Лучшие рассказы О. Генри = The Best of O. Henry

or an entertainment

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calico – cotton fabric with plain designs, originated in Calicut, India, in the 11th century

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ragtime – a musical style predominant in American popular music in the late 19th – early 20th century

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lares et penates = native home (French)

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polychromatic = multi-coloured

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Huguenot – the French Protestant in the 16th–17th centuries

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Psyche = Soul (Greek) – the personification of a human soul; in Greco-Roman mythology, a beautiful princess who aroused Cupid’s love.

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Amazonian – from Amazon, in Greek mythology, a representative of the race of woman warriors who lived in the Black Sea area

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cryptograph – a specialist in cryptography, the practice of using cipher with a secret code in messages

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the worm dieth seldom – a part of the phrase from the Bible that describes the blazing inferno

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rayjict = reject

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the blowing of Gabriel’s dinner horn – Archangel Gabriel, the messenger of the God, according to the Old Testament texts blew a trumpet (horn)

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�Parsifal’ – opera by Richard Wagner, written in 1882 and based on the early 13th century epic poem of the same name, written by Wolfram von Eschenbach

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Grecian = Greek

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Eve-sister – any woman; in the Old Testament, Eve was the first woman on the Earth.

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Sabine – a member of the Sabini, an ancient Italian tribe

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Venus – in Roman mythology, the goddess of love, beauty, spring and gardens

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Circe – 1) in Greek mythology, a sorceress, the daughter of the sun god and an ocean nymph; 2) an insidious seducer.

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pompadour – high hair-do with a roll over the forehead, named after Marquise de Pompadour (1721–1764), the mistress of Louis XV of France

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Persian lamb – expensive fur

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Gabriel – in the Old Testament, and in the three religions – Judaism, Christianity and Islam, one of the archangels, God’s messenger often depicted with a trumpet

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Tiffany(’s) – a famous luxury jewelry selling company founded in New York by Charles Lewis Tiffany and John B.