THE AUTUMN OF THE HEROES
1David C. Hall
When Lucius Severus awokei that night in the dark there was a moment when he did not even know who he was. But it passed. When his eyes had grown accustomed to the dark he could distinguish the silhouette of the woman at his side, but he felt so alone he did not even want to embrace her.
“That’s the time old men tend to die,” his doctor had told him once, years before. “The body is wise, Lucius, much wiser than you or I. As you get older, you’ll begin to wake up at that hour more often, perhaps just to confirm that you’re still alive.”
And the doctor had laughed. He was a thin, bony old man, with sunken cheeksii and foul2 smelling breath. So used to dealing with death that he was more friend to it than to the living.
A few days before, Lucius had gone out, as was his custom at that time of year, to hunt boar. And today, if dawn ever came, he would eat the animal he had killed. He remembered the smell of the woods, the crackle of dead leaves underfoot, the noise of the dogs, wild with eagerness and fear, the harsh sound of his own breath as he ran, the men waiting, leaving it to him to give the death blow with his spear. It was a formidable beast this year, clever, far cleverer, evidently, than the dogs, killing two of them before they cornered him. Had he been afraid at some point? Perhaps. But he knew his slaves would ensure nothing happened to him.
“Who are you trying to convince,” his cousin Alexander had asked him when he returned home, bone tirediii, filthy but smiling, “your young wife or yourself?”
Poor Alexander.
And as he imagined the taste and smell of the stewed boar that he would eat in a few hours, Lucius Severus went back to sleep.
In the morning he saw off his wife, who was going to visit her sister, who lived half a day’s journey away. She had put off the trip a number of times, for one reason or another, until he encouraged her to go before the cold weather set in.
He had been afraid that she would be bored in the country, but that had not happened. They had been happy, perhaps too happy. They kissed and stood for a moment looking at one another. Gazing at the fine lines around her eyes, it occurred to Lucius Severus that he would never see her face grow old, and he felt a sadness come over him that he had to make an effort to conceal. After that, when the cart that was
1© David C. Hall (2010) The Autumn of the Heroes, English version of El Otoño de los Héroes. Premio Pou de la Neu 2008. V.2.
2
foul adjective
/faȚl/ adj • extremely unpleasant Those toilets smell foul! I've had a foul day at work.
Why are you in such a foul mood this morning? What foul weather!
• describes speech or other language that is offensive, rude or shocking There's too much foul language on TV these days.
carrying her had disappeared into the woods and he had waved at her one last time, he went for a walk around the estate.
It was a clear day, with a cool wind and blue sky, and Lucius was surprised to find that he could still find a sharp, intense pleasure in the smell of the morning. He gazediv at the olive trees, heavy with fruit, and felt a pride in them, thinking of the barrels of oil that would come from the press that winter. He remembered how the Greeks, when at war, would uproot the olive trees in their enemies’ fields. How cruel, he thought, and how astute. Like tearing the soul from the earth.
Then, as he continued along the path that descended gently from the house and down into the forest of pines and oak trees, he noticed a cat following him. It was tiger-striped, black on grey, and small, probably not yet full grown. It stopped when Lucius looked at it and stood watching him, with curiosity but no sign of fear. There were always cats roaming the house and the terrain around it, and they were tolerated because they kept the vermin3 down, but they were normally skittish4, since the slaves were apt to kick them out of the way.
Lucius smiled and the cat ran on ahead of him for a while, then stopped suddenly, looking at something on the ground in front of it. Lucius saw a dun5 brown snake, not very big, stopped still, like the cat. It was an ordinary looking snake, undoubtedly harmless, but the cat, Lucius thought, had no reason to know that.
Abruptly, the snake began to move, sliding smoothly over the dust. When it had almost completely disappeared into the weedsv at the edge of the path, leaving no more than an inch or two of tail to be seen, the cat sprungvi forward, throwing out one pawvii in attack, but the snake was already gone. Then the cat turned with an air of satisfaction, proud of itself, as if to say it had done all it could.
What a clown, Lucius said to himself, smiling. A dog would probably have attacked the snake at once without thinking. The dog is a noble animal, he thought, remembering the two he had lost on his last hunt. The cat, on the other hand, calculates its possibilities, and is brave when it suits its purposes. But who would win if the two, cat and dog, were to compete to be lords of the world? It seemed clear enough.
