"Cuuul "Catofiutt Mkiehtx ■ ■ ■ yv DICTIONARY OF WORDS, FACTS, AND PHRASES DICTIONARIES. THE READER'S HANDBOOK OF ALLUSIONS, REFERENCES, PLOTS, AND STORIES. By the Rev. E. C. Brewer, LL.D. With an Appendix con- taining an English Bibliography. Crown 8vo. cloth extra, Js. 6d. AUTHORS AND THEIR WORKS, with the Dates. Being the Appendices to 'The Reader's Handbook,' separately printed. By the Rev. E. C. Brewer, LL.D. Crown 8vo. cloth limp, 2S. A DICTIONARY OF MIRACLES: Imitative, Realistic, and Dogmatic. By the Rev. E. C. Brewer, LL.D. Crown 8vo. cloth extra, Js. 6d. FAMILIAR SHORT SAYINGS OF GREAT MEN. With Historical and Explanatory Notes. By Samuel A. Bent, A. M. Crown 8vo. cloth extra, Js. 6d. THE SLANG DICTIONARY: Etymological, Historical, and Anecdotal. Crown 8vo. cloth extra, 6s. 6d. WORDS, FACTS, AND PHRASES: a Dictionary of Curious, Quaint, and Out-of-the-Way Matters. By Eliezer Edwards. Crown 8vo. cloth extra, 3^. 6d. London: CHATTO& WINDUS, m St. Martin's Lane, W.C. WORDS, FACTS, & PHRASES A DICTIONARY OF CURIOUS, QUAINT, & OUT-OF-THE-WAY MATTERS BY ELIEZER EDWARDS ' A quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore ' — Poe's Raven A NEW EDITION LONDON CHATTO & W INDUS 1897 PRINTED BY SPOTTISWOODE AND CO., NEW-STREET SQUARE LONDON py RY tfMVERSIT ! LIF( SANTA BARBARA £3? /??*-* PEEFACE. My aim in this work has been to comprise within the compass of a single volume a mass of curious, out-of-the-way information acquired during years of labour and research from sources not easily accessible to general readers. I have further attempted to render the book interesting, as well as useful, by making it familiar in style rather than formal, and by keeping it free, as far as possible, from technicalities, dry details, and scientific terms. When I first commenced the work, it did not occur to me that it would be either desirable or necessary in all cases to cite authorities. Some of the articles in the book are, consequently, unsupported by other testimony than my own. I think it may be well for me, therefore, to state that in all such cases the evidence, or the authority upon which I relied, was such as to convince me that it was trustworthy. I can scarcely hope that the nearly four thousand articles which the book contains will each be found strictly accurate. Authorities, even of the highest repute, differ greatly; sometimes two, three, or even more, give different explanations of one word or subject. One case which I will mention is a good illustration of the difficulty of arriving at exact results, even in simple matters of fact. When I proposed to give the height of St. Paul's Cathedral, I found no fewer than seven different statements in as many separate publications. Haydn, in the ' Dictionary of Dates,' vi PREFACE. gives it as 404 feet, and the others varied from 356 to 410 feet. To ascertain with absolute certainty, I applied to the surveyor of the Cathedral, whose assistant, Mr. George McDowel, informed me in reply that, having personally measured the building, he was able to state positively that the height from the level of the street on the south side is 365 feet. This statement differs from every one of the authorities I had consulted. In some instances, where I found that opinions and state- ments as to one subject varied very considerably, I have cited the different authorities; in others I have given the explanation which appeared to be the best supported. Other instances are those in which the evidence did not appear to be strong enough to warrant a positive expression of opinion. In these cases I have used the expressions ' perhaps,' ' probably,' ' there seems reason to believe,' and others, to denote that the explanations given are not to be taken as conclusive. The accurate character of the contents of the book has, of course, been my chief object. I have, however, endeavoured as much to make the manner attractive as to render the matter trust- worthy. But, after all, although I hope and believe that the book is free from serious error, I am quite aware that faults both of manner and matter will be discovered. I can only say in respect of these, that I shall feel obliged if those who detect error, or can suggest improvement, will kindly communicate with me, so that, in future editions, defects may be remedied. E. Edwards. Harborne, Birmingham : October 1881 A LIST OF SOME OF THE AUTHORITIES CONSULTED FOR THE PURPOSES OF THIS BOOK. Amos, Sheldon . Angus, Dr. . Bailey, N. . Bartlett, J. R. . Beckmann, John Brand, John Brewer, Dr. Chambers, W. and R. Charnock, R. S. Chatto Clarke, Dr. Adam Cotgrave, R. Cunningham, Peter De Quincey, T. . DeVere, A. T. . D 'Israeli, I. Earle, John English Cyclopaedia — Various Fairholt, F. W. . Gentleman's Magazine Gould, E. S. Grose, F. . Hallam, H. Hoare, Archdeacon Hook, Dr. . Hotten, J. C. Jamieson, J. Jevons, Professor Johnson, Samuel Knight, Charles . I^ke, W. . The Science of Lam. Handbook of the English Tongue. Dictionary, 1735. Dictionary of Americanisms. History of Inventions. Popular Antiquities. {Reader's Handbook ; Diet. Phrase ana Fable $c. Encyelopcedia fyc. Local Etymology. History of Playing Cards Commentary on the Bible. French and English Dictionary. Handbook of London. Opium Eater $c. Studies in English. Curiosities of Literature. Philology of the English Tongue. articles. . Dictionary of Terms in Art. Various volumes. Good English. Glossaries fyc. . Constitutional History. . English Roots. Church Dictionary. . History of Signboards. . Scottish Dictionary. . Money. . Dictionary. . Penny Cycfopadia. . Inventions and Discoveries. via LIST OF AUTHORITIES CONSULTED. Locke, John Lubbock, Sir J. . Marsh, G. P. M tiller, Max Nares, Archdeacon Nichols, J. . Notes and Queries — Sixty Philological Society Phillips, Sir R. . Power, John Pulleyn, W. Richardson, C. . Sala, G. A. . Stillingfleet, Bishop Stow, John . Strutt, Jos. Talbot, Fox Taylor, I. Tooke, Home Trench, Archbishop Verstegan, R. Wedgwood, H. . Wharton . Wood, B. J. Worcester, Dr. . Wright, T. . Wright and Halliwell . Human Understanding fyc. . Origin of Civilisation $c. . Lectures. Various works. . Glossary. . Literary Anecdotes. volumes. . Proceedings. . Million of Facts. . Sandy Book about Hooks. . Etymological Compendium. . Dictionary. Various. . Origines Britannicce. Chronicles. . Sports and Pastimes. . English Etymologies. . Names and Places. . Diversions of Purley. . Study of Words <$'c. . Restitution of Decayed Intelligence, 1635 . Dictionary of English Etymology. . Law Lexicon. . Curiosities of Clocks and Watches. . Dictionary. . Domestic Manners of the Middle Ages. . Reliquice Antiques. WORDS, FACTS, AND PHRASES. A. Up to a recent period it was considered correct to use tho article ' an ' before every word beginning with u, whether the sound were long or short. .Dr. Johnson always so used it, saying ' an useful article,' &c. The rule is now relaxed. It is held that the sound of the u, as in the word just quoted, should be the guide rather than the orthography ; and as the sound in the word ' use- ful ' is identical with that in ' youth,' the article ' a ' is proper in both cases. All words, therefore, beginning with a long u should be treated as though commencing with y ; the ' a ' being in- variably used. A 1. This is the symbol of a first-class vessel at Lloyd's. The letter A refers to the character of the hull of the ship, and is assigned to a new ship for a number of years varying from four to fifteen, according to the material used and the workmanship. After the original term has expired, the ' A ' may be ' continued ' for a further specific term, on condition of certain specified repairs, &c. The figure 1 refers to the state of anchors, cables, and other fittings. Vessels of inferior character are classified under the letters JE E & I. The term A 1 has latterly come into common use, to denote anything of undoubtedly good quality. Abaft. See Aft. Abandon. From the Latin ab, from, and bandum, a flag ; mean- ing ' to desert one's colours.' Abbeys. The first abbey founded in Britain was at Bangor, in the year 560. One hundred and ninety abbeys were supjiressed by Henry VIII., in 1539. They contained nearly 50,000 persons, and their united annual incomes amounted to 2,853,000/. Abbot. From a Syriac word, abba, signifying ' father.' The word ' abba ' is used in this sense in the verse Romans viii. 15. B ABDICATION. Abdication differs from resignation, inasmuch as ' abdication ' is done purely and simply, whereas ' resignation ' is in favour of some other person. — Wharton's Law Lexicon. Aberdeen. The ancient and correct orthography of this local name was ' Aberdon,' from Aber, the mouth of a river, and Don, the name of the river upon whose banks the city is built. Abernethy Biscuits. In ' Notes and Queries,' June 21,1 873, a correspondent says that the late eminent surgeon replied to a patient who told him that he took his biscuits every morning at breakfast : ' My biscuits ! I've nothing to do with them ! They were called after the baker who introduced them, whose name was Abernethy.' The correspondent adds that in his 'student days' he ' lodged with the party to whom the above was said.' Aberystwith is so called from its situation near the mouth (Aber) of the Ystwith, a river which enters the sea at a short dis- tance. Abigail. Applied as a general term for a female domestic servant. The origin of this use of the name may be found in 1 Sam. xxv. 41, where Abigail says to David : ' Behold, let thine handmaid be a servant to wash the feet of the servants of my