Is there anything better than a truly British historical drama TV show, at teatime? These are the last idioms from Downton Abbey, Season One Episode One.

Why was he taken on?

Take on   engage as an employee, hire, start to employee someone. Mary is talking to her maid (and is obviously not aware that Anna likes Mr. Bates a lot). She’s characteristically insensitive, mainly because she’s very young, but it’s also part of her personality (unlike, for instance, her sister Sybil). In fact, when Anna tells her Mr. Bates was Lord Grantham batman (i.e. the personal servant of an officer, in this case, almost a friend), she replies: even so (i.e. nevertheless, however), how can a valet do his work if he’s lame (limping, walking with difficulty due to an injury or illness or, however, a physical difficulty affecting a leg or foot).

I was only going to marry him if nothing better turned up.

Mary’s defects are even too evident from these first lines: she’s (as well as insensitive) very selfish and vain. Actually, she isn’t so bad as she seems: for instance, she is very honest and incapable of hypocrisy; but she turns into the worst version of herself when things don’t go her own way. If nothing better turned up in this case means “if I couldn’t find someone more to my liking”.

If you’d given me the chance, I’d taken him like a shot.

without hesitation, very willingly, very quickly and enthusiastically. Edith is clearly embittered because she liked Patrick very much, and can’t forgive Mary for being so cold; but she hadn’t the strength or courage to try anything: she felt she hadn’t a chance because Mary is so much more beautiful and (apparently at least) self-confident: it soon becomes clear that Mary is used to have all men at her feet, and Edith is considered the “ugly duckling” of the family.

I don’t believe  you’d like to think the house was falling below the way things ought to be.

Fall below = go down, decline so that things no longer meet the required standards, the expectations, etc. Thomas is addressing Carson now, in an attempt to definitely convince him that Bates is not able to do his job so that Carson will have him dismissed.

I won’t let you down

I won’t disappoint you. We can see that for all his pride, Bates is very eager to keep his job. He also cares for Lord Grantham and wants him to be content with his work.

It must form the most tremendous bonds

Form a very close relationship. This conversation between Cora and Lord Grantham is very interesting. Clearly, they get on quite well, and yet they are different in so many aspects. Cora is worried because she thinks Bates is causing “awkwardness”, i.e, embarrassment, among the servants, something about which Lord Grantham is clearly not worried at all. Also, he doesn’t like Mrs. O’Brien, as he is very well aware of what a troublemaker she is (and cannot understand why his wife even listens to her). Cora is a sharp, practical woman in many ways, but she doesn’t seem very understanding, and she can be really tactless sometimes. When she tells her husband “don’t catch me out” (i.e., don’t try to look for mistakes in everything I’m saying), she doesn’t even seem to be aware that her words can really hurt (she is that way even with her daughters sometimes). Also, she sees her husband as a sort of eccentric, impractical dreamer, an idealist (which he actually is, but perhaps, not so much as she thinks).

Is it any wonder if the others’ noses are put out?

Can we be surprised that the other (servants) feel angry and embarrassed (still because of poor Mr. Bates).

Such a glare!

A glare = a very harsh, bright, dazzling light. Lady Violet, Lord Grantham’s mother, is of course a very conservative woman, and nothing as modern as electricity would appeal to her. Indeed, if she had it installed in her house, as her son wishes, she “wouldn’t sleep a wink” (she wouldn’t be able to sleep at all).

News travel fast

This idiom usually refers to bad news, as people are very quick to spread information about misfortunes; in this case, Lord Grantham is (rightly) expecting that since his mother already knows that their lawyer has been at Downton, she will have something (unpleasantly honest) to say about it. Cora’s money is the subject, once again. Lady Violet bluntly remarks that since he married her for her money, giving it away now doesn’t make sense. Lord Grantham replies that she’s made him very happy though, even if it may seem hard to believe (would that stretch belief?). She retorts that this was not the reason why he chose her “Above all those other girls who could‘ve filled my shoes so easily  (i.e. take over her duties and fulfil them satisfactorily). She’s scathing and all but sentimental, but she really cares for Downton and is afraid the unknown heir will not care for it in the same way.

I can’t get it out of my mind!