He remembered then how when he was a child his grandmother had told him that seeing a snake in the morning would bring bad luck, bad luck that could only be avoided by cutting off the snake’s head and throwing its body into the fire. Just one of the old lady’s silly superstitions, he thought, since in spite of her wealth and family she had been a countrywoman at heart, but for an instant he felt a chill, as if a shadow had fallen across the sun.
When he raised his head the cat was gone. He saw a slave coming out of the pigstyviii down below, whistled ixto him, and the man came running as fast as he could. His body was deformed, probably from birth, hunchbacked6 and bandy-legged7, so that
3 Vermin adjective: alimañas feminine plural, bichos masculine plural, sabandijas feminine plural
http://www.merriam-webster.com/spanish/vermin
4 Skittish adjective: : asustadizo, nervioso http://www.merriam-webster.com/spanish/skittish
5 dun adjective
/dȜn/ adj of a greyish-brown colour (Definition of dun adjective from the Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary at http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/dun
6 Hunchbacked adjective: jorobado, giboso http://www.merriam-webster.com/spanish/hunchbacked
7
when he moved it was as if he were edging sideways, like a crab. His nose was flat, the mouth large, toothless and, apparently, always open. He bowedx and was about to kiss Lucius’s hand, but his master restrained him with a gesture.
“Have you finished feeding them?” he asked, nodding in the direction of the pigsty.
The swineherd8 moved his head, his lips seemed about to shape a word, but nothing came out of his mouth.
“You see that pine?” Lucius asked him, pointing to a tree on the top of a hill not far away. “Go up there and watch. If you see someone coming along the road, come and tell me at once. Do you understand?”
He saw the panic in the slave’s eyes and it occurred to him that though he had spent his whole life on the estate, the swineherd had probably never crossed the thresholdxi of the big house.
“Don’t worry. I’ll leave word with Paulus to let you in.”
Lucius went back to the house then and sat down with his overseer9. It promised to be, as always, a long and boring conversation. Three years had gone by since Lucius had moved to the country and taken charge of the estate, and the overseer was still afraid that he would discover that he had been stealing from him for years, something which Lucius, on his part, had never doubted. The overseer was a sly, spitefulxii and ignorant creature, and some years before Lucius had amused himself for a few weeks with his wife, who was good looking though not particularly clever, knowing that she would end up telling her husband about it and that he would have to swallow it in silence. Lucius had almost forgotten all that by this time, but the overseer almost certainly had not.
When he had finished with the overseer, he could no longer resist the temptation to go down to the kitchen, because the aroma of cooking had by then reached almost every corner of the house. The young slave girls went suddenly quiet and blushedxiii when he came in, but Lavinia, the cook, laughed, and her old face turned into a map full of wrinklesxiv.
“What is your highness 10doing here?” she demanded.
“Do I need a reason to come and see you, lovely as you are?” The old woman laughed again, while the girls went even redder.
“Let’s see how this is coming along,” their master said, pointing at the great black pot on the fire, which gave off a smell of cooking meat, herbs and wine so delicious that for a moment Lucius thought his eyes were about to fill with tears.
8
swineherdswine herd [countable] old use someone who looks after pigs
http://www.ldoceonline.com/dictionary/swineherd
9 overseer noun: supervisor masculine, -sora feminine; capataz masculine or feminine
http://www.merriam-webster.com/spanish/overseer
10 highness
noun
1 height: altura feminine
“It’s coming along as it should,” the cook told him. “You are master in this house, but in this kitchen, as long as I’m still alive, I am in charge. And you are not going to see or touch it until I say it’s ready.”
“You’re cruel, like most beauties.”
“And you know all about that, don’t you?”
She had been a young girl when he was only just beginning to walk and had taken care of him when he came to spend the summer months with his grandparents. When he was a boy she was already a young woman and smiled on remembering how she had bathed him when he was a child and not even so much of a child. Looking at her now he could still see, or imagined he could see, in spite of all the wrinkles, the face of a happy, mischievous girl, a bit of a flirt almost without realizing. She had had a husband, another slave, of course, long dead now, children. Perhaps even one of those girls helping her now was one of her own.
“Go on now,” the old woman said in a gentle tone, “We have work to do. It will be ready in an hour or so.”
He found Alexander on the terrace. The view was beautiful from there, fields and forest, the hills in the distance a green so deep it was almost blue.
“Let’s go inside,” he said when his cousin had greeted him. “It’s chilly.”
He ordered the servant to bring wine, olives and cheese, and they took their places before the fire. It was a spacious room, sparsely furnished, one wall painted with a scene of nymphs bathing in a stream, done in a style so naive that Lucius had always found it amusing.