lord.' Aborigines. ' This word is explained in every dictionary, English, Latin, or French, as a general name for the indigenous inhabitants of a country. In reality it is the proper name of a peculiar people of Italy, who were not indigenous, but were sup- posed to be a colony of Arcadians. The error has been founded chiefly on the supposed derivation of the word from ab origine. Never was a more eccentric etymology — a preposition with its governed case made plural by the modern final s ! ' — II. J. Pye, Poet Laureate, 1790-1813, quoted by Hone in the 'Table Book,' p. 638, edit. 1878. Above, Over, Upon. These three words are almost synony- mous, but there is a clear distinction between them, when applied literally. Above means a greater altitude, but it does not imply verticality. The moon and stars are above us, at considerable intervals of space ; but they are not always over us, as a cloud is over the sea ; nor are they tipon us, as a man's hat is upon his head. The hat and the cloud are above, but the moon is not over, nor are the clouds upon us. Above mentioned is a term used in composition to denote ACCOLADE. something previously written. The expression is figurative, and is taken from the ancient method of writing on scrolls, so that everything previously mentioned in the same roll must be above. Above Par, Below Par. These are common Americanisms. Par is a commercial term signifying that certain stocks or shares can be bought on the Stock Exchange at their nominal value ; as when 1001. worth of London and North- Western Railway stock can be bought for 100^., there being neither premium nor discount. Par, therefore, may be taken to mean level or average. It is used in America to denote the state of health or spirits of a person. ' Below par ' means low in health or spirits ; ' above par ' signifies in better health or spirits than usual. Abscond. This word originally meant to conceal or to hide. Horace Walpole in one of his letters says : ' Virette absconds ; and has sent M. de Pecquigny word that he shall abscond till he can find a proper opportunity of fighting him.' Absinthe. The name is from the Syriac Ab-sintha, cause or author of sleep. Absolom. It is a very general belief that Absolom was caught by the hair of his head in the tree, and that when his mide passed away he was left so hanging, There is nothing of the kind stated in the Scriptural account ; we are distinctly told that his ' head ' caught hold of the oak. He was probably caught in the fork of a branch by the neck. The expression ' he was yet alive ' when Joab saw him, seems to imply that he was nearly dead. The weight of Absolom's hair (2 Sam. xiv. 26) when ' polled ' or cut annually was equal to about 4 lbs. 2 ozs. of our weight. Absurd. From the Latin words ab, from, and surdus, deaf. The allusion is to a reply such as is given by a deaf man to a ques- tion he has not heard distinctly. Ac. This prefix to the names of places is derived from the Anglo-Saxon ac, an oak : e.g. Acton, which means the dwelling or town among the oaks. Academy. From Academus, the name of the owner of the grove near Athens where Plato taught philosophy. Accolade. From the Latin ad, to, and collum, the neck. This woid was used to denote the ancient ceremony of conferring knight- hood, which was by the sovereign laying his arms round the young knight's neck and embracing him. The accolade is now represented by the monarch touching the shoulder of the kneeling recipient b 2 4 A CCORD. with a sword, and addressing him by his christian name, bidding him rise, as ' Arise, Sir John.' Accord. From the Latin ad, to, and chorda, the string of a musical instrument. Thus things that are in accord are in unison or harmony. According to Gunter. In America this phrase is used in the same sense as the English ' according to Cocker.' Gunter was an English mathematician of great eminence, who died in 1626. His name is known in connection with ' Gunter's scale,' and the survey- ing chain, which is always spoken of as ' Gunter's chain.' Accouchement. From the French a, to, and couche, a bed. Account Current. The symbol ajc means 'account current.' Tt is often improperly used as an abbreviation of the word ' account,' in the sense of description or narrative. Accumulate. From the Latin ad, to, and cumulus, a heap. Ace at Cards. From the Latin as, a unit. Acerbity. From the Latin acerbus, unripe ; inferentially ' sour, rough.' Aches. Isaac D'Israeli, in the ' Curiosities of Literature,' says : 'Swift's own edition of " The City Shower " has " old a-ches throb." A-ches is two syllables, but modern printers who had lost the right pronunciation have aches as one syllable, and then to complete the metre have foisted in " aches will throb." Thus what the poet and the linguist wish to preserve is altered and finally lost.' Butler uses it as a dissyllable : — - Can by their pains and a-ches find All turns and changes of the wind. Hudibrus, iii. 2, 407. and Shakespeare in the ' Tempest ' makes Prospero threaten Cali- ban : — If thou neglect'st or dost unwillingly What I command, I'll rack thee with old cramps, Fill all thy bones with a-ches ; make thee roar That beasts shall tremble at the din. John Kemble always pronounced the word as a dissyllable, but endured much ridicule for doing so. The word seems now to be finally settled as a monosyllable. Acorn. From the Anglo-Saxon ac, the oak, and corn, grain, or fruit. Acre. The word ' acre,' which comes from the Latin ager, a ACTRESSES. field, originally meant an open space — a campaign, without re- ference to its size. It is still retained in that sense in the names of places : as Castle-acre, West-acre, &c. ' God's-acre ' was the space around a church. The word now signifies a definite area. The English acre contains 43,560 squai'e feet ; the Scotch, 6,150 square yards. The Irish acre is equal to 1 English acre, 2 rods, and 19 perches. The Welsh contains about 2 acres English. The French acre is 54,450 square feet. Acrobat. From a Greek word signifying ' to run on tiptoe.' Acropolis. The citadel of Athens. At first Acropolis was the only name of the city, which was so called from Acrops, the founder. Afterwards when the city extended over the adjoining plains, the name Acropolis was confined to the citadel and the hilly ground adjoining. Act of Uniformity. This Act, which was passed in 1661, for regulating public worship, &c, obliged all the clergy to subscribe the Thirty-Nine Articles. Upwards of 2,000 conscientious ministers left the Church of England and became dissenters, rather than submit. Actresses. In the time of Shakespeare the female characters were always acted by boys. In the Epilogue to ' As You Like It,' Rosalind says, i If I were a woman, I would kiss as many of you,' &c, which proves that the player was not a female. The earliest known mention of female performers upon the stage occurs in Coryat's ' Crudities,' published in 1611, but probably written some years before. When Coryat was at Venice, he went to a theatre, and he says, ' Here I observed certain things that I never saw before. For I saw women acte, a thing that I never saw before, though I have heard that it hath sometimes been used in London they performed with as good a grace, action, ges- ture .... as ever I saw any masculine actor.' — Edition 1776, vol. ii. Women were not allowed to act in stage-plays, in England, until after the Restoration. Charles II., in 1662, granted a licence for a theatre in Dorset Gardens, London. One of the clauses of the licence was as follows : — 'Whereas the women's parts in play 4 have hitherto been acted by men in the habits of women, at which some have taken offence, we do permit and give leave for the time to come, that all women's parts be acted by women.' Mrs. Coleman, who played Ianthe in Davenant's ' Siege of Rhodes,' in 1656, was probably the first English actress. ADAM SMITH. Adam Smith. The title of Smith's great work, ' The Wealth of Nations,' was perhaps suggested by Dryden's lines : — The winds were hush'd, the waves in ranks were ca>t As awfully as when God's people passed. Those, yet uncertain on whose sails to blow, These, where the wealth of nations ought to flow. Ad captandum. This Latin phrase means ' in such a plausible manner as to attract notice.' The full phrase in Latin is ad c«p- tandum vulgus, to catch the attention of common or ignorant people. Address Cards. The enamel of address cards is produced by the brushing over the card a mixture of ' Kremnitz white,' which is a fine variety of white lead. When dry, the surface is wiped with flannel clipped in powdered talc, and polished by vigorous rubbing with a hard brush. Addle. There were two distinct Anglo-Saxon words which have been modernised into this form. The first, Abel, signified a disease ; from this we get addle, rotten. The other, AS5lian, to earn, thrive, or gain, is still in use as addle in Lancashire and the adjoining counties, where it is common to hear a man say he ' car addle thirty shillings a week.' I addle my ninepence every day. Richard of Dulton Dale. In the sense of thriving, Halliwell quotes from Tusser : — ■ Where ivy embraceth a tree very sore, Kill ivy, or tree will addle no more. Adieu. This is purely French. In its original form it was a Dleu : literally ' To God,' but in its full sense expressing ' To God I commend you.' Adjective. From the Latin ad, to, and j actus, from the verb jacio, to throw : meaning ' to throw or change the noun into a descriptive word,' or adjective. All adjectives are derived from nouns. Adjourn. From