extremity | Hell |
| married | Scrooge criticizes Fred for marrying before having substantial means |
| married | In Victorian England people were reprimanded for marrying before having a substantial income |
| Bedlam | Colloquial abbreviation for the Hospital of St. Mary of Bethelem, which opened in 1547 as an insane asylum |
| Bedlam | Synonym for general madness or insanity |
| Workhouses | Prisonlike dwellings in which the poor who received governmental support were forced to live |
| Workhouses | Residents of this place were separated from their family, fed meager meals, and given tedious grueling jobs |
| Treadmill | Circular wheel turned by force of worker's contiunous stepping |
| Treadmill | Torturous punishment for criminals, introduced in 1817 and in use until 1898 |
| Poor Law | Amendment Act of 1834 made it mandatory for the poor to enter workhouses to receive governmental support |
| flaring links | Torches used before the invention of street lamps |
| Mansion House | Home to the Lord Mayor of London, built in the mid 18th century |
| Saint Dunstan | An English monk, painter, jeweler and blacksmilth; became patron saint of blacksmiths, locksmiths |
| God rest you merry gentlemen, let nothing you dismay! | Lines from song in William Sandy's collection "Christmas Carols, Ancient Modern 1833 |
| Camden Town | Poor suburb northeast of London |
| Blin-man's buff | A popular game with one blind folded play whose goal is to guess whom he catches |
| Genius of the Weather | Guardian Spirit, also called the "clerk of the weather" |
| dip | candle |
| lumber-room | storeroom |
| hob | An iron plate attached to a fireplace gate where a kettle could be warmed |
| swallowed up the whole | Exodus 8:8-12 Aaron's serpent swallows pharaoh's serpent, signifying the power of his deity over Egyptian magic |
| Marley has no bowels | Bowels were believed to signify compassion |
| round his head | Corpses' heads were often bound up to keep the mouth from dropping open |
| It comes from other religions | Heaven, where Marley has NOT been |
| Stave | verse or stanzas |