“Have you gone by the kitchen?” his cousin asked. “How did you know?”
“I guessed.” “It smells divine.”
“The divine Lavinia,” Alexander said, with a hint of a smile.
“Yes,” Lucius replied while the stewardxv served them their wine and began to set the table. “Imagine, in Rome it’s not unusual to attend a supper of fourteen coursesxvi, not counting the desserts of course, each one more elaborate and amazing than the one before, and great cooks are more famous than poets. But I doubt if many of those dishes would be as tasty as what our Lavinia is preparing for us today.”
“Perhaps you’re exaggerating a bit.” “Always so careful, eh, Alexander?”
“It was you, not I, who frequented those suppers, remember?” “That’s true enough.”
“Though perhaps you paid more attention to your friends’ wives than to what you were eating.”
“No doubt,” Lucius admitted with a smile, though it was not a memory he was particularly fond of. As a young man he had been vainxvii and cruel, though no more so than any of the others of his circle. It had all been a game, dizzyingxviii and meaningless. He could remember the faces of the women he loved. Some were now dead, others had turned into respectable matronsxix, still others amused themselves with young actors or poets whom they promoted with their money and influence and glaredxx at the younger women they saw around them with ill-concealed hatred11.
“I admit there have been good cooks,” he went on, “and there still are some, but…”
11
“But you know very well that all your hosts were interested in was showing off their fortunes and ensuring that people would talk about them…”
“That’s so,” Lucius replied.
It was three years since he had been back to Rome and he didn’t miss it. He had been fed up when he left, fed up with streets that stankxxi of urine and bad sewers12, of the people he knew with their clothes, their jewels, their houses and their armies of slaves, their foolish smiles and the fear in their eyes, fear that someone was about to take all that away from them, their enemies, the Emperor, death itself.
The only thing that had bothered him, when he retired to the country, was the possibility that Julia would miss her friends and life in the capital. They had not been married long and they had scarcely known one another before the wedding. She was a young widow, from a good family but with practically no money. His wife had just died after a long illness. He was tired, indifferent.
“They’ll think I wanted to get you away from temptation,” he had said to her, half joking.
“Or that it’s you who’s running away from his lovers,” she answered. And he had noticed then that she had sad eyes but a mischievous13 smile.
Running away, he thought, gazing into the fire. If only one could. Then the steward announced they could take their places at the table.
The meal began with a salad of small leeks and onion, with fresh mint leaves, thymexxii, parsleyxxiii and soft cheese, crushed in the mortar and seasoned with black pepper and olive oil. Then came a dish of lentils with corianderxxiv, vinegar and honey. And finally the great serving dish loaded with stewed boar.
Lucius gazed at his plate for a moment, savouring the aroma. He had reached the age when good food brings back memories, one after another, and he wanted to linger over them for a moment before he began to eat.
“You were right,” Alexander said after they had eaten in silence for a few moments.
“In what way?”
“I would say Lavinia has surpassed herself.”
“I think so,” Lucius agreed. The meat had a strong flavour and even after being marinated for two days still had to be cooked for hours to avoid its coming out tough. He noticed the taste of cuminxxv, a touch of honey in the wine sauce.
“What would your Greek friends think if they saw you eating like this?” he asked his cousin. “Don’t they claim a man ought to put away the pleasures of the flesh if he wishes to attain the more exquisite pleasures of the mind?”
“Perhaps that was why I could never make a philosopher,” Alexander replied, and catching the edge of bitternessxxvi in his voice, Lucius regretted joking in that way. Poor Alexander. He had been a beautiful youth in his day, with a brilliant mind. He could have remained in Rome and led a life of luxury and amusement, but he had preferred Athens where he could study at the Academy. And there he had stayed, until Caesar had had his father killed, to get his villa so the story went, though he ended up, as usual, taking everything else as well. Alexander had been forced to return, poor and in disgrace. His friends of years before turned their backs on him, he was no longer
12
sewer alcantarilla feminine, cloaca feminine http://www.merriam-webster.com/spanish/sewer 13
beautiful, and he spent the little money he had left paying for his pleasure with young men who offered themselves in the most sordid quarters in the city.
When Lucius decided to move to the country he had invited him to accompany them. Julia was fond of him and enjoyed his conversation, particularly his bittersweet stories of his love affairs. He came and stayed. He spent the days sleeping, reading and chatting with the two of them. He was grateful and made an effort to be amusing and talkative. Only occasionally, when he forgot himself, would he let the sadness show in his glancexxvii.
