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BREWER'S DICTIONARY OF PHRASE & FABLE
BREWERf'S
DICTIONARY OF PHRASE & FABLEREVISED & ENLARGED
NEW YORKHARPER & BROTHERS PUBLISHERS
KEY TO PRONUNCIATIONVOWELS
dot placed over a, e, o, or u (a, e, 6, u,) signifies that the
vowel has an obscure, indeterminate, or slurred sound, as in advice
(ad-vis'), current (kur'ent), notion (no'shon).:
A
CONSONANTS"s" is used only for the sibilant "s" (as in "toast,"
tost,) the sonant "s" (as in "toes" is N printed "z" (toz). "c"
(except in the combinations "ch" and "c/z"), "q," and "x" are not
used. b, d f, h (see the combinations below), k, 1, m, n (see n
below), p, r, t, v, z, and w and y when used as consonants, have
their usual values. ch as in church (cherch). n as in cabochon
(ka-bo-cho/O. ch loch (loc/i). sh shawl (shawl).get (get)
zhth
measure (mezh'ur).thin (thin). thine (Min)..
join (join).
hw
white (hwit).
th
The accent
(0 follows the syllable to be stressed.
TheA.
The form of
this letter
is
modified from
eagle.
the Egyptian hieroglyph which represents the The Phoenician
(Hebrew) symbol was
multiplication table invented by Pythagoras is called Abacus
Pythagoricus. In architecture the abacus is the topmost member of a
capital.
ox), which has been thought, probably erroneously, to represent
an ox-head The Greek in outline. (alpha) was the symbol of a bad
augury in the sacrifices. See
N (alepha.n
A
The angel of the bot(a bad' on). tomless pit (Rev. ix, 11), from
Heb. abad, he perished. Milton uses the name for the bottomless
pitAbaddonitself:
also
logic denotes a universal affirmative. A asserts, E denies.
Thus, syllogisms mbfij-bArA contain three universal affirmative
pro(, I go). name given to As inaccessible as Abaton. various
places of antiquity difficult of access. Abbassides (ab' a sldz).
dynasty of thirtyseven caliphs who reigned over the Moham-
A
A
Aaron's Rod. The name given (with reference to Num. xvii, 8) to
various flowering plants, including Golden Rod, Great Mullein,
and
others.
They were descended from Abbas, uncle of Mohammed. Haroun
al-Raschid (born 765, reigned 786808), of the Arabian Nights, was
one of their number.to 1258.
medan Empire from 750
Something so powerful as to eliminate minor powers. And hence
one master passion in the breast, Like Aaron's serpent swallows up
the rest. POPE: Essay on Man, ii, 131.
Aaron's serpent.
TheA.B.
allusion
is
to Exod. vii, 10-12.
Abbot of Misrule. See KING OF MISRULE. Abbotsford. The name
given by Sir Walter Scott to Clarty Hole, on the south bank of the
Tweed, after it became his residence in 1812. Sir Walter devised it
from the fancy that theabbots of Melrose Abbey used to pass over
the ford of the Tweed near by.
See ABLE-BODIED.
Aback. This was originally a nautical term used when a gust of
wind forced the sails back against the mast and suddenly stayed the
From this comes the phrase ship's progress. "I was taken aback,**
meaning "I was astounded, taken by surprise."
ABC. An abbreviation having a number of meanings that can be
decided only by theknow his that he. is intensely ignorant: B of
engineer"he doesn't understand the ing" means that he has not
mastered its rudiments. So, an Book, or Absey Book, is a primer
which used to be used as a child's first lesson book and contained
merely the alphabet and "a few rudimentary lessons often set in
catechism form, as is evident fromcontext.
ABC"
Thus, "So-and-so doesn't
means
A
C
Abacus (ab' a kus). A primitive calculating machine, consisting
of a small frame with wires stretched across it in one direction,
each wire having threaded on it ten balls which can be shifted
backwards or forwards. It is used toteach children addition and
subtraction and was employed by the
ABC
Shakespeare's lines:
And
That is question now; then comes answer .like an Absey book.
King John, j, 1.
Greeks and Romans for calculations, as a modification of it was
used
Abd in Arabic^ slave or servant, as Abdiel fa.v.) and Abd- All
ah (servant of God), Abd-elKader (servant of the Mighty One),
Abd-ulLatif (servant of the Gracious One), etc. The father of
Mohama). med. He died shortly before his famous son.