the French a, to, and jour, a day : meaning ' to put off or postpone to (another) day.' Adjutant. From the Latin adjutans, assisting. Hence the Adjutant of a regiment is one who assists the Major. Ad libitum. This Latin phrase, or its contraction ad lib., is often met with in English books or papers. Its literal meaning is ' at pleasure ' ; and it generally means ' as much as you please,' ' as far as you olease,' lexia, stupor (Apo, from, plesso, to strike). The word has, by some, been thought to come from a Greek term signifying Apollo- struck, in allusion to the rays of the sun, which were called ' the arrows of Apollo.' This, however, probably referred to the sudden seizure which is now known as sun-stroke. Apostle James. There were two apostles named James — ' James the son of Zebedee ' (Matthew x. 2, 3), and James who is called in Galatians i. 19, ' the Lord's brother.' The latter was the writer of the ' General Epistle of James.' Apostle Spoons. The earliest known mention of an ' apostle spoon ' is the following entry in the books of the Stationers' Com- pany, a.d. 1500 : — ' A spoyne of the gyfte of Master Reginald Wolfe, all gylte with the pycture of Saint John.' Apothecary. The earliest mention of an apothecary in Eng- land is by Andei-son in his ' History of Commerce,' vol. i. p. 319. He tells us that King Edward III., in the year 1345, gave a pen- sion of 6. Line. iv. f. 345. But fashion prevailed, and in the following year all previous orders touching beards were repealed. — Nichols, Progresses of Eliz. an. 1562, p. 26. In an old drama, by Lyly, quoted by Nares, one of the characters, a barber, thus addresses a quondam apprentice : — ' I instructed thee in the phrases of our elegant occupation, as, " How, sir, will you be trimmed ] Will you have your beard like a spade, or a bodkin I A penthouse on your upper lip, or an alley on your chin 1 A low curie on your head like a bull, or dangling lockes like a spaniel 1 Your mustachoes sharpe at the ends like shoemakers aules, or hanging down to your mouth like goats flakes 1 Your love-lockes wreathed with a silken twiste, or shaggie to fall on your shoulders 1" ' Bearing Reins. The use of these reins is very ancient. In Osburn's 'Ancient Egypt,' Sethos (1610 B.C.) is represented as using them ; so that when Joseph rode in Pharaoh's chariot it is probable that bearing reins wei'e used. Bear's Grease. The reputation of bear's grease as an ungent for the hair is of long standing. In 1562, W. Bulleyn published a ' Booke of Simpies,' in which he says (fol. 76), ' The beare is a beaste whose flesh is good for mankynd ; his fat is good, with Laudanum to make an oyntment to heale balde headed men to receive the hayre agayne.' Bear sucking his paws. There is a common belief that, when deprived of his natural food, the bear sustains life by sucking his paws. It is curious that the same belief is common in Surrey as to the badger, which, by-the-bye, is the only English bear. The badger never leaves his hole when snow is on the ground, lest his foot- tracks should betray him ; 'but,' said a gamekeeper, not long ago, ' he lies and sucks his paws, and that's all the food he gets ; but when the snow goes away, he comes out quite fat.' Beauty only skin deep. The first known, if not the original, use of this phrase occurs in Ralph Venning's ' Orthodoxe Para- doxes,' 3rd ed., London 1650, p. 41. ' All the beauty of the world tis but skin-deep, a sunne-blast defaceth it.' Beaver. Workmen in many parts of England call their after- noon meal beaver or bever. It is an old name for an afternoon meal which was in use before the in trod uction of tea, the name of which has superseded the older term. The following will show its BEEFEATER. 53 application : — ' Betimes in the morning they break their fast ; at noon they dine; when the day is far spent they take their beaver; late at night they sup.' — Gate of Languages, 1568. ' He is none of those same ordinary eaters that will devour three breakfasts, and as many dinners, without prejudice to their be vers, drinkings, or suppers.' — - Beaumont and Fletcher, Woman Hater, i. 3. Beaver Hats. The earliest known detailed mention of beaver hats is the following, from Stubbes' ' Anatomy of Abuses,' 1580 : — 1 And as the fashions be rare and strange, so is the stuff whereof their hats be made, divers also ; for some are of silk, some of velvet, some of taffety, some of sarcinit, some of wool, and, which is more curious, some of a certain kind of fine haire ; these they call bever hattes, of xx, xxx, and xl shillings price, fetched from beyond the seas, from whence a great sort of other varieties doe come besides.' It is, however, known that Henry III. possessed ' unum capellum de Bever cum apparatu auri et lapidibus preciosis.' Bedford Row is not so named from any connection with the Russell family, but from the circumstance that Sir William Harper, who was Lord Mayor of London in 1562, left the land on which it stands for the foundation of a school and other charities in the town of Bedford. Bedlam. A corruption of the word Bethlehem, which was the name of a religious house in London, converted into an asylum for lunatics in 1546. It is believed to be the oldest asylum for lunatics in Europe, though there is one in Spain which claims priority. Some authorities give the date of the foundation of Bethlehem Hospital a year later, 1547. Bedridden. From the Anglo-Saxon bed-rida, one who rides or is permanently borne on a bed. Bedstead. Stead, or sted, was an Anglo-Saxon word, signifying ' a place.' Spenser has — Thpy nigh approached to the stead Where as those maremaids dwelt. — Faerie Queen. It is obsolete in this exact sense, but we still say, ' We must send some one else in his stead,' and we use it in the compound ; bed- stead,' which did not originally mean a movable stand on which beds are laid, but a recess in a room where the bed was placed. We still say ' instead of for ' in the place of,' and a ' farm-stead ' is the chief place on a farm. Beefeater. There is reason for thinking that the derivation 54 BEE- LINE i of this word from buffetier is erroneous, and that the modern name of the royal servants is also the original one. At any rate, the following extract from ' Histrio-mastix,' iii. 1, 93-101 [circa 1585-1600], quoted in Simpson's ' School of Shakespeare/ vol. ii. p. 47, shows that it has been in use nearly three hundred years : — Steward. These impudent audatious serving-men scarcely beleeve your honour's late discharge. 1st Servant. Beleeve it ? by this sword and buckler no ; stript of our liveries, and discharged thus ? Mavortius. Wulke, sirs, nay, walke ; awake, yee drowsie drones That long have suekt the honney from my hives ; Begone yee greedy beefeeaters The Callis Cormorants from Dover roade Are not so chargeable as you to feed. Bee-line. The term ' bee-line ' is used in America exactly in the sense in which we say ' as the crow flies,' that is, perfectly straight. The following is a curious example of its use : ' Sinners, you are making a bee-line from time to eternity.' — Bow's Sermons, vol. i. p. 215. Beer, in the names of places in the Holy Land, means a well ; thus Beer-Sheba is the well or fountain of an oath (shabah, an oath). Beer is spoken of by Xenophon in his history of the retreat of the Ten Thousand. It was well known to the Romans as the beverage of Northern Europe. Beldame. Literally, fair lady. ' The name given to a woman who lives to see the sixth generation descended from her.' — ■ Lansdown MS. Belfry. This word, in English, is improperly confined in signi- fication to the chamber in a church tower in which the bells are hung. It means ' a tower,' and is common in mid-Latin, German, and French ; in which languages it appears in the forms beffroi, berfroi, bervrit, bergan, bertefredum and belfredum. Its true signi- ficance is a tower for defence, or a watch-tower. A tower may be properly called a belfry, although there may not be a bell within it. Believe. The country people in Durham and Northumberland use this word in a sense having nothing in common with ' belief.' With them it means ' in the evening,' ' towards night,' &c. It is probably a corruption of ' by-the-eve.' Chaucer uses beleved in the sense of ' left.' Belittle. This is a pure American verb. It means ' to make BELLS. 55 smaller,- or lower in character.' ' In an editorial in the New York Times, January 10, 1859, the following sentence occurs in reference to a debate in the House of Representatives : — ' Upon a motion being made for a committee of investigation, the usual attempts were made to belittle the press, and treat its censures with contempt.' Bell. To ' bear the bell ' is a proverbial expression to denote one who has achieved some distinction. By some it is thought to allude to the practice of attaching a bell to the neck of the most courageous sheep in a flock ; but a more probable origin is in the custom which formerly prevailed of giving silver bells as prizes ii* horse-racing, the winner of a race being said to ' bear away the bell.' Belladonna. Italian for ' fair lady.' It is the name of a poison- ous plant — Atropa bella donna — formerly used by ladies as a cos- metic, and for dilating the pupils of the eyes. ' Bell, book, and candle.' In the Middle Ages this was a form of excommunication in use among Roman Catholics. The bell was tolled to summon the people ; the sentence was read from a book, and a candle was extinguished by being thrown upon the ground ; which last was supposed to represent the fate of the criminal. Bell-hanging. The use of bells in dwelling-houses, for the purpose of summoning domestics, was not known in England until after the time of Queen Anne. Bellows. ' Bellows were certainly in common use in Anglo- Saxon times, for the name is Anglo-Saxon, bcelig or bylig ; but as this meant only a bag, it is probable that the Anglo-Saxon bellows was of very rude character. It was sometimes distinguished by the compound name blust-buslg, a blast-bag, or bellows.' — Wright. A MS. of the fourteenth century, now in the British Museum (MS. Reg. 10 Edward IV.), shows a man blowing a fire with bellows almost identical in shape with those now in use. It is copied in Wright's ' Domestic Maimers in the Middle Ages,' p. 144. Bells. The earliest mention of bells as applied to the purposes of Christian worship is by Polydore Vergil, who states that Paulinus, Bishop of Nola, a city of Campania in Italy, first adapted them to his church in the year 400. They were used in Scotland in the sixth century, but not in England until near the end of the seventh. The Jewish high priests were directed (Exodus xxviii. 