Revellers, persons feasting, drinking, and making merry.
Meshes, the open spaces between the threads of a net.
Reconcile, to become friends again, to come back to friendship.
Prow, the head or fore part of a ship or boat.
Let be this purpose, let it lie by, don't attend to it, don't carry it out: _i.e._ the purpose of revenge.
Monastic school, a school kept in a monastery.
Pilgrimage, a journey to a place for devotion. Pilgrim, a person who goes on a pilgrimage.
Determined will, allowing nothing to turn them from their purpose.
Object of their pilgrimage, the place they chiefly came to visit.
Revere, to regard with honour, love, and respect.
Memorial, something that reminds one of past persons or events.
Envied, people of other nations envied them, or were jealous of them.
Successfully cultivated: the Irish people studied and practised them and made improvements.
Encroaching, taking up or advancing on what belongs to another.
Anglo-Irish, partly English and partly Irish.
Milesian stock, the descendants of the Milesians (see p. 2).
Croon, a continuous murmuring sort of musical sound or song.
Squire, a gentleman who attended on a knight.
Nier, a river flowing into the Suir from the Co. Waterford.
Claimant, a person laying claim to something.
Unimportant, trifling, of no consequence.
Ambush, or ambuscade, an unexpected attack from a hiding place.
Truce, an agreement for peace for a while.
Annals, histories of events as they occurred from year to year.
Portent, a prodigy, a fearful sign or omen of evil.
Lustrous, bright, shining with fine crops and flowers.
Golden time, a prosperous plentiful time.
As by a spell, as if by magic; it started up suddenly. Remember this is all in a dream.
Wreathèd swell, sounding all together with sweet musical turns and shakes.
Thrilling, moving the feelings and heart.
Minstrel group, those who had been playing the harps.
'Twas then the time, we were in the days. The poet means:--"Something dreadful has clearly happened; but how can this be, since this is the reign of Cahal-More?" He did not know--in his dream--of Cahal's death.
Alien sun, a strange sun: it was of course strange, for it glared from the _north_.
Shorn beams, not bright, giving a dull gloomy sort of light.