“Lavinia told me once that it is not a particularly complicated dish,” Lucius said while they ate, “and I believe her. Complication is not necessarily the point, is it? We Romans let ourselves be taken in by virtuosity and ostentation. We have lost all taste for simplicity.”
“In this and in many other things.”
“I suspect I know what you’re referring to.” “Do you?”
“I do,” Lucius said, dipping bread in the sauce. “But isn’t it possible that this nostalgia for the Republic that we flaunt14 – a Republic that we have never known, by the way – is not just a pose that we imagine gives us a sense of our nobility, makes us interesting when we stand in front of the mirror?”
“You’re more sceptical than usual today, cousin,” Alexander replied. “You know very well what I think about the subject.”
“Oh yes. And it’s what I think as well. Or believed that I thought. But I suspect, in spite of myself, that in the end it may be true what they say, that the Empire cannot be governed by a Republic of free men.”
“One might ask then what the point of it is.”
“It serves, perhaps,” Lucius replied, “to make it possible for men like us to eat a plate of stewed boar like this and talk about things we know nothing about, which are the only things worth talking about. Isn’t that enough for you?”
“No,” his cousin said, sippingxxviii his wine.
“Didn’t your beloved Plato try to educate tyrants?”
“And Seneca too, as I remember,” Alexander responded with a smile. “Can you name anyone who has succeeded in doing so?”
“No. But that’s of no importance. A man who thinks must, from time to time, confront reality, in order to think it once again.”
“Your teachers taught you well,” Lucius said while the steward refilled his cup. “That’s a beautiful phrase.”
“I have no interest in making beautiful phrases.”
“I know, Alexander, I know. What was it Protagoras said about the gods?” “As to the gods,” Alexander replied, switching to Greek, “I cannot know whether they exist or not, nor, as regards their form, what they are like. Many things prevent me from knowing this: the difficulty of the question, for instance, and the shortness of men’s lives.”
“Yes, Lucius murmured, “which is a beautiful phrase as well. And if it were all no more than that? Beautiful phrases?”
“I don’t know what you mean,” Alexander said, intrigued. He could not remember ever hearing his cousin talk like that.
“No,” Lucius murmured and ate another piece of boar meat. He was almost finished, sated, and as tended to occur to him after experiencing any sort of sensual
14
pleasure, if he did not go to sleep at once, he began to feel a curious unease, a touch of inexplicable bitterness.
“Do you know why we love wine, Alexander?” “I know why I do.”
“Because it is the only thing that can, if only for a moment, make time stop.” The two of them had left off eating, and, with a glance, the steward asked Lucius if he should take away the platter.
“No, Paulus, leave it a moment, perhaps I’ll eat a bit more.”
“I couldn’t eat another bite,” Alexander announced, pattingxxix his little thin man’s belly.
“Tell me, Alexander…” Lucius began and then fell silent. The autumn afternoon was drawing to a close, the sky – what they could see of it – growing dark over the forest and the fields. Now there was the glow of the fire in the fireplace, the light from the oil lamps that the steward had discreetly lit.
“What is it that we want, Alexander?” Lucius went on after a moment. “What is it we have tried to do?”
“I don’t know,” the other man said after a long pause, “perhaps just to see things as they are.”
Lucius picked up his glass and drank. In the silence they could hear the wind coming up.
“Well said,” he pronounced finally. “Thank you.”
Shortly after that the swineherd came in. He had a frightenedxxx look on his face and was glancing from side to side, trying to take everything in at once, because he had never been in a house that was anything more than a hut15 and wanted to be able to tell about it afterwards.
“I saw…” he mumbled.
“Good,” Lucius interrupted. “I understand. You can go.” And then, when the slave, scuttling like a crab, had almost reached the door: “Wait.”
Lucius, rising from his chair, picked up a piece of boar meat with two fingers. “No doubt you’ve never eaten this before, and you’ll never eat it again. Open your mouth.”
The swineherd, after hesitating for an instant, obeyed, and Lucius poppedxxxi the piece of meat into his mouth and smiled as he watched him chewxxxii on it with the two or three molars he had left.
“Now go,” Lucius ordered. “I haven’t much time.” He turned to Alexander.
“In ten, fifteen minutes at most,” he said, “an officer will walk in here with an order for my arrest. I want you to entertain him for a while. I’ll tell Paulus to bring out another platter of meat.”
“No,” Alexander said, staring at him openmouthedxxxiii.
