While in house arrest I have been able to read a number of books that have been on my bed side cabinet. I am almost done with Dicken’s “Barnaby Rudge.” Several times there are references to “draw the cork.” It is not used to refer to opening a wine bottle since Barnaby has Grip-his Raven-do it. Any ideas? Thank you.
This is what I found
to draw the cork from. Informal. to release or unveil; unleash: to uncork one’s pent-up emotions.
Does that fit the context of what you’re reading?
https://www.georgette-heyer.com/slang.html
I was going to tell you to google it, but I did and it wasn’t an easy search.
Seems like Dickens had a good grasp of the vernacular.
BTW, it means punch in the nose and draw blood.
You beat me to it.
But you were able to do it with a Georgette Heyer reference so
Ask Tom Hill. He knew Dickens personally.
I read Barnaby Rudge last year. Some excellent settings and characterizations in there btw!
Drawing the cork gave me pause for thought too. It describes a repeated action by the bird, especially when he’s agitated. I thought it was just an evocative description of a movement. Imagine a bird pulling a worm out of the ground, leaning it’s head down and slowly straining upwards with a sudden snap of the head at the top with the release. That’s pretty much what I pictured.