Oliver Twist -academic vocab

Give it a little gruel if it is.'

Gruel is food. e.g. "He did not like the watery cereal."

He gazed in stupefied astonishment on the small rebel for some seconds, and then clung for support to the copper.

There being nobody by, however, but a pauper old woman, who was rendered rather misty by an unwonted allowance of beer; and a parish surgeon who did such matters by contract; Oliver and Nature fought out the point between them.

Not having a very clearly defined notion of what a live board was, Oliver was rather astounded by this intelligence, and was not quite certain whether he ought to laugh or cry.

Nobody controverted the prophetic gentleman's opinion.

Do I understand that he asked for more, after he had eaten the supper allotted by the dietary?'

Although this invitation was accompanied with a curtsey that might have softened the heart of a church-warden, it by no means mollified the beadle.