“I’ve been a soldier. I know what they’re like,” Lucius went on, one hand on his cousin’s shoulder. “There are tasks one cannot entrustxxxiv to a slave, however loyal he might be. Talk to him, give him some wine, a dish of the stewed boar, which, by the way, was superb, don’t you think?”
“It was,” Alexander said in a whisperxxxv, with his head lowered because he could not look him in the eye.
15
“Everything has been taken care of. You will have what you need to live well. Julia will have money. She’ll be able to marry again.”
“I’ll be alone.”
“We are all alone, Alexander.”
The philosopher took a few moments to raise his head. When he did, his eyes were bright with tears.
“Let me then, for once, kiss you on the mouth.” “What a fool you are, my friend.”
The officer entered with his helmet under his arm. He had left his escort outside with their horses. Later it would be necessary to feed all of them, find them somewhere to sleep, try to avoid their raping some unwary slave girl. The officer was a Praetorian, no longer young, with tired eyes and a face the colour and texture of old leather. He glanced at the table out of the corner of his eye, then spoke.
“I’m looking for Lucius Severus, by order of the Senate.” “You mean of Caesar,” Alexander corrected.
“I say what they tell me I’m supposed to say,” the officer replied.
“And you don’t think,” Alexander asked, filling a glass of wine and handing it to him.
“I think less and less,” the officer answered, accepting the glass, “and, you know, the less I think, the better things go for me.”
“I can see you are a man with good judgement,” Alexander said. “Do you like boar, I wonder?”
“I wouldn’t say no.”
“We were eating when suddenly my cousin found himself indisposed. Would you like to try a bit in the meantime? He’ll be back shortly.”
“Doesn’t seem like a bad idea,” the officer said, taking a chair. The steward set a plate in front of him and began to serve.
“Tell me,” Alexander went on, taking a sip of wine, “what’s the news from the capital?”
The officer finished his second dish of stewed boar, took a long swallow of wine and burped16.
“Excuse me,” he said. “So where is he?”
“This way,” Alexander told him. His voice was steady, but when he got to his feet he could feel the trembling in his legs.
The bathroom smelt of moisture17, the tiles were still wet, the knife on the floor, the water in bathtub the colour of wine. He had sliced his wrists and the jugular vein as well, and his head lay back. Alexander leaned over to look into his open eyes. He thought perhaps he might still be able to see something in them, but there was nothing but emptiness. He closed them with his fingertips, then covered his own eyes with his hand.
“I’ll tell them we got here too late,” the Praetorian said. “As always. Thank you. I believe that was the best boar I’ve ever eaten.”
© David C. Hall (2010) The Autumn of the Heroes, English version of El Otoño de los Héroes. Premio Pou de la Neu 2008. V.2.
16
burp [bǬəp] sustantivo 1. eructo (m) verbo intransitivo 2. eructar http://www.spanishdict.com/translate/burp 17
i awoke
awake past tense awoke past participle awoken [intransitive and transitive] 1 formal to wake up, or to make someone wake up:
It was midday when she awoke.
We awoke to a day of brilliant sunshine.
2 literary if something awakes an emotion, or if an emotion awakes, you suddenly begin to feel that emotion:
The gesture awoke an unexpected flood of tenderness towards her. awake something to
phrasal verb
to begin to realize the possible effects of a situation:
Artists finally awoke to the aesthetic possibilities of photography.
Definition from the Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English Advanced Learner's Dictionary. http://www.ldoceonline.com/dictionary/awake_2
ii
Sunken cheeks sunken adjective
/ˈsȜŋ.kən/ adj
• having fallen to the bottom of the sea They're diving for sunken treasure.
• at a lower level than the surrounding area It was a luxurious bathroom, with a sunken bath.
• (of eyes or cheeks) seeming to have fallen further into the face, especially because of tiredness, illness or old age
She looked old and thin with sunken cheeks and hollow eyes.
(Definition of sunken adjective from the Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary) http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/sunken
cheek noun ( FACE ) /tȓiˈk/ n
[C] the soft part of your face which is below your eye and between your mouth and ear The tears ran down her cheeks.
rosy cheeks
He embraced her, kissing her on both cheeks.
(Definition of cheek noun (FACE) from the Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary) http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/cheek_1
iii bone tired (see also dead tired)
bone-tired
(also bone-weary) adjective extremely tired
http://oxforddictionaries.com/view/entry/m_en_gb0091610#m_en_gb0091610
dead tired
Definition: extremely tired; exhausted
Explanation: Used when speaking about exhaustion at the end of a long hard day.
