We read with apparent pleasure the article about the great English fictional hero Flashman.
Here's the vocabulary (yes what a lot there is) :
a dam
to reign
a thug
to hack
to toss
to bob
power drunk
a coward
a cad
a rotter
a scoundrel
pious
a boarding school
a bully
to snivel
to be expelled from school
wicked
sleazy
to besiege
to feign
to grab
to plead for mercy
to surge
to betray
to cheat
leery
tricky
outstanding
underated
to hang out
powerbrokers
to glean
a ditch
to figure out
a wile
to hang back
foolhardy
to bolt
unwillingly
to blunder
sticky
a roadblock
a skull
stripped to the waist
to swig
a fixer
it's not cricket
to pick up a language
to rub along
senseless
a dungeon
to blackmail
to rub shoulders with
to loathe
a fistful
a handful
to chuckle
lothario
a rogue
strenuous
a dollop
raw materials
caustic
tedious
off-colour
an outrage
callous
to press gang (see to shanghai https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shanghaiing)