The Elephant Man

Glossary

1. Bath: when you want to wash your body, you sit in a bath full of water
2. Below: under
3. Beside: next to
4. Bible: the most important book for Christians
5. Box: (in a theatre) a small ‘room’; you can watch the stage from a box, but other people can’t see you
6. Cab: an old word for ‘taxi’
7. Card: a piece of paper with your name and address on it (visiting card); or a card with a picture and a greeting on it (e.g. a Christmas card)
8. Chairman: an important man in the hospital
9. Cloth: trousers, coats, dresses, etc. are made from cloth
10. (the) country: not the town
11. Creature: a living animal
12. Drop: to let something fall
13. Editor: the most important person in a newspaper office
14. Elephant: a very big grey animal with a long nose and big ears
15. Enormous: very big
16. Yours Faithfully: you write “Yours Faithfully” at the end of a formal letter
17. Fingers: you have five fingers on each hand
18. Fish: fish live in rivers and in the sea
19. Food: what you eat
20. Gentleman: a man from an important family
21. Glass: you drink tea from a cup, you drink water from a glass
22. Heavy: it is difficult to carry heavy things; 1,000 kilos is very heavy
23. By himself: nobody was with him
24. Hip: the place where your leg joins your body
25. Hole: an empty space or opening in something
26. Horrible: not nice; people are often afraid of ‘horrible’ things
27. Kind: nice, good; a kind person often helps people
28. Knee: the middle of your leg where it bends
29. Lady: a woman from an important family
30. Life: your life stops when you die
31. Lighthouse: a tall building by or in the sea, with a strong light; the lights tells ships that there are dangerous rocks
32. Like (preposition): not different; e.g. a river is like the sea, because it is made of water
33. Loudly: with a lot of noise
34. (His/Her/Your) Majesty: when you speak to a king or a queen, you say ‘Your Majesty’
35. Marry: to take somebody as your husband or wife
36. Mirror: a piece of special glass; you can see your face in a mirror
37. Neck: your neck is between your head and your body
38. Newspaper: you read a newspaper to know what is happening in the world
39. Nose: your nose is between your eyes and your mouth
40. Place: where something or someone is (a room, a house, a town, etc.)
41. Play: (n) you go to the theatre to see a play
42. Police: the police help people; they also put bad people in prison
43. Present: something that you give or get from somebody (e.g. a birthday present)
44. Prison: a building for bad people; they must stay there and cannot leave
45. Queen: the most important woman in Britain
46. Sad: not happy
47. Scream: to make a loud high cry because you are afraid or angry
48. Shake hands (past tense shook) to hold somebody’s hand and move it up and down as a greeting
49. Shopkeeper: a person who has a small shop
50. Side: the part of something that is not the top, bottom, front or back
51. Skin: you have skin all over your body; people have different skin colours
52. Smell (past tense smelt) you see with your eyes; you smell with your nose
53. Step: a place to put your foot when you go up or down
54. Stick: a long piece of wood; Merrick walks with a stick
55. Strange: different
56. Stream: a small river
57. Tears: water from your eyes when you cry
58. Theatre: a building where you go to see plays
59. Touch: to feel something with your hands
60. Ugly: not beautiful
61. Voice: you talk with your voice