Examples: We were dead tired when we got back from our trip to Las Vegas. - He went straight to bed because he was dead tired.
http://esl.about.com/library/glossary/bldef_305.htm
iv gaze
gaze [intransitive always + adverb/preposition]
to look at someone or something for a long time, giving it all your attention, often without realizing you are doing so [= stare] gaze into/at etc
Nell was still gazing out of the window.
Patrick sat gazing into space (=looking straight in front, not at any particular person or thing). http://www.ldoceonline.com/dictionary/gaze_1
v weeds 2
weed noun: mala hierba feminine http://www.merriam-webster.com/spanish/weeds?show=0&t=1289319147
vi sprung
1spring
sprang or sprung, sprung, springing Translation of SPRING
intransitive verb 1leap : saltar
2: mover rápidamente <the lid sprang shut : la tapa se cerró de un golpe> <he sprang to his feet : se paró de un salto> 3 to spring up : brotar (dícese de las plantas), surgir
4to spring from : surgir de transitive verb
1release : soltar (de repente) <to spring the news on someone : sorprender a alguien con las noticias> <to spring a trap
: hacer saltar una trampa>
2 activate : accionar (un mecanismo) 3to spring a leak : hacer agua
vii paw
paw
noun [C]
the foot of certain animals, such as cats and dogs
paw (ALSO paw at) verb [T] to touch something with a paw
I could hear the dog pawing at the door
http://dictionaries.cambridge.org/define.asp?key=paw*1+0&dict=A
viii pigsty
pig.sty plural pigsties [countable]
1 a building where pigs are kept [= pigpen American English] 2 informal a very dirty or untidy place [= pigpen American English]
The house was a pigsty, as usual.
http://www.ldoceonline.com/dictionary/pigsty
ix whistle
whistle '(h)wis l
→ n. a clear, high-pitched sound made by forcing breath through a small hole between partly closed lips, or between one's teeth.
• a similar sound, esp. one made by a bird, machine, or the wind. • an instrument used to produce such a sound, esp. for giving a signal.
→ v. 1. [intrans.] emit a clear, high-pitched sound by forcing breath through a small hole between one's lips or teeth: the audience cheered and whistled | [as n.] (whistling) I awoke to their cheerful whistling | [as adj.] (whistling) a whistling noise.
• express surprise, admiration, or derision by making such a sound: Bob whistled. “You look beautiful!” he said. • [trans.] produce (a tune) in such a way. • (esp. of a bird or machine) produce a similar sound: the kettle began to whistle. • [intrans.] produce such a sound by moving rapidly through the air or a narrow opening: the wind was whistling down the chimney. • blow an instrument that makes such a sound, esp. as a signal: the referee did not whistle for a foul. • [trans.] (whistle someone/something up) summon something or someone by making such a sound.
2. (whistle for) wish for or expect (something) in vain: you can go home and whistle for your wages.
blow the whistle on (informal) bring an illicit activity to an end by informing on the person responsible.
( as ) clean as a whistle extremely clean or clear. • (informal) free of incriminating evidence: the cops raided the warehouse but the place was clean as a whistle.
whistle something down the wind let something go; abandon something. • turn a trained hawk loose by casting it off with the wind.
whistle in the dark pretend to be unafraid.
whistle in the wind try unsuccessfully to influence something that cannot be changed.
- ORIGIN Old English (h)wistlian (verb), (h)wistle (noun), of Germanic origin; imitative and related to Swedish vissla ‘to whistle.’
The New Oxford American Dictionary, second edition. Ed. Erin McKean. Oxford University Press, 2005. Oxford Reference Online. http://www.oxfordreference.com/views/ENTRY.html?subview=Main&entry=t183.e86854
x bow
intransitive verb
1: hacer una reverencia, inclinarse 2 submit : ceder, resignarse, someterse transitive verb
1 lower : inclinar, bajar 2 bend : doblar
http://www.merriam-webster.com/spanish/bow xi threshold
thresh old [countable]
1 the entrance to a room or building, or the area of floor or ground at the entrance:
2 the level at which something starts to happen or have an effect:
Eighty percent of the vote was the threshold for approval of the plan.
a high/low pain/boredom etc threshold (=the ability or inability to suffer a lot of pain or boredom before you react to it) 3 at the beginning of a new and important event or development
be on the threshold of something
The creature is on the threshold of extinction.