The later date by the Chinese. derived from the Greek, aj8o, a
table (a slab covered with sand). cypheringto a
muchis
word
Abdallah (Sb dal'
1
Abdals
Abou Hassangentlewoman" in The Scornful Lady. Swift, and other
novelists of the period employ it in their novels, and it was
further popularized by the notoriety of Abigail Hill, better known
as Mrs. Masham, Queen Anne's Lady in Waiting and personal
friend.Fielding,
was born, and is said to have been so beautiful that when he
married Amina, 200 virgins broke their hearts from disappointed
love See Washington living's Life of Mahomet.given by Momysterious
persons whose identity is known only to God, and through whom the
world is able to continue \Vhen one of them dies another in
existence. is secretly appointed by God to fill the vacant
Abdals (ab' dalz).
The name
hammedans
to
certain
Abimelech (a bim' e lek). A Canaanitish regal title probably
meaning "Melech, the divine
name
place.
(the laughing philosopher, from whom we get the phrases
Abderitan laughter, meaning "scoffing laughter," and an Abderite,
or "scoffer"), Protagoras (the great sophist), Anaxarchos (the
philosopher and friend of Alexander), and Hecatseus (the
historian).
Abdera (ab der' a). A maritime town of Thrace (said to have been
founded by Abdera, sister of Diomede), so overrun with rats that it
was abandoned, and the inhabitants migrated to Macedonia. The
Abdentes, or Abderitans, were proverbial for stupidity, yet the
city gave birth to some of the wisest men of Greece, among them
being Democritus
Besides the two of this is father." in the Bible (Gen. xxvi and
Judges i\) as that of a prince of Arvad in the it occurs Annals of
Assurbampal, and in the Amarnaking,
tables
as that of an Egyptian governor of
Tyre.
Abingdon La\$. See CUPAR JUSTICE. Able-bodied Seaman, An, or, an
able seaman, is a skilled seaman, a sailor of the first class. A
crew is divided into three classes: (1) skilled seamen, termed A B.
(Abie-Bodied); (2) ordinary seamen; and (3) boys, which include
"green hands," or inexperienced men, withoutregard to age or size.
Aboard. A ship is said to when it runs against it.tofall
aboard another
Abdielcf.
del) (Arab., the servant of God; In Milton's Paradise Lost (v.
805, 896, etc".) the faithful seraph who withstood Satan when he
urged the angels to revolt.
(aV
ABD).
Aboard main tack is an old sea-term meaning draw one of the
lower corners of the main-
sail
down
to the chess-tree.
Abecedarian (a be si dar' i an). Usually, one who teaches or is
learning his ABC; but also the name of a 1 6th-century sect of
Anabaptists who regarded the teaching of the HolySpirit (as
extracted by them from the Bible) as sufficient for every purpose
in life, and hence despised all learning of every kind, except so
much of the B C as was necessary to enable them to read. The sect
was founded in 1520f
In U.S.A. the term applied to those who advocated and agitated
for the abolition of Negro slavery. In Australia the name was given
to those who between 1820 and 1867 sought to obtain by law the
abolition of the transportation of convicts to
Australia.Abolitionists.
Abolla (a bol'
a).
An
ancient military gar-
A
by Nicholas Stork, a weaver of Zwickau; hence they are also
spoken of as "the Zwickau prophets"Abecedarian Hymns. Hymns the
lines 9r other divisions of which are arranged in alphabetical
order. In Hebrew the 119th Psalm is abecedarian. See ACROSTIC
POETRY.Abelites (ab'elltz), Abelians, or Abelonians. Christian sect
of the 4th century mentioned by St. Augustine as living in North
Africa, They married but remained virgin, as they affirmed Abel did
on the assumption that because no children of his are mentioned in
Scripture he had none. The sect was maintained by adopting the
children of others.
ment worn by the Greeks and Romans, opposed to the toga or robe
of peace. The abolla being worn by the lower orders, wasaffected by
humility.
philosophers
in
the vanity
of
Abomination of Desolation, The, mentioned in Dan. (chs. ix, xi,
and xii), and in Matt. xxfV,15, probably refers to some statue set
up in the Temple by either the heathens or the Romans.
The
subject
is
very obscure, the best
Hebrew
A
and Greek scholarship leaving the actual thing intended
unidentified, Dr. Cheyne concluding that "the 'abomination' which
thrusts itselfinto the 'holy place' has for its nature 'desolation'
i.e. finds its pleasure in undoing the divine work of a holy
Creator."
Abonde
(a bond').
