Reading through some of my old books led me to a glossary of Victorian terms, many of which are unique to the era. As such, I am posting them for interest sake, as one might find them useful in SL or simple RL discourse…
Aeronet: an aircraft that has a stall speed; that is, heavier than air.
Aerostat: An aircraft that has zero stall speed; that is, a lighter than air craft such as a balloon or airship.
Analytical Engine: A proposed design for a general-purpose computing engine working purely mechanically, with steam power, gears, and punched-card programming.
Antimacassar: A doily pinned to the back of a chair to protect the fabric from the macassar oil that many men wore in their hair.
Apergy: A hypothetical repulsive gravitational force.
Apoplexy: A stroke.
Barrister: A lawyer who is licensed to present cases in court.
Batman: A soldier assigned to act as a personal servant to an officer.
Bertillonage: A technique for criminal identification based on exact measurements of 11 parts of the body.
Billingsgate: Crude and abusive language, named after a district of London where fish was sold and such language was common in the streets.
I shall add more as time goes on, to complete this minor compilation.
Stoddard, W.H. (2000) – Gurps Steampunk, pg. 142, SJG:Austin
[edited for removal of game specific content]