33) to wear ' bells of gold,' alternating with pomegranates, upon the hem of their robes. This is the earliest Biblical allusion to bells. 5 6 BELLS. Bells. 'Formerly alarms of fire were given by ringing the church bells backwards.' — Nares, p. 39. Bendigo. The original name of this celebrated Australian goldfield was Bandicoot Creek, from the Bandicoot, a small animal of the opossum species, which formerly frequented the spot in large numbers. Beneath. This is compounded of the Anglo-Saxon prefix be, and an obsolete Old English word, neath, from the Anglo-Saxon neotkra, under. Although we have discarded ' neath,' we still pre- serve 'nether' and 'nethermost.' Benefit of Clergy. An ancient custom of law, under which the clergy, urging the Divine command, ' Touch not mine anointed, and do my prophets no harm,' claimed immunity from punishment at the hands of civil officers. Even after conviction of criminal offences, they could plead ' Benefit of Clergy ' in arrest of judgment. ' He was then put to read in a Latin book, of a Gothic black letter, and if the ordinary of Newgate said Legit ut Clericus, i.e. he reads like a Clerk, he was only burnt in the hand, and set free; other- wise, he suffered Death for his crime.' — Verstegan. Benefit of Clergy was abolished by Act of Parliament, 7 & 8 George IV. c. 28. See Neck-verse. Bequeath. Verstegan gives the origin of this word in his Anglo-Saxon Glossary, as follows : ' Cwith, a will, or testament. Hereof remaineth yet our word bequeath.' — Restitution, &.c. p. 167. Bereft is bereaved. Berkshire. This name is derived from barruc, a polled or pollard oak, and scyre, a shire ; from the Shiremotes of that county being anciently held in the shade of a large polled oak-tree. Berwick. This is a contraction of Aber-wick, the meaning of which is a town (icick) at the mouth (aber) of a river. Beseech, originally ' beseek ' — which gives the exact meaning — which is ' to seek something from another.' Beside, Besides. Great care is necessary in deciding which of these two words should be used in writing a sentence. Beside is a preposition, and should be used whenever it means ' by the side of,' or ' outside of ; as, ' He was sitting beside me when it happened ' ; or ' He is quite beside himself.' Besides is also sometimes a preposi- tion, as when it is used to signify ' in addition to,' as, ' Besides all this, between you and us there is a great gulf fixed.' But beside* BIBLE. 57 should always be used where the sense is adverbial, as signifying 1 beyond/ or ' moreover,' as in the two lines from Dryden — Besides, you know not while yon here attend Th' unworthy fate of your unhappy friend. Beth, in the names of places mentioned in Scripture, is the Hebrew beth, a house. Thus, Beth-lehem is ' the house of bread ' ; Beth-el, ' the house of God ' ; Beth-saida, ' house of mercy.' In Birmingham there is a thoroughfare called ' Betholom Row,' in which is an old Jewish burial-ground. Beth-Ohm, ' the house of Eternal Best.' Better, Best. The Bersian word for good is beh; the com- parative behter, which means ' better,' and the superlative behterten, which means ' best.' Both the English and Bersian languages belong to the Indo-Germanic group, and we doubtless had for- merly some corresponding word to the Bersian beh, good, which has disappeared from the language. The Anglo-Saxons had behe/e, gain, benefit, which we retain as ' behoof.' Does this point to the same root ? Between hay and grass is a proverbial expression in America, equivalent to the English word ' hobble-de-hoy ' — that is, a youth between boyhood and manhood. Beverage. This word has had many changes in orthography ; it is found spelled ' biberedge,' ' beverege,' and ' beveridge.' It comes from the Italian bevere, to drink. Hearne (' Glossary to Robert of Gloucester's Chronicle ') defines it as ' reward, consequence. 'Tis a word now in use for a Refreshment between Dinner and Supper.' It is now limited in its signification to liquid refreshment. Bible. From the Greek, ta biblia, ' The Books.' The name Bible was given to the Sacred Writings by St. Chrysostom, in the fourth century. The present (1880) version of the Bible originated in a suggestion made by Dr. Rainolds, an eminent Puritan, at the Conference at Hampton Court, January, 1604. In the following July the king (James) suggested the appointment of fifty-four scholars for the preparation of this version, and instructed his bishops that, whenever a living of 20?. a year fell vacant, they should inform him, in order that he might recommend one of the translators to the patron. This was all James did on behalf of the translation with which his name is associated. The expenses (about 3,500?.) were paid by Barker, the printer and patentee. Forty-seven of the fifty-four accepted office, and they were divided into six companies, of which two met at Westminster, two at Books . 39 27 Chapters 929 260 Verses . 23,214 7,959 Words . 592,439 181,258 Letters . 2,728,100 838,380 58 BID. Cambridge, and two at Oxford. The Westminster companies translated the Old Testament, to the end of the Second Book of Kings, and the Apostolic Epistles. The Cambridge bodies trans- lated from the First of Chronicles to the end of Canticles, and the Apocrypha. The Oxford companies completed the Old Testament, and translated the Gospels, the Acts, and the Apocalypse. The final revision was conducted in London, by two delegates from each of the six companies. These twelve met daily for nine months, in the Hall of the Stationers' Company. The work of translation and revision lasted from 1607 to 1610. Abont 1810, a painstaking person made the following calculations and statements : — ' The Authorised Version of the Bible contains— Old Testament New Testament Total 66 1,189 31,173 773,697 3,556,480 The middle chapter, and the shortest, is Psalm cxvii. The twenty-first verse of the seventh chapter of Ezra contains all the letters of the alphabet, reckoning I and J as the same letter. The nineteenth chapter of the Second Book of Kings and the thirty- seventh chapter of Isaiah are alike. The shortest verse is John xi. 35.' The divisions of chapters into verses were made by Stephens in 1551. Bid. The old word bid, to invite, as used in the verse (Matthew xxii. 9), ' As many as ye shall find, bid to the marriage,' is from the Anglo-Saxon Beodan, to invite, or entreat. It now seems almost obsolete, "We however retain it in the compound forbid. We ' invite ' a person to our house ; we forbid, or prohibit, him from entering it. ' Have I not forbidden her my house 1 ' — Merry Wives of Windsor. The word bid, as used of an offer of money for a commodity, is from a different root. In this sense, bid comes from the Anglo-Saxon biddan. See Beadle. Bigamy. The offence known by this name should properly be called polygamy, i.e. having a plurality of wives or husbands living at the same time. Bigamy, in its original and canonical sense, ' consists in a man marrying two virgins, one after the death of the other; or in marrying a widow once.' — Wharton. A second marriage, after the death of the first wife, is sometimes called Digamy. Bigot. According to Camden, this word arose from the French pronunciation of the English phrase, ' By God ! ' uttered as an oath BIRCH'S, CORNHILL. 