Dame Abonde
is
the
Abhorrers.
See PETITIONERS.(ab id a' ma).Palitexts
French equivalent of Santa Claus, a goodfairy who brings
children presents while they are asleep on Year's Eve.
Abidhammadhists.
of the three
third pitaka (Tripitaka) which
The
New
together form the sacred canon of the BudThe Abidhamma contains
"the analytical exercises in the psychological system on which the
doctrine is based," in seventreatises.
Abou-Bekr Father of
(aboobekr)theVirgin,
(571-634),i.e.
called
Mohammed'sfirst
favourite wife. successor of
See TRIPITAKA.
Abif.
See
HIRAM
ABIF.
of the Sunni Moslems, and reigned for only two years. Abou
Hassan (a boo has' an). A rich mer-
He was the Mohammed,
caliph, or
Abigail (ab' i gal). lady's maid. Abigail, wife of Nabal and
afterwards of David, is a well-known Scripture heroine (1 Sam. xxv,
3). Marlowe called the daughter of Barrabas, his Jew of Malta, by
this name, and it was given by Beaumont and Fletcher to the
"waiting
A
Haroun
chant (in The Arabian Nights), transferred during sleep to the
bed and palace of the Caliph al-Raschid. Next morning he was
treated as the caliph, and every effort was made to make him
forget his identity (The Sleeper Awakened). The same story,
localized to Shakespeare's own Warwickshire, forms the
Abou ibn SinaInduction to The Taming of the Shrew, where a
tinker, Christopher Sly, takes the place of Abou Hassan. The
incident is said by Burton (Anatomy of Melancholy, II, iv) actually
to have occurred during the wedding festivities of Philip the Good
of Burgundy (about 1440). The Ballad of the Frolicsome Duke, or the
Tinker's Good Fortune in the Percy Reliques, and another version in
Calderon's play, Life's a Dream (c. 1633), go to show how popular
and widely spread was this Oriental fable.fingers,
Abram-manother honey.
one of which supplied milk and the At the age of fifteen
monthsequal in size to a lad offifteen,
Abraham was
and was so wise that his father introduced him to the court of
King Nimrod. Other Mohammedan traditions relate that Abraham and
his son "Ismail" rebuilt forthe fourth time the stone at Mecca;
thatidolsfather,
Kaaba over the sacred Abraham destroyed the
Abou
ibn Sina,
commonly
called Avicenna
from his birthplace, Afshena, near Bokhara, A great Persian
physician whose canons of medicine were founded on those of Galen,
Hippocrates, and Aristotle, and whose teaching had great influence
on western mediaevalmedicine.
manufactured and worshipped by his Terah; and that the mountain
(called Moriah") on which he "Arfaday." The Ghebers say that the
infant Abraham the fire by Nimrod's order, was thrown into but the
flame turned into a bed of roses, on which he went to sleep. Hence
Moore'sin the Bible "Mount offered up his son was
He
died in 1037.
Above-board. Honest and open. According to Johnson, this is a
figurative expression "borrowed from gamesters, who, when they put
their hands under the table, are changingtheir cards."
allusion in Lalla Rookh Sweet and welcome as the bed For their
own infant prophet spread, When pitying Heaven to roses turned The
death-flames that beneath him burned.:
Fire Worshippers.
To sham Abraham.
See ABRAM-MAN.
Above
par.
A
commercial term meaningis
that the article referred to nominal value. See PAR.
at
more than
its
Above your hook.
See HOOK.Stasinus,in 11
Abrahamic covenant. The covenant made by God with Abraham (Gen.
xii, 2, 3, and xvii), interpreted to mean that the Messiah should
spring from his seed. This promise was given to Abraham, because he
left his father's houseto live in a strange land, as
Ab
ovo.
From
the very beginning.
God
told him.
books belonging to the Homeric cycle and forming an introin
his
Cypna, a poemIliad,
duction to the
does not rush
(as
does
the Iliad itself) in medias res, but begins with the eggs of
Leda, from one of which Helen was born. If Leda had not laid this
egg, Helen would never have been born, therefore Paris could not
have eloped with her, therefore there would have been no Trojan
War, etc. The English use of the phrase probably derives from the
line in Horace's De Arte Poetica: Nee gemmo bellum Troianum orditur
ab ovo
Abraham Newland, An. A bank-note. So called from the name of the
chief cashier at the Bank of England from 1782 to 1807, without
whose signature no Bank of Englandnotes were genuine.
Abraham's bosom.
