This page explains some of the words and terms that are no longer in use, or where the meaning may have changed.
anasarca (or "generalised oedema"): A medical symptom characterised by widespread swelling of the skin due to an accumulation of fluid. It is often caused by either cardiac failure, liver failure or renal failure. Also called 'dropsy'.
consumption: tuberculosis. It was called consumption, because it seemed to consume people from within, with a bloody cough, fever, pallor, and long relentless wasting.
dropsy: swelling due to excessive fluid - see anasarca.
phthisis: tuberculosis (phthisis is the Greek term for this disease).
risipiles: meaning not yet found.
Banns: The public announcement in a parish church that a marriage is going to take place between two people. Derived from an Old English word meaning ‘to summon’, banns is short for ‘the banns of marriage’. The purpose of banns is to enable anyone to raise any legal objections to the marriage, so as to prevent marriages that are legally invalid. Objections would normally include a pre-existing marriage, a vow of celibacy, lack of consent, or the couple's being too closely related.
But and ben (house): The basic traditional cottage In Scotland – just two rooms and a door. The door often leads straight into the living quarters.
Dholl: A type of Indian Cajan Pea that was used to supplement the diet when grain became scarce.
Fulling mill: A variety of water mill used for fulling cloth. Fulling is a step in clothmaking which involves the cleaning of cloth, particularly wool, to get rid of oils, dirt, and other impurities. A fuller is the worker who does the job. The cloth might also be washed. After washing, to prevent shrinkage and wrinkling, the cloth would be stretched on great frames known as tenters and held onto those frames by tenterhooks. It is from this process that we derive the phrase being on tenterhooks as meaning to be held in suspense.
Prior to 1966, Australia operated on a currency system inherited from England. There were three denominations:
Amounts of money were written as £3/10/2, meaning three pounds, ten shillings and two pence. A dash meant nothing, so £2/10/- means to pounds ten shillings. Smaller amounts may omit the pound symbol or value, so 10/- means ten shillings (about one dollar in todays money). Very small amounts may be just given in pence, using the pence symbol, such as ‘6d’ meaning six pence.
Weight – measured in ounces (oz), pounds (lb), hundredweight (cwt) and tons.
one ounce (1 oz) = roughly 28 grams
one pound (1 lb) = 454 grams
one hundredweight (1 cwt) = 50.8 kilograms
one ton = 1016 kilograms (one ton is roughly equivalent to a metric 'tonne')
The weight of a person would usually be given in stones and pounds. One stone is 14 pounds or 6.35 kilograms.
Length – measured in inches (in or “), feet (ft or ‘), and yards.
one inch (1") = 2.53 cm
one foot (1') = 12 inches = 30.5 cm
one yard = 3 feet = 91 cm (yards can be very roughly equated with metres)
Very small measurements were expressed as fractions of an inch.
Distance – measured in miles.
one mile = 1760 yards = 1600 metres = 1.6 kilometres
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