59 by Rollo, Duke of Normandy, when he refused to kiss the foot of Charles the Foolish, his father-in-law. Cotgrave's Dictionary, published in 1611, has the following: — ' Bigot, an old Norman word signifying as much as de par J)ieu, or our " for Coil's sake ! " made good French, and signifying an hypocrite, or ono that seemeth much more holy than he is, also a scrupulous or super- stitious fellow.' Bilboes are the fetters in which the ankles of refractory or mutinous sailors are confined, when they are sentenced to be put in irons. The word is derived from Bilboa, in Spain, where they were first made. Some bilboes found in the Spanish Armada aro preserved in the Tower. Billiards. The invention of billiards is by some attributed (o a Frenchman named Devigne, who lived in the time of Charles IX. of France. Bouillet says it originated in England. Strutt thinks it is only the game of ' paille-maille ' (the original of crocpiefc^ trans- ferred from the ground to a table. Who discovered it is noc kne »vn, but the time of its introduction seems to have been about the middle of the sixteenth century. Spenser alludes to it in 'Mother Hub- bard's Tale ' ; and Shakespeare, in ' Antony and Cleopatra.' Billion. The word is a contraction of bi-million, literally millions twice. In England and the Colonies the meaning is a million of millions. In France, on the Continent, and in the United States, it is a thousand millions. Bill of Exchange. In ' Notes and Queries,' July 28, 1877, is a copy of an Italian bill of exchange drawn at Milan March 9, 1325. It was payable on the 9th of October following. The amount is mentioned as ' Lib. XIV.' Binnacle. This word is a corruption of bittacle. It means the enclosed box in which a ship's compass is placed and per- manently fixed. The name is from the French Juibitacle. Birch.. Bailey, with dry humour, in his 'Dictionary' says: ' Birch [Birce Sax. BirckenJiaum Teut.] This is well known to schoolmasters.' Birch's, Cornhill. This celebrated house for good things was established by one Hortou, in the reign of George I. The pro- prietor, Alderman Birch, was Lord Mayor in 1815. He was not only a confectioner ; he was poet, dramatic writer, and Colonel of the City Militia. He wrote the inscription for the statue by Chantrey of George III. now in the Council Chamber, Guildhall. The shop front in Cornhill remains as it existed 150 years ago. 60 BIRCHIN LANE. The Alderman died in 1840, but had previously (1836) disposed of his business to Messrs. Ring and Brymer. Birchin Lane. Stow says that this is properly Birchover Lane, ' so called of Birchover, the first builder and owner thereof, now corruptly called Birchin Lane.' Bird, in the original Anglo-Saxon, brid, is literally the young of birds, as earnes brid, an eagle's young ; hence the German brut, a hatch of young, and the English brood and breed. In this sense Shakespeare uses the word ' bird' in ' Hen. IV.' act v. sc. 1. : Being fed by us you used us so As that ungentle gull the cuckoo's bird Useth the. sparrow. Properly the word fowl is the general term applicable to the feathered race as a whole, but this word is now only used for do- mestic fowl, and the name of the young animal has become the general term to signify the feathered tribes. Birdlime. The second syllable of this word is the German leim, glue. The Dutch word for glue is lym; the Scandinavian nations spell it Urn. Birmingham trade discounts. The prices of nearly all the goods manufactured at Birmingham are regulated by discounts or allowances from nominal list prices. These discounts range from a mere fractional percentage to a maximum of 80 or DO per cent. To the general public this seems unaccountable and open to endless fraud, but practically it is found to work well, to prevent fraud, and to be absolutely the only plan by which the business of the town could be carried on. As an illustration, we may take the case of a brassfo under — that is, a maker of hooks and bolts, and the innumerable articles of brass that are in constant use in every house. All his goods are represented to customers by means of drawings in his pattern-book, and some of these books contain thousands of different objects. Each of these has a nominal price printed in the book. The real price is arrived at by a deduction or discount from the nominal. The nominal price of a particular item has been calculated and fixed, we will say, when copper — which is the chief raw material in making brass — is at 1001. the ton, and the current rate of brassfounders' discount is 30 per cent. Now, if copper should suddenly rise in price to 150/. the ton, the manufacturer does not raise his prices, but he reduces his discount. Instead of 30, he only allows 20 per cent. So in the opposite case of a fall in copper to 701. the ton. He then raises his discount BISHOPRIC, KINGDOM. 61 gay to 40 per cent., and in this way reduces the value of all his five or six thousand different articles by a single stroke of the pen. Thus, by the simple process of altering the deduction to be made from a fictitious basis, the cost of finished goods follows that of the raw material, although their nominal price remains unaltered. Birthplace of Napoleon III. It has been stated over and over again that the Emperor Napoleon III. was born at the Tuileries. Mr. Bertram! Payne, the author of the ' Index of Biography,' says this is erroneous. ' A friend of mine,' he writes, ' submitted a proof to the illustrious original, who then and there made three slight corrections in it with his own hand, one of which was to expunge the word " Tuileries," and to substitute ? Rue Ceruti (now Lafitte)." ' Biscuit. This word is a compound of the French words bis, twice, and cuit, baked. Originally the bread for use on shipboard, made in thin flat cakes as now, was baked twice, in order to secure the requisite hardness and dryness. Bis dat qui cito dat. This Latin proverb is from the works of Publius Syrus, a Roman poet of the time of Julius Caesar. It means ' He gives twice who gives quickly.' Bishop. Dr. Chance, in ' Notes and Queries,' points out that the English word bishop, and its French equivalent, eveque, ai*e both derived from the Latin episcopus, and yet neither word has a single letter belonging to the other. He gives the gradations as follows : Episcopus, episcop, piscop, biscop, bishop ; and in French episcopus, episc, epesc, evesc, evesque, eveque. Bishop's Apron. This apron represents the short cassock which was formerly worn alike by bishop, priest, and deacon. The 74th Canon enforces its use upon all the clergy, but it is now confined to the bishops. The short cassock differed from the long one in having no collar or sleeA*es, and in its extending only about two inches below the knees. Bishops in Parliament. Before the time of Henry VIII. certain abbots held manors from the Crown for which they owed military service, and in right of which they were lords and were summoned to Parliament. From this arose the custom of bishops sitting as peers. Although, however, they are called ' lords spiritual,' they sit as temporal peers in right of baronies. Bishopric, Kingdom. The terminating syllables of both these words are from the Anglo-Saxon. They called a kingdom Cyning- 62 BISSEXTILE. dome, or Giningric, indiscriminately. Verstegan says ' dom and ric signify both one thing, to wit the jurisdiction or dominion belonging to some publick person. And whereas we say a Kingdom, they say in Germany a Kiningric ; but whereas we say a Bishop- ric, they say a Bishopcfow,.' — Restitution, &c, edit. 1655, p. 168. Bissextile. This is a word derived from the Latin bis, twice, and sextus, sixth. The extra day in February every fourth year is called an intercalary day. Under the Julian, or Roman system, this intercalary day was inserted in the Calendar between the 24th and 25th of February. According to the peculiar method of reckoning among the Romans, the 24th of February was called the ' sixth before the Calends of March.' Every fourth, or leap year, this sixth [sextus) was reckoned twice (bis), and was called bissextus. From this we get the word bissextile, meaning leap year. Bit for a horse. From the Anglo-Saxon, but whether from bitol, a bridle, or bitan, to bite, is uncertain. Bitter end. This phrase, which originated at the time of the American civil war, is probably founded upon the verse Proverbs v. 4, ' But her end is bitter as wormwood.' Bivouac is a military term corrupted by the French from the German bei-wache, an additional watch. There is an old English term in Bailey, biovac or bihovac, meaning a night guard of the whole army in apprehension of danger, but the latter word is now obsolete, and the French word is completely Anglicised. Bi-weekly, Tri-weekly. These are words used to express something that happens, or is published twice or three times within a week. It is wrong. They mean something occurring once in two or three weeks. Black. It is singular that this word originally signified ' pale.' In the Anglo-Saxon an old writer speaks of Se mona mid his bla- can leohte — ' the moon with her pale light.' Another praises the beauty of blac hleor ides — ' the pale-cheeked maiden.' ' Then,' as Mr. Wedgwood says (' Etymology, vol. i.), ' as a pale complexion takes a blueish tint, the designation has passed on to make the darker colours of the spectrum, and finally in English black, a total absence of all colour. The words bleak and bleach are from the same root as the word black. In the north of England blake, as applied to butter or cheese, means ' yellow ' ; blakeling is a local name for a yellow ammer, and Ray has " as blake as a paigle," i.e. cowslip.' BLACKGUARD. 