Daisy, the kitchen maid, is talking about the Titanic (for the umpteenth time, apparently), and she’s saying she can’t think of anything else. She’s very young and sensitive, so Gwen tells her to give it a rest, which means to stop talking about it, take a break from that topic, and even Anna, always kinder, tells her “It’s time to let it go“, a more polite expression but with a similar meaning: just stop thinking and worrying about it, and move on with your life. O’Brien, on the other hand, nastily snaps at her: You sound like a penny dreadful: a penny dreadful was a cheap, sensational book or magazine.

Is Robert coming round?

Come round means to change one’s mind, be convinced by another person’s opinion. Lady Violet is having another conversation with Cora, prompted by the impending visit of a young duke, who, she thinks, might be interested in courting Mary, but only if she is the heiress of her father’s estate. So Lady Violet asks her if Lord Grantham can be persuaded into doing something to improve Mary’s position.

Let’s not gild the lily, dear

Gild the lily = try to improve or embellish something that’s already beautiful or excellent. Cora clearly thinks her eldest daughter Mary looks perfect as she is.

How long do we have to put up with this, Mr. Carson?

put up with = tolerate, endure. Thomas never misses a chance to put Bates in a bad light.

If I answer truthfully, you’ll  think me rather forward.

forward = blunt, frank, plain-spoken, uncompromisingly forthright, direct and outspoken. Mary is all these things, indeed, but of course she shouldn’t show that side to a man. As her father feared, she’s risking to make a fool of herself. The duke manages to keep (almost) perfect manners and be perfectly unpleasant at the same time. 

I always apologize when I’m in the wrong

be in the wrong = make a mistake or something bad. Mary may be arrogant, but she’s clearly beginning to see the duke for the jerk he is; she’s also well aware that although she may formally have a right to be upstairs (in the servants’ quarters), it is disrespectful and embarrassing and, despite the appearances, she’s sensitive enough to feel bad about it.

If it were only up to me

If it were only up to me = if the decision was mine alone. Lord Grantham seems to have finally capitulated and given in to Mr. Carson’s (and Cora’s) requests to dismiss Bates, although is clearly unhappy about it: It’s a bloody business Bates, he says, but I can’t see any way around it (a different solution, an alternative).

Don’t be such a chatterbox, Edith

chatterbox = a person who talks a lot. Of course, Edith wants to embarrass Mary as she malignantly brings up the subject of her sister’s little adventure upstairs.

Tell us when you’re fixed, just drop us a line.

Anna is asking Mr. Bates to write all of them a note as soon as he’s settled, that is, he’s found another position. By her words, and even more by her gesture of taking some food up to his room, Anna is making as clear as possible that she really likes him. She says “us”, but she might as well say “me”. In fact, she then adds “else I’ll worry”, and Mr. Bates reply “we can’t have that” (we can’t allow that) shows he’s got the message.

But then again, it’s an ill wind…

It’s an ill wind (that blows no one/nobody any good) is said to indicate that even a bad thing usually benefits someone, or may have some good results. The duke, who is getting worse by the second, is struggling to find a way to get the information he really cares about: after the tragic death of her cousin, is Mary a heiress or not? Once it becomes clear that she’s not, he goes away, as fast as the wind.

I will not be coy and pretend I don’t understand…

Lord Grantham is an honest and direct man, and the duke’s hypocrisy infuriates him. The entire conversation between the two is a perfect example of a fight conducted without uttering a single bad word.

So, he slipped the hook?         

Slip (off) the hook = escape, avoid something bad. As usual, Edith directs her caustic remarks to Mary, but it backfires, when Mary replies: At least I’m not fishing with no bait,  implying that Edith has nothing to offer that might be attractive to any man.

It’s just not going to come off              

to come off = to succeed, be accomplished, happen as planned. Now, we learn Thomas telegraphed the duke informing him that Mary’s prospects were probably going to improve. This has proven untrue, but Thomas (and the duke) had their own ulterior motives. It emerges they had a short-lived flirt. Of course, the duke has no intention to have that youthful folly ruin his own prospects: one swallow doesn’t make a summer, that is, it was something that happened once, it doesn’t mean it will go on (a youthful dalliance has the same meaning of a casual romance, a playful flirtation).

If his grace doesn’t like it, he can lump it     

like it or lump it = he will have to accept itanyway.

I wish to thank TFD (The Free Dictionary) for its existence, but also the Macmillan Dictionary, the Collins Dictionary, the Cambridge Dictionary…

Tuesday Idioms from Downton Abbey is part of the English language section: look for more!