Definition from the Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English Advanced Learner's Dictionary. http://www.ldoceonline.com/dictionary/threshold
xii spiteful
spiteful /'spaǺtfǩl/ adjetivo ‹remark› malicioso;
‹person› malo; (resentful) rencoroso;
it was ~ of you to blame her fue una maldad echarle la culpa a ella
Diccionario Espasa Concise © 2000 Espasa Calpe: http://www.wordreference.com/es/translation.asp?tranword=spiteful
spiteful ['spaǺtfȚl] adjetivo
1 (una persona) malo,-a, rencoroso,-a
2 (un comentario) malicioso,-a: that was very spiteful of you, fue muy perverso por tu parte Concise Oxford Spanish Dictionary © 2005 Oxford University Press:
xiii blushed
blush
intransitive verb
Translation of BLUSH
: ruborizarse, sonrojarse, hacerse colorado
http://www.merriam-webster.com/spanish/blush
xiv wrinkle
wrin kle [countable]
1 wrinkles are lines on your face and skin that you get when you are old:
Her face was a mass of wrinkles.
2 a small untidy fold in a piece of clothing or paper [= crease]:
She walked over to the bed and smoothed out the wrinkles. 3 iron out the wrinkles
to solve the small problems in something —wrinkly adjective:
her thin, wrinkly face
Definition from the Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English Advanced Learner's Dictionary. http://www.ldoceonline.com/dictionary/wrinkle_1
xvsteward
noun
1 manager : administrador masculine
2: auxiliar masculine de vuelo (en un avión), camarero masculine (en un barco) http://www.merriam-webster.com/spanish/steward
xvi course
noun
1progress : curso masculine, transcurso masculine <to run its course : seguir su curso> 2direction : rumbo masculine (de un avión), derrota feminine, derrotero masculine (de un barco) 3path, way : camino masculine, vía feminine <course of action : línea de conducta>
4: plato masculine (de una cena) <the main course : el plato principal> 5: curso masculine (académico)
6of course : desde luego, por supuesto <yes, of course! : ¡claro que sí!> http://www.merriam-webster.com/spanish/course
xviivain
adjective
1 worthless : vano
xviii dizzy
dizzy 'diz
→ adj. (-zier, -ziest)
having or involving a sensation of spinning around and losing one's balance: Jonathan had begun to suffer dizzy spells | (figurative) he looked around, dizzy with happiness.
• causing such a sensation: a sheer, dizzy drop | (figurative) a dizzy range of hues. • (informal) (of a woman) silly but attractive: he only married me because he wanted a dizzy blonde.
→ v. (-zies, -zied) [trans.] [usu. as adj.] (dizzying)
make (someone) feel unsteady, confused, or amazed: the dizzying rate of change her nearness dizzied him.
- DERIVATIVES dizzily 'diz l adv. dizziness n.
- ORIGIN Old English dysig ‘foolish’; related to Low German dusig, dösig ‘giddy’ and Old High German tusic ‘foolish, weak.’
The New Oxford American Dictionary, second edition. Ed. Erin McKean. Oxford University Press, 2005. Oxford Reference Online. Oxford University Press.http://www.oxfordreference.com/views/ENTRY.html?subview=Main&entry=t183.e22018
xix matron
matron /máytr n/ n.
1. a married woman, esp. a dignified and sober one.
2. a woman managing the domestic arrangements of a school, prison, etc. - DERIVATIVES matronhood n.
The Oxford American Dictionary of Current English. Oxford University Press, 1999. Oxford Reference Online. Oxford University Press http://www.oxfordreference.com/views/ENTRY.html?subview=Main&entry=t21.e18905
xx glare
glare2
Hide phonetics
verb [I]
to look at someone in an angry way
She glared at him and stormed out of the room.
http://dictionaries.cambridge.org/define.asp?dict=CLD2&key=HW*15807&ph=on
xxi stink
stink past tense stank past participle stunk [intransitive] 1 to have a strong and very unpleasant smell:
It stinks in here!
stink of
His breath stank of alcohol.
The toilets stank to high heaven (=stank very much). 2 spoken used to say that something is bad, unfair, dishonest etc:
Don't eat there - the food stinks!