63 Black Doll at marine-store shops. Formerly cast-off clothes were bought in large quantities for the purpose of being shipped to uncivilised countries ; and a black doll gaily dressed was ex- hibited in front of the houses of dealers in cast-off garments as a sign that the owner dealt in such goods for exportation to Africa. Black-edged Paper. In ' Social Life in Former Days/ by E. D. Dunbar, of Lea Park, Forres, there is a copy of a letter from Lord Donne to an ancestor of the Author, inviting him to the funeral of the Countess of Murray. The letter was dated January 5, 1683, and was written upon paper edged with black Black-edged paper is mentioned in Addison's comedy of ' The Drummer,' which appeared in 1715. In act iv. sc. 1 there is an allusion to ' my lady's mourning paper — that is, blacked at the edges.' It does not seem to have come into general use, for in ' Mann and Manners at the Court of Florence,' 1740-86 (Bentley, London, 1876) is a copy of a letter from Mann to Walpole, dated January 28, 1745. The letter was written on paper with narrow mourning border, referring to which, the writer says, ' I believe you never saw anything like it before; here everybody uses it but myself. I begged a sheet for this occasion only, and another to keep as a curiosity. Madame Boyale was very unpolite to dye just at the beginning of Carnival to deprive us of all our diversions.' The lady who had just died was the mother of the Grand Duke of Tuscany. Blackguard. The earliest mention of this term that the com- piler of this book has met with is in the ' Churchwardens' Account of St. Mary-at-Hill, London, 17 & 19 Edward IV.' (quoted by Brand, vol. ii. p. 231), where, under date 1532, is ' Item, received for iiij. Torches of the Black Guard, iiij d.' What this ' black guard ' consisted of is not mentioned, but the following seems to show that the name was formerly applied to link-boys — that is, boys who ran with lighted torches, links, to light passengers in the streets in dark weather : — Love is all gentleman, all joy, Smooth are his hr ks, and soft his face, Her [Belinda's") Cupid is ft blackguard boy That rubs his link full in your face. Sackville, Earl of Dorset. The name, however, seems also to have been applied to a low class of servants in the kitchen of the king. In the ' Calendar of State Papers ' there is the following entry : — ' Aug. 17, 1535. Sir William Fitzwilliam to Mr. Secretary Cromwell : Refusal of the workmen to work for less than Gd. a day. Two of the ringleaders 64 BLACK LETTER. had been for some time of the Blackguard of the King's kitchen.' From various circumstances it seems to have been the duty of these blackguards to watch over and remove from one palace to another, when the Court changed its residence, all the cooking utensils and even coals. These, being the lowest, meanest, and dirtiest of the retainers, were called the black guard. Black Letter. This is the modern name for the Old Gothic or Old English letter, introduced into England about the middle of the fourteenth century. "When, about a century later, printing was introduced, the types were cast in this character in imitation of manuscript. All the early printed Bibles, and all the books printed before 1500, are in this character, and are called Black Letter books. Blade. The Anglo-Saxon word for a shoot or leaf of grass or corn was bleed. The name is applied to the cutting part of a knife or sword from the similarity in shape. We still say a ' blade ' of grass. See Shoulder-blade. Blank. From the French blanc, white. Hence a blank page means a white page. Blanket. It is doubtful whether the etymology of blanket from the name of a Bristol Mayor is correct. Spenser uses the word bloncket for liveries or coats ; and in ' Cole's Dictionary ' blanquet is used to designate a delicate white pear, 'Pyrutn sub* albidum, a blanquet pear.' This seems to point to the French blanc, white, as the root. Kersey also has the word blankers for white garments. The transition from blanquet, a white livery, to an undyed woollen material similar to that of which liveries are made, seems easy and natural. The woollendrapers still sell a cloth which they call ' livery cloth.' Blaze. In England a white mark in the forehead of a horse is called a blaze. In America the word is used to denote pieces of bark cut from the trees in a forest, at short distances from each other, so that travellers may, by observing the white marks left, retrace their steps. The term is also used by the American Government when they plot out new roads or mark ' lots ' for sale. The rule is, ' three blazes in a perpendicular line on the same tree indicate a legislative road ; the single blaze, a settlement, or neighbourhood road.' — Carlton. The word is also used meta- phorically ; as, 'Champollion died in 1832, having done little but blaze out the road to be travelled by others.' — Nous's Chronology, Ancient and Scriptural, p. 36. BLOOD-HEAT. 65 Blind-man's-buff. Taylor, the Water-Poet, in bis 'Great Eater of Kent,' 1630, says, ' Gregorie Dawson, an Englishman, devised the unmatchable mystery of Blindman buffe.' Blithe, Blithesome. The original meaning of blithe or blithe- some was 'yielding milk.' — Bailey. This seems doubtful. Milton has — And the milkmaid singeth blithe. Bloater. To blote, or blot, fish is, in Scandinavia, to soak them preparatory to curing them by smoke. When cured fish, under the name ' blot fish,' were first brought to England from Sweden, it was naturally thought that ' blot ' had reference to the smoking process, and hence to blote, or bloat, in English has come to signify curing fish by smoking. The term is an old one. Nares quotes from Beaumont and Fletcher, ' I have more smoke in my mouth than would blote a hundred herrings ' ; and, from Ben Jonscn, ' You stink like so many bloat-heruiiigs newly taken out of the chimney.' The original word bloat means ' to swell'; as we speak of 'a bloated toad.' Strange that the same word should signify dried, and therefore shrunken; and its ex- act opposite, swollen and distended. Blockhead. This comes from a play upon the word ' block,' the name of the wooden mould upon which hats are shaped, and it was used to designate the shape or fashion of the hat itself. Our forefathers often exercised their wits upon the subject. Beaumont and Fletcher have, ' Though now your blockhead be covered with a Spanish block ' — that is, a hat of Spanish fashion. In ' Wits' Recreations ' (Epigram 456) is the couplet: — A pretty block Sextinus names his hat, So much the fitter for his head by that. Blood is thicker than water. Many think that this saying originated with Commodore Tatnall, of the United States Navy, who assisted the English in the Chinese waters, and, in his despatch to his Government, justified his interference by quoting the words. It is, however, an old English proverb, and is to be found in Ray's ' Collection of English Proverbs,' published in 1672. Walter Scott, too, makes Dandie Dinmont say, ' Weel ! blude's thicker than water; she's welcome to the cheeses and the hams just the same.' Blood-heat. The average temperature of the human body is from 98 to 100 degrees. This heat is maintained within one or two degrees whether in arctic or tropical climates. It does not vary whatever the sensations of heat or cold may be. Any devia- f 66 BLOOM ON THE GRAPE, PLUMS, ETC. tion from the average, whether the temperature falls or is raised, is injurious, and if it be great is soon fatal. The mammalia generally have about tbe same temperature as man. Fishes, reptiles, and insects do not differ greatly from the warmth of the air or water in which they live, but the temperature of birds is from eight to ten degrees higher than that of man. Bloom on the Grape, Plums, &c. The bloom upon fruit is a provision of nature to prevent water from settling, to the detri- ment of the fruit. Where it is rubbed off damp accumulates, and decay commences. Blowpoint. ISTares describes this as a ' childish game, consisting perhaps of blowing small pins or points against each other. Pi'O- bably something like push-pin.' We pages play at blowpoint, for a piece of a parsonage. Return from Parnassus, iii. 1. Blue. Bailey gives an extraordinary etymon to this word. He has it in his ' Dictionary ' as follows : — ' Blue [Blaw, Teut. pro- bably of Veau, the water, because of its representing the colour of the sky\, sky colour.' Blue-Book. This term in America has a different signification from that which it has in England. The American Blue-Book is similar to the English Red-Book. It contains lists of all persons in authority in the government, the law offices, and in the various civil, military and naval departments." Blue Nose. This is a slang name in America for a native of Nova Scotia. Haliburton, in ' Sam Slick,' gives the following account of its origin : — ' " Pray, sir," said one of my fellow-passen- gers, " can you tell me the reason why the Nova Scotians are called Blue Noses 1" " It is the name of a potato," said I, " which they produce in the greatest perfection, and boast to be the best in the world. The Americans have, in consequence, given them the nickname of Blue Noses." ' Blue Ribbon of the Turf. Lord Beaconsfield originated this phrase, so frequently quoted in reference to the great race, the Derby. He gives, in his ' Biography of Lord George Bentinck,' an account of its origin. Lord George had given up racing to become the leader of the Conservative party, and was defeated in Parlia- ment a few days before the horse Surplice, which he had sold, won the coveted prize. The two events troubled him greatly. ' It was in vain to offer solace,' says Disraeli. ' He gave a sort of stifled groan. " All my life I have been trying for this, and for BOB. 67 y what have I sacrificed it 1 You do not know what the Derby is,' he moaned out. " Yes I do ; it is the Blue Ribbon of the Turf." " It is the Blue Ribbon of the Turf," he slowly repeated, and sit- ting down at a table, he buried himself in a folio of statistics.' Blue-stocking 1 . In the time of Dr. Johnson, Mrs. Thrale and other ladies held weekly assemblies for meeting literary men. A Mr. Stillingfleet was an eminent member, who excelled in conversa- tion. His dress was peculiar, and he wore blue stockings. When he was absent he was greatly missed, and it was common to say, ' We can do nothing without the blue stockings.' By degrees the name became applied to the ladies who attended, and the assemblies received the name of Blue-Stocking Clubs. Hence literary ladies are called ' blue stockings ' in England, France