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The Scarlet Pimpernel vocabulary

143 vocabulary words, including people, places, music, artists, etc.

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bantam: tags: [avian]

► definition

Definition:

a rooster famous in rural areas throughout the United Kingdom and the United States for its aggressive, "puffed-up" disposition that can be comedic in stature. It is often called a "Banty" in the rural United States.
[...]
A true bantam has no large counterpart, and is naturally small. Such birds are often popular for show purposes. The local list of true bantams can vary between nations and regions due to the availability of the breeds and disputes over what qualifies.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bantam_(poultry)?oldid=770621484
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

^{photo: By Ryan Zierke at English Wikipedia - Transferred from en.wikipedia to Commons., CC0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=38444285}
^{sound file: by wildear1, http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/}
^{https://freesound.org/people/wildear1/sounds/95258/}

► uses

Uses:

In my uncle's presence my tutor gave up talking about epizootics*, frowned, and even laughed sarcastically.

"Here comes our little bantam cock!" he growled on one occasion when my uncle was coming into the lodge.

I put down this change in them both to their being offended with my uncle.

Anton Chekhov. The Wife and Other Stories

^{*epizootic: Of the nature of a disease which attacks many animals at the same time; -- corresponding to epidemic diseases among men.}

^{Noah Webster. Webster's Unabridged Dictionary (1913)}

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"Lud, Sir Andrew," said Marguerite, with one of her merry infectious laughs, "look on that pretty picture—the English turkey and the French bantam."

The simile was quite perfect, and the English turkey looked down with complete bewilderment upon the dainty little French bantam, which hovered quite threateningly around him.

Emma Orczy. The Scarlet Pimpernel (1905)

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When I see people strut enough to be cut up into bantam cocks, I stand dormant with wonder, and says no more!

Thomas Hardy. Far from the Madding Crowd (1874)

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“It’ll be all mine, nobody’s but mine, and I’ll put my banty eggs in it.”

“Silly, you don’t put banty eggs in a gold cup,”

Wilson Rawls. Where the Red Fern Grows (1961)