The whole justice system stinks. stink something ↔ out
phrasal verb
to fill a place with a very unpleasant smell:
Those onions are stinking the whole house out. http://www.ldoceonline.com/dictionary/stink_1
xxii thyme
noun tomillo masculine http://www.merriam-webster.com/spanish/thyme
xxiii parsley
noun perejil masculino http://www.merriam-webster.com/spanish/parsley
xxiv coriander
co ri an der [uncountable] British English
a herb, used especially in Asian and Mexican cooking [= cilantro American English http://www.ldoceonline.com/dictionary/coriander
xxv cumin
noun comino masculine http://www.merriam-webster.com/spanish/cumin
xxvi bitterness
noun amargura femenine http://www.merriam-webster.com/spanish/bitterness
He gave her a quick glance and smiled. sidelong/sideways glance
She couldn't resist a sidelong glance (=a look that is not direct) at him.
take/shoot/throw/cast a glance (at somebody) (=look at someone or something quickly)
The couple at the next table cast quick glances in our direction.
The brothers exchanged glances (=looked at each other quickly). 2 at a glance
a) if you know something at a glance, you know it as soon as you see it:
He saw at a glance what had happened.
b) in a short form that is easy to read and understand:
Here are our top ten ski resorts at a glance. 3 at first glance/sight
when you first look at something:
At first glance, the place seemed deserted. http://www.ldoceonline.com/dictionary/glance_2
xxviii sip
sip verb
/sǺp/ v [I or T] (-pp-)
to drink, taking only a very small amount at a time This tea is very hot, so sip it carefully.
She slowly sipped (at) her wine. sip noun
n [C]
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/sip
xxix pat
pat past tense and past participle patted, present participle patting [transitive]
1 to lightly touch someone or something several times with your hand flat, especially to give comfort [֓ stroke]:
He patted the dog affectionately. 2 pat somebody/yourself on the back
to praise someone or yourself for doing something well:
You can pat yourselves on the back for a job well done http://www.ldoceonline.com/dictionary/pat_1
xxx frightened
adjective asustado temeroso http://www.merriam-webster.com/spanish/frightened
xxxi pop verb ( PUT )
/pǢp/ /pǡəp/ v (-pp-)
[T + adverb or preposition] informal to put or take something quickly If you pop the pizza in the oven now, it'll be ready in 15 minutes. He popped his head into the room/round the door and said "Lunchtime!" Pop your shoes on and let's go.
pop pills informal
to take pills regularly, especially ones containing an illegal drug A decade of heavy drinking and popping pills ruined her health. http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/pop_10
xxxii chew chew
1 [intransitive and transitive] to bite food several times before swallowing it:
This meat's so tough I can hardly chew it! chew at/on
a dog chewing on a bone
2 [intransitive and transitive] to bite something continuously in order to taste it or because you are nervous chew on
chew your lip/nails chew gum/tobacco 3 chew the cud
if a cow or sheep chews the cud, it keeps biting on food it has brought up from its stomach 4 chew the fat
informal to have a long friendly conversation
bite off more than you can chew
at BITE1 (10)
chew on something
phrasal verb
informal to think carefully about something for a period of time chew somebody ↔ out
phrasal verb
to talk angrily to someone in order to show them that you disapprove of what they have done:
John couldn't get the guy to cooperate and so I had to call and chew him out. chew something ↔ over
phrasal verb
to think carefully about something for a period of time:
Let me chew it over for a few days. chew something ↔ up
phrasal verb
1 to damage or destroy something by tearing it into small pieces:
Be careful if you use that video recorder. It tends to chew tapes up.
2 to bite something many times with your teeth so that you can make it smaller or softer and swallow it:
The dog's chewed up my slippers again.
Definition from the Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English Advanced Learner's Dictionary. http://www.ldoceonline.com/dictionary/chew_1
xxxiii
openmouthed
boquiabierto http://diccionario.reverso.net/ingles-espanol/open-mouthed
xxxiv entrust en trust [transitive]
to make someone responsible for doing something important, or for taking care of someone entrust something/somebody to somebody
She entrusted her son's education to a private tutor. be entrusted with something/somebody
I was entrusted with the task of looking after the money.
Definition from the Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English Advanced Learner's Dictionary. http://www.ldoceonline.com/dictionary/entrust
xxxv whisper
whisper
→ v. speak very softly using one's breath rather than one's throat. • (literary) rustle or murmur softly. • (be whispered) be rumoured.
→ n. 1. a whispered word or phrase, or a whispering tone of voice. • (literary) a soft rustling or murmuring sound. • a rumour or piece of gossip.
2. a slight trace; a hint: a whisper of interest. - DERIVATIVES whisperer n. whispery adj.
- ORIGIN OE hwisprian, of Gmc origin, from the imitative base of whistle.
The Concise Oxford English Dictionary, Twelfth edition . Ed. Catherine Soanes and Angus Stevenson. Oxford University Press, 2008. Oxford Reference Online. Oxford University Press.