and Germany. Blunderbuss. An old English name for an empty- pated fool. Woolston, ' Sixth Discourse on Miracles,' p. 50, says, ' No wise man ever reprehends a blunderbuss for his bull any other way than by laughing at him,' and Pope speaks of ' a Blunderbus of Law.' The name appears to have been applied to the gun so called, from its similarity in sound to the Dutch name for the fire- arm, Donderbuss, literally, thundertube. Board of Green Cloth. The duties of this ' Board ' were for- merly of a much more minute nature than at present. In Mr. Cunningham's ' Handbook of London ' is a copy of an order, as follows: — 'Board of Green Cloth, 12th June, 1681. Order was this day given that the Maides of Honour should have cherry tarts instead of gooseberry tarts, it being observed that cherry's are at threepence per pound.' Board of Trade. ' Cromwell seems to have given the first notion of a Board of Trade. In 1655 he appointed his son Richard, with many Lords of his Council, judges and gentlemen, and about twenty merchants of London, York, Newcastle, Yar- mouth, Dover, &c, to meet and consider by what means the trade and navigation of the republic might be best promoted.' — Thomas's Notes of the Rolls. Boar's Head in Eastcheap. This inn, celebrated for all time as the scene of FalstafFs roysterings, was burnt down in the Great Fire of London. It stood upon the exact site of King William's statue at the end of King William Street. Bob ' was not originally a diminutive of Robert, but merely the Teutonic bub or bube, signifying boy.' — Fox Talbot. 68 BOBADIL. Bobadil. The name of the swaggering captain in Ben Jon- son's comedy was probably adapted from that of the governor of Cuba who sent Columbus home in chains, which was Babadilla. Bobby. This term was first applied to policemen in reference to Sir Robert Peel, who organised the police force. ' Peeler,' from the same source, is used in Ireland in reference to the rural police. Bodkin. This word originally meant a dagger. It is so used by Chaucer, and by Beaumont and Fletcher. This definition makes Hamlet's ' bare bodkin,' which was to make his quietus, more intelligible. Bodkin. ' To ride bodkin.' Dr. Payne, formerly Archdeacon of St. David's, gave the following explanation of this saying : — ' Bodkin is bodykin (little body), as manikin (little man), and was a little person to whose company no objection could be made on account of room occupied, by the two persons accommodated in the corners of the carriage.' Body-snatching. This offence, common enough a few years ago, is now rendered unnecessary by judicious legislation. The earliest known case of body-snatching occurred in 1777, from a burial-ground near Gray's Inn Lane. The gravediggers them- selves raised the corpse of a Mrs. Jane Samsbury, and were tried at Guildford for the offence. It was ingeniously contended that, as they took nothing but the body, there could be no crime, as the body could not be held to be the property of anyone. The men were, however, convicted, and imprisoned for six months. Boer. The word ' Boer,' applied to the Dutch inhabitants of the country districts of the Cape of Good Hope, is the German name for farmers and agriculturists. The English word 'boor' originally had the same significance. Bogie. The goblin with which silly nurses frighten children. There are many ways of spelling the word, as boggart, boggard, bogge, boggle, boggybo, bug an, boguesh, bogy, and bogle. They all seem to have been derived from the Celtic bwgan, a spectre. Bogus. The ' Boston Daily Courier ' of June 12, 1857, has the following upon the origin of this word : — ' The word " bogus," we believe, is a corruption of the name of one Borghese, a very cor- rupt individual, who, twenty years ago, or mere, did a tremendous business in the way of supplying the great West, and portions of the South- West, .with a vast amount of counterfeit bills, and bills on fictitious banks, which never had an existence out of the " for- BOMBS. 69 getive brain " of him, the said " Borghese." The Western people, who are rather rapid in their talk, when excited, soon fell into the habit of shortening the Norman name of Borghese to the more handy one of Bogus, and his bills, and all other bills of like cha- racter, were universally styled "bogus currency."' Boiling point of water. At the level of the sea, water boils at a temperature of 212 degrees, but as we ascend, the boiling point becomes gradually lower. At the Hospice of Mount St. Bernard on the Alps, which is at an elevation of 8,600 feet above sea level, water boils at something less than 200 degrees. This compels the monks to live almost entirely upon baked, roasted, or fried food, as its nutritious qualities cannot be extracted at a lower tempei*ature than 212 degrees. The monks are conse- quently debarred from many comforts through not being able to make their boiling water so hot as that of their neighbours in the valleys below. At the city of Mexico, the boiling point is 200 degrees ; at Quito it is 194; and on the Donkia mountain, in the Himalaya range, Dr. Hooker found it 180 degrees. Bolt. This word is used in many senses, but they are all referable to the original meaning of an arrow. The word was originally spelt boult. Chaucer has ' a featherless boult,' and we read of a man taking a boult from his quiver. Besides this primi- tive meaning, we have ' thunderbolt ' as applied to lightning, which everybody knows darts like an arrow, and a door is bolted by a piece of straight iron shot out of a socket. ' Bolt upright ' means ' straight as an arrow ' j a horse bolts when he starts otf suddenly, as an arrow from a bow ; and a hog bolts his food when he shoots it into his stomach without mastication. Bombast. A mixture of cotton and silk yarn, so called, was used in the time of James I. to stuff or pad the enormous breeches used at that time. Hence bombast, or bombastical, is applied to anything spoken or written in an inflated style. Bombay is a corruption of Bom Bahia, ' good bay,' the name given to the locality by the Portuguese when they took possession. Bombazine, a fabric much in use forty years ago for ladies' dresses, derived its name by corruption from the Greek bombyx, a silk- worm. The name was at first applied to silk itself, and finally to a fabric made for mourning dresses, in which silk was the chief material. Bombs. Hone says that the first bombs were thrown, on the 24th March, 1580, upon the town of Wachtendonck, iu Guelder- 7 o BONA FIDE. land. He adds that 'the invention is commonly attributed to Galen, Bishop of Miinster.' Bona fide. This phrase is frequently pronounced by imper- fectly educated people as though the latter word were one syllable only. Its proper division into syllables is bo-na fi-de ; the accent is on ' fi.' The literal meaning is ' in good faith.' Bonafides is ' good faith.' Bone to pick. It is the custom in Sicily for the father of a bride to hand the bridegroom a bone, saying, ' Pick this bone; you have undertaken a more difficult task.' Bonfire. From the Scandinavian baun-fire, a beacon-fire. Boniface. This name is probably applied to publicans from the legend mentioned in the ' Ebrietatis Encomium,' which relates that Pope Boniface instituted indulgences for those who should drink a cup after grace, to his own memory, or to the pope for the time being, which cup is proverbially called St. Boniface's Cup. Bonne-bouche. French ; literally, a good mouth. Used in England as equivalent to tit-bit, or in reference to some rare old wine, as ' Now I'll give you a bonne-bouche. This is a bottle of the celebrated Comet Port of 1811.' Bonnet is from the Gaelic bonaid, a head dress. Book (see Volume before reading this article). The Gothic tribes used slips of wood for writing tablets, and the wood of the beech being found most suitable for the purpose, its Anglo-Saxon name boc became the origin of the English book, and the German buck. As slips of wood could not oe rolled, like the Latin volu- men, they would naturally be gathered together like leaves of modern paper. One of the oldest manuscripts in existence, ' The Upsala Copy of the Maaso-Gothic Translation of the Scriptures,' is written on sheets of vellum arranged as a book. The superior convenience of that form led to its adoption in Rome early in the Christian era ; though the Rolls were continued to be used in the Northern nations down to a comparatively recent period. Books. A folio volume is composed of sheets of paper folded so as to make two leaves ; a quarto (4to), four ; an octavo (8vo), eight ; a duodecimo (12mo), twelve, erformers or singers. Brawl. This word seems to have sadly deteriorated in mean- ing. In the ' New World of Words,' a dictionary published in 1696, it is denned to be ' the dance with which all balls are begun, wherein the persons dance in a ring or not forward, continually pulling and shaking one another.' Brawn. Tooke says the name of this once favourite dish is from bawr-en, boar's flesh, but this etymology is doubtful. The word is, with greater probability, derived from the name of Brawn, a celebrated cook who kept the ' Rummer ' in Queen Street, London. King's ' Analogy between Physicians, Cooks, and Playwrights ' opens thus : — 'Though I seldom gat out of my own lodgings I was prevailed on the other day to dine with some friends at the Rummer in Queen Street. . . . Mr. Brawn had an art,' (fee. A grandson of this Brawn kept the public-house at the old Mews Gate at Charing Cross. Brazen-nose College. The term brazen-nose or brasenose is a corruption of the word brasen-house, or brewing-house. Bread, Loaf. Verstegan has ' Laf or Hlaf, for so was it most written, was with our Ancestors their most usual name for bread, though they had also the word breod.'