The repose of the happy
in death The sons of Edward sleep in Abraham's bosom. Richard
///, iv, 3.
The
allusion
is
to
Luke
xvi, 22,
and
refers to
charm, said to be the initials of the Hebrew words Ab (Father),
Ben (Son), and Ruach ACadsch (Holy Spirit), and formerly used as a
powerful antidote against ague, flux, toothache, etc. The word was
written on parchment, and suspended from the neck by a linen
thread, in the following form:Abracadabra.
A cabalistic
the ancient custom of allowing a dear friend to recline on one's
bosom, as did John on the
bosom of Jesus.There is no leaping from Delilah's lap into
Abraham's bosom i.e. those who live and die in notorious sin must
not expect to go to heaven at death.Abram-colour. "Abram" here is a
corruption of auburn. In Coriolanus, ii, 3, the word is so printed
in the first three Folios Our heads are some brown, some black,
some^
made up from
ABRACADABRA ABRACADABR ABRACADAB ABRACADAAB R A CAD A B RA CA AB
RAC ABRA AB R A B
Abram, some
bald.
in the fourth Folio (1685) and in later editions auburn is
given. Kyd's tragedy,
But
Soliman and Perseda (1588) has: Where is the eldest son of
Priam, the Abramcoloured Trojan?
AAbracax.
And
Middleton, in Blurt, Master Constablelong, thick
See ABRAXAS,
(1601), mentions:
A goodly,
Abram-coloured beard.
Abraham.
Mohammedan mythology adds
the following legends to those told us in the Bible concerning
the patriarch. His parents were Prince Azar and his wife, Adna. As
King Nimrod had been told that one shortly to be born would
dethrone him, he proclaimed a "massacre of the innocents," and Adna
retired to a cave where Abraham was born. He was nourished by
sucking two of her 1*
Abram-man, or Abraham cove, A pretended maniac who, in Tudor and
early Stuart times, wandered about the country as a begging
impostor; a Tom o' Bedlam (#.y.); hence the phrase, to sham
Abraham, meaningto pretend illness or distress, in order to get off
work.
Inmates of Bedlam (q-v.\ who were not dangerously mad were kept
in the "Abraham
Abraxas
Abundant Numberin to
Ward," and allowed out from time to time a distinctive dress.
They were permittedlarge
supplement their scanty rations by begging. This gave an
opportunity to impostors, and numbers availed themselves of it
Says
The Canting Academy (Richd. Head,
1674),
"used to array themselves with party-coloured a fox-tail hanging
down, ribbons, tape in their hats, a long stick with streamers,"
and beg alms; out "for all their seeming madness, they had wit
enough to steal as they went along." picture of them in King There
is a
Tate and revised by Dryden. Ofthe prinfor Charles II; cipal
characters, David stands Absalom for his natural son James, Duke of
and rebellious); AchiMonmouth (handsome Zimri for the tophel for
Lord Shaftesbury; Duke of Buckingham; and Abdael for Monk. of the
biblical narrative The accommodation to contemporary history is so
skilfully made *hat the story of David seems to repeat itself.
Absent. *'Out of mind as soon as out of " This is the form in which
the proverb sight is given by Fulke Greville, Lord Brooke or term
of its utmost violence; and the paracme, or decline.
Acme (ak'rm)
"Act."
Aconite (ak'onlt). The herb Monkshood or Wolfsbane. Classic
fabulists ascribe its which dropped poisonous qualities to the foam
from the mouths of the three-headed Cerberus, at the command of
Euryswhen Hercules, theus, dragged the monster from the infernal
(Gr. aKovirov; Lat. aconitum.} regions.Luridaterribiles
miscent Aconita novercae. Ovro: Metamorphoses,, i, 147.
See AUTO DA FE. Loss arising from the action of forces
uncontrollable by man, such as a hurricane, lightning, etc., is
said to be due to an "act of God," and hence has no legal A
Devonshire jury once found redress. "That deceased died by the act
of God, about by the flooded condition of brought
Act of Faith. Act of God.
Acrasia
mistress
of the "Bower of Bliss." She transformed her lovers into
monstrous shapes, and them captives. Sir Guyon captures her, kept
frees her victims, destroys the bower, and sends her in chains of
adamant to the Faerie Queene. She is the oersonification of
Intem"perance, the control/'
Queene
(a kra' zi a). (Bk. II, ca.
In12),
Spenser's Faerie an enchantress,
the river."
