Glossary

Camp-Bed • Glossary U.S.: cot. The prefix “camp” used in this way means “folding and portable” (NSOED). Read More

Sweets • Food and drinks • Glossary Candy.  … Read More

Catherine wheel • Glossary A firework which, while detonating, rotates like a pinwheel.  … Read More

The Cat's Among the Pixies Now • Glossary “The cat’s among the pixies” is the wizarding equivalent of “the cat’s among the pigeons”, i.e. trouble has broken out. Read More

They Got on like a Cauldron on Fire • Glossary Wizaring version of “they got on like a house on fire,” i.e. very, very well. Read More

Cheek • Glossary “Cheek” means “insolence”, so “cheeked” is “sassed, bad-mouthed”. Read More

Casket • Glossary A small ornamental box or chest for holding jewels, letters, or other valuable objects. Read More

Christmas • Glossary A religious or secular winter holiday celebrated by Muggles and Wizards alike on December 25. Christmas celebrations at Hogwarts are very memorable. Read More

Christmas pudding • Glossary A Christmas Pudding (Plum Pudding) is a rich dried fruit, suet/cake mixture that is steamed and traditionally served at Christmas. Read More

chuffed • Glossary British slang meaning pleased, happy (NSOED). Read More

Cistern • Furniture and household items • Glossary In general, this means any artificial reservoir for storing water, but the books use it mainly to refer to what in the U.S. would be called a toilet tank. Read More

Codswallop • Glossary British slang term for nonsense, untruths. Read More

Off Colour • Glossary

Comprehensive • Glossary Short for “comprehensive school”, what in the U.S. would be called a public school.  … Read More

Conk • Glossary Slang for “nose”.  … Read More

Constant vigilance • Glossary “Constant vigilance” was a favorite saying of Mad-Eye Moody, the ex-Auror who was famous for never letting his guard down. Some thought that his exaggerated caution was an overreaction, but Moody would say that it kept him alive. Read More

Cookery • Glossary U.S.: cooking. What in the U.S. is called a “cookbook” is referred to in the U.K. as a “cookery book”.  … Read More

Copse • Glossary A small stand of trees and undergrowth, particularly if it is grown for periodic cutting (NSOED).  … Read More

Cottage • Glossary U.S. readers may get a somewhat mistaken impression from this word. It can refer to any moderate-sized detached house in the suburbs or the country, though it tends to be used to suggest a small, modest place. It may specifically mean a rather old-fashioned building of this type, but that… Read More

Cotton On • Glossary U.S.: “catch on”, “get it”, understand.  … Read More

Don't count your owls before they are delivered • Glossary Wizarding equivalent of the phrase “Don’t count your chickens before they hatch,” meaning don’t assume that you know what the outcome of the situation will be. Read More

Crack On • Glossary Keep going, continue.  … Read More

Cracker • Glossary As in Wizard Crackers or Christmas Crackers: A tube of cardboard wrapped in fancy paper and twisted at both ends. Inside the tube is a strip of paper coated in gunpowder, which snaps (cracks) when two people pull the cracker apart. Inside the tube, there would be a paper party… Read More

Crisp • Food and drinks • Glossary U.S.: potato chip.  … Read More

Hogwort • Glossary • Plants A small plant typically found in the southern United States. Rowling saw hogwort at Kew Gardens circa 1992 and the name stuck in her mind. Read More

Cubicle • Glossary Broadly speaking, this word means roughly what it does in the U.S. – any small partitioned space to accommodate one or two people – but where in the U.S. it has come to have an office-related context, in the U.K. editions of the books it is also used to refer… Read More

Cupboard • Glossary U.K.: closet (Not the same meaning in the U.S., which is a wall cabinet, such as to hold dishes.)… Read More

Cuppa • Glossary A cup of tea.  … Read More