help with these lines

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Dido  #121248  Mon, 25 Jul 05 06:44 PM

I don't get the meaning of the underlined words  in these lines by Calverley:

When no one smoked cigars, nor gave At-homes

Nor smote a billiard-ball, nor winged a pheasant

Thanks

  
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Clive  #121255  Mon, 25 Jul 05 07:06 PM

Hi, 

Rich people used to, and still occasionally do, invite their friends out for an afternoon of shooting pheasants.'To wing a pheasant ' means to wound it. I guess you'd do this by hitting it in the wing, since if you shot a little bird in the body, it'd be dead. 'To wing someone' has come to mean 'to wound, usually in an arm or leg'. Western move dialogue:

Did Jim get killed?

Nope, the varmint just winged him. 

'To give an at-home' means to tell your friends that you will be at home on Sunday afternoon between 1 and 5pm, thus inviting them to come and visit you.

In terms of social activities, both of these expressions seem old-fashioned to me.

Best wishes, Clive

 

 

  
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El tango argentino es un pensamiento triste que se puede bailar (The tango argentino is a sad thought which can be danced) Enrique Santos Discépolo
Dido  #121257  Mon, 25 Jul 05 07:15 PM

Thanks Clive! These expressions appear in a poem written in the 19th century that's why they are old-fashioned.

 

  
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