— Restitution, &c. edit. 1655, p. 178. It has been estimated that the average daily consumption of bread by Englishmen is one pound. The average for Frenchmen is estimated at 2j pounds. The proportions of beef and mutton would be in an inverse ratio. The price of the quartern loaf was 4frf. in 1745, which is the lowest within the last 150 years. It was 22^. in 1800, and 211/1. in 1812, which are the highest prices recorded within the same period. See Lady. Bread and butter. ' I know on which side my bread is buttered.' This proverb occurs in Heywood's ' Dialogue,' (fee, 2nd part, 7th chap., printed in 1 546. Bread-stuffs. The Americans do not use the word ' corn ' as a general name for all kinds of grain, but confine it exclusively to Indian corn or maize. Hence they have adopted the term ' bread- stuffs ' for wheat, meal, flour, (fee. The word arose soon after the acknowledgment of American independence. The earliest known instance of its being used officially is in a ' Report of the Secretary of State on Commercial Restrictions' (Washington, Dec. 16, 1793). 7 6 BREAKING OF BREAD. The words are these : ' The articles of exports .... are bread- stuffs, that is to say Bread-grains, meals, and bread.' Breaking of bread. This phrase, so frequently used in the New Testament to signify a meal, is explained in Beckman's ' History of Inventions.' He tells us that ' among the ancient Foomans all articles of food were cut into small morsels before being served at table. . . . For cutting meat, persons of rank kept a carver, who was designated the scissor, or carptor, and who had the only knife placed on the table. The bread was not cut at table. It more nearly resembled Mat cakes than large loaves like our own, and could easily be broken ; hence mention is so often made of the breaking of bread.' Breeches. Among the ancient Greeks wearing breeches was a mark of slavery. To ' wear the breeches ' now-a-days has a very different signification. The phrase ' to wear the breeches ' is common to most of the northern nations of Europe. The French have it, and the Dutch say ' De vrouw draagd'er de brock.' The Germans say ' Sie hat die Hosen ' — ' she has the breeches.' Breeches Bible, sometimes called the ' Geneva Bible.' This translation of the English Bible was undertaken by Protes- tants who fled to Geneva during the reign of Queen Mary. It is called the ' Breeches Bible ' from the curious translation of Genesis iii. 7, ' and they sewed fig-tree leaves together and made themselves breeches.' The first edition was printed at Geneva in 1562. It contained two very curious printer's errors — Matt. v. 9, ' Blessed are the place-makers ' ; Luke xxi., ' Christ condemneth the poor widow.' About 130 editions of this Bible were printed between 1562 and 1611. Copies are erroneously supposed to be of great value. From 20s. to 30s. is about the value of good copies of the later editions. Breeze, Breezes. These terms are applied to the smaller kind of cinders left by the combustion of coal. In the neighbourhood of London breeze (singular) is principally used by the brickmakers. In the neighbourhood of Birmingham, breezes (plural), after being washed carefully, are used by the smiths for their forges. The term is probably a corruption of debris. Brequet Watch Keys. These ingenious keys, which turn round if it should be attempted to wind the watch in the wrong direction, were so named after the inventor Brequet, & celebrated watchmaker of Paris in the eighteenth century. BRICK BUILDING. 77 Brethren, Children. These two words have a double plural. Brether and childer were the original plurals of brother and child. The old plural form en having been suffixed, the words have become doubly plural. Brevet is a commission conferring on an officer (not below the rank of captain) a degree of rank immediately above that which he holds in his particular regiment. It does not, however, confer the corresponding increase of pay. There is no ' brevet ' rank in the Royal Navy. Brewers and Bakers in the Anglo-Saxon times, when found guilty of breaking the laws regulating their trades, were placed in what *' Domesday Book ' calls ' cathedra stercolaris,' and ducked in stercore, that is, stinking water. The cathedra, or chair, was akin to the ducking stool, used for the punishment of scolding women. One of these chairs or stools is still preserved in the Town Hall of Leominster. See Ducking Stool. Brewers' Marks. The mark X on brewers' casks is a handy method of intimating the original Latin names for the varying degrees of strength : — ■ 1st. Simplex— which is single X, or X. 2nd. Duplex — which is double X, or XX. 3rd. Triplex — which is triple X, or XXX. Brewster is an ancient name for a brewer. Brewster Sessions are the sittings of magistrates to grant publicans' licences. Bribe. This word is, perhaps erroneously, supposed to be de- rived from the French bribe, a morsel of bread given to a beggar. Bribery, in old English, did not mean secret corruption, but theft, rapine, open violence, or official extortion. Dame Julyana Berners, in the ' Boke of St. Alban's,' classes thieves and brybours together. Lord Berners, in his translation of Froissart, describes the captain of a band of irregular soldiery, called Companions, as 'the greatest brybour and robber in all Fraunce.' Formerly he who extorted was the briber ; now he who corrupts by payment of money, or by other valuable consideration, is the briber, exactly the opposite of the old meaning, though both are ecpaally dishonest. Brick Building 1 . The oldest brick building, except those built by the Romans, in existence in England is said to be Hurstmon- ceaux Castle, in Sussex, which was erected by De Fiennes, treasurer to Henry VI. It was dismantled about a century ago by one 7 8 BRIDAL. of the Dacres, but the ruins still present a very picturesque appearance. Bridal, applied to a marriage-feast, is from the Anglo-Saxon bryd-eale, signifying bride-ale ; large quantities of ale being con- sumed by our forefathers on these occasions. Bridal Custom. The custom of throwing a shoe after a bride comes from the Jewish custom of handing a shoe to a purchaser of land on the completiou of a contract (see Ruth iv. 7). Parents also gave a shoe to the husband on a daughter's marriage in token of yielding up their authority. See Shoe at Weddings. Bride Cake. ' Our bride cake, which invariably accompanies a wedding, and which should always be cut by the bride, may be traced back to the old Roman form of marriage by a confarreatio, or eating together.' — Lubbock, Origin of Civilisation, p. 85. Bridegroom. Verstegan, in his Anglo-Saxon Glossary, spells this bridyroine, and defines it thus : — ' The Groom of the Bride, because on the marriage day he serveth and waiteth on the table of the bride.' Bridle. The insertion of the letter r in this word has some- what obscured the derivation. It means that by which the bit is held. In the Icelandic the old form is preserved, bitell, and in Danish it is little altered, being bidsell. Brief. Formerly the pleadings in a suit at law were so volumi- nous that half the time of a court might have been taken up in the mere reading of formal matter. It was therefore ordered that a brief summary should be prepared for use in court. This was the origin of the modem brief. An old epigram shows the origin clearly : — ■ Here lies old Gripe, a wealthy lawyer he, Who six and eightpence had for each decree, Death with a ca. sa. took the knave in tow, To brief his pleadings in the world beluw. Brig comes to us from the word brigand or brigant, a robber. A brigante was a pirate, and a pirate's ship was a brigantine. These vessels were built on a peculiar model, which was copied in our navy. The name brig is a contraction of brigantine. Brimstone is a corruption of brynstone, the Anglo-Saxon for 4 burning stone,' from bryne, burning. Britain. The Celtic name according to Camden, wasPrydhain. BROCADE. 79 The Romans latinised this into Britannia, from which word the present name is derived. Britannia Metal, sometimes called Tutania, is generally made by melting together 100 parts of tin and 10 parts of metallic antimony. Some makers add small quantities of bismuth and copper. British Museum. This institution originated in a bequest of Sir Hans Sloane, who had collected a large number of works of art, specimens of natural history, curiosities, books, and manuscripts at a cost of upwards of 50,000^. The collection was offered, in terms of his will, in 1753, to the British Government upon condition of 20,000^. being paid to his family. The offer was accepted ; the funds being raised by a lottery. Montague House, Bloomsbury, having been bought for 10,250Z., the collection was removed thither, and the Harleian and Cottonian Libraries having been added, the new institution, under the name of the British Museum, was opened in 1759. The old house has entirely disappeared, and the present magnificent building stands upon the site formerly occupied by the mansion and its gardens. When first opened, the number of visitors was limited to forty-five per day. It is now not un- common for 50,000 persons to pass through the building on a holiday. British production of Iron. According to published statistics, the weight of the iron produced in Great Britain, in a recent year, by 629 blast furnaces, was