Happy Wednesday — it’s time for some new words! You know how this works – share a few words from your current book that you had to look up, then head over to Bermuda Onion’s Weblog to learn some new ones.

This week, my words are from Serving Victoria: Life in the Royal Household by Kate Hubbard, a really interesting book about the men and women who served Queen Victoria. I set this aside for a while and now I am deeply engrossed again.

1. Caparisoned – (of a horse)  decked out in rich decorative coverings.

“…twelve ‘Wouwerman-like fat, jumping horses, very much caparisoned.”

2. Charabancs – an early form of bus, used typically for pleasure trips

“Guests were transported to the Foret d’Eu in the hideously uncomfortable charabancs.”

3. Shiels – stone huts

4. Gillies –  a man or boy who attends someone on a hunting or fishing expedition

“In pursuit of further seclusion, a couple of shiels (stone huts used by the gillies) at Allt-na-Guibhsauch, some five miles away from the castle, had been turned into a retreat.”

5. Sepoy – an Indian soldier serving under British or other European orders.

“…cartridges for the new Enfield rifles, which the sepoys were required to bite, had been greased with both cow and pig fat, this offending both the Hindus and Muslims.”