Act of Man. The sacrificing of cargo, spars, or furnishings, by
the master of a vessel for the preservation of his ship. All
persons with an interest in the ship and cargo stand a fair share
of the loss.Act of Parliament. This is the official for a measure
which has become the law of the land. The word Bill is applied to a
measure on its introduction, and for it to become an Act it has to
be read three times in each House of Parliament (during which time
it is debated) and receive the royal assent. The Acts of each
session are arranged chapters and officially quoted according to
which they are passed. the year of the reign See REGNAL YEAR. The
Acts of the English back to 1235. Parliament go
name
signifying
lack of self-
name
akin to the Lat. ager O.E. acker (a field). God's Acre, a
cemetery or churchyard. Longfellow calls this an "ancient Saxon
phrase," but as a matter of fact it is a modern borrowing
fromAcre.cecer* is
and
Gen
m
Germany.Acre-shot.tax.
m
An
obsolete
"Shot"
is scot.
name for a land See SCOT AND LOT.
coward by character in Acres, Bob. Sheridan's The Rivals, whose
courage always at his fingers* ends." Hence, a "oozed out
A
man
regular
of this kind Bob Acres."
is
sometimes
called
"a
Acropolis (a krop' o lis) (Gr. akros, point, height; potts,
city). An elevated citadel, especially of ancient Athens, where was
built in the 15th century B.C. the Parthenon, the Erechtheum, and
the Propylaea or monu-
In Greek mythology a huntsman who, having surprised Diana
bathing, was changed by her into a stag and torn to pieces by his
own hounds. A stag being a horned animal, he became a
representative of men whose wives are unfaithful. See HORN,Actaeon
(akte'on).Like Sir Actaeon he, with Ringwood at thy heel.
SHAKESPEARE: Merry Wives, ii, 1.
The Emperors themselves did wear Action's badge. BURTON: Anatomy
of Melancholy (1621).Actian
mental gate.Acrostic (Gr. akros, extremity; stichos, row, line
of verse). piece of verse in which the
Games
(ak'
ti
an).
The games
cele-
A
initial letters of each line read downwards consecutively form a
word; if the final letters
brated at Actium in honour of Apollo. They were reinstituted by
Augustus to celebrate his naval victory over Antony, 31 B.C., and
wereheld every five years.
Action Sermon
Adam
sermon (in the Scots Action Sermon. Presbyterian Church)
preached before the of Communion. celebrationActon.
A
A
taffeta,
or leather-quilted
dress,
worn under the habergeon to keep the body from being chafed or
bruised. (Fr. hoqueton,cotton-wool, padding.)Actresses. Coryat, in
his Crudities (1611), says "When I went to a theatre (in Venice) I
observed certain things that I never saw before; for I saw women
acte. ... I have heard that it hath sometimes been used in London,"
but the first public appearance of a woman on the stage in England
was on 8 Dec., 1660, when Margaret Hughes, Prince Rupert's
mistress, played Desdemona in Othello at a new theatre in Clare
Market, London. Previous to that female parts had
creation of Adam (thereby accounting for the varying colours of
mankind), but that they returned emptyhanded because Earth foresaw
that the creature to be made from her would rebel against G&d
and draw down His curse on her, whereupon Azrael was sent. He
executed the commission, and for that reason was appointed to
separate the souls from the bodies and hence became the Angel of
Death. The earth he had taken was carried into Arabia to a
place
between Mecca and Tayef, where it was kneaded by the angels,
fashioned into human form by God,left to dry for either forty days
or forty years. also said that while the clay was being endowed
life and a soul, when the breath breathed by God into the nostrils
had reached as far as the navel, the only half-living Adam tried to
rise up and got ah ugly fall for his pains. Mohammedan tradition
holds that he was buried on Aboucais, a mountain
and
It is
with
of Arabia.
always been taken by boys; Edward Kynaston (d. 1706) seems to
have been the last male actor to play a woman on the English stage,
in serious drama.Whereas, women's parts plays have hitherto been
acted by men in the habits of women ... we
m
do permit and give leave for the time to come all women's parts
be acted by women.
that
Charles IPs licence of 1662.
Acu
tetigisti.
See HEM ACU.(Lat.).
Ad
A judicial(Lat.).
inquirendum (ad in kwl ren' dum)
made into Ad Kalendasi.e.
commanding an some complaint.writ
inquiry to be
Graecas (M ka len' das gre' kas) (Deferred) to the Greek Calends
(It shall be done) on the Greek Calends i.e. never for the Greeks
had nofor ever.
Calends (
