Book : BREWER'S DICTIONARY OF PHRASE & FABLE | Accolade
Publisher : HARPER & BROTHERS pt 3
Accolade
Achemon
according to the augurs, the thought then in
his, Tarquin's, mind was feasible of accom-
plishment. "Undoubtedly," said Accius,
after consultation. "Then cut through this
whetstone with the razor in your hand."
The priest gave a bold cut, arid the block
fell in two (Livy, i, 36).
Accolade (ak 5 lad')- The touch of a sword
on the shoulder in the ceremony of conferring
knighthood; originally an embrace or touch
by the hand on the neck (Lat. ad coltum, on
the neck). In music the brace ({) that con-
nects two or more staves in the score is called
an accolade.
Accommodation. In commercial use, a loan
of money.
Accommodation note or bill. A bill of
exchange for which value has not been
received, used for the purpose of raising
money on credit.
Accommodation ladder. A flight of steps
hung over the side of a ship at the gangway.
Accord means "heart to heart" (Lat. ad
corda). If two persons like and dislike the
same things, they are heart to heart with each
other.
Similarly, "concord" means heart with
heart; "discord," heart divided from heart;
"record" — i.e. re-corddre — properly means to
bring again to the mind or heart, and second-
arily to set this down in writing,
Account, To open an. To enter a customer's
name on your ledger for the first time. (Lat.
accomputare, to calculate.)
To keep open account. Merchants are said
to keep open account when they agree to
honour each other's bills of exchange.
A current account or "account current," afc,
A commercial term, meaning the account of a
customer who does not pay for goods received
at time of purchase.
On account. A commercial phrase imply-
ing "in part payment for."
On the account was an old pirates' phrase
for sailing a-pirating.
To cast accounts. To give the results of
the debits and credits entered, balancing the
two, and carrying over the surplus.
The account on the Stock Exchange means :
the credit allowed on dealings for the fort-
nightly settlement, or the fortnightly settle-
ment itself, which is also called account-day,
or settling-day.
To be sent to one's account To have final
judgment passed on one. The Ghost m
Hamlet uses the phrase as a synonym for
death: —
Sent to my account
With all my imperfections on my head.
Hamlet, i, 5.
Accusative. Calvin was so called by his
college companions. An "accusative age"
is an obsolete expression denoting an age
that is searching, one that eliminates error by
accusing it.
This hath been a very accusative age. — Sir E.
DERING (16th century).
Ace. The unit of cards or dice, from as,
which was the Latin unit of weight. In
World War I the French term as, applied
to an airman who had brought down tea
enemy aeroplanes, was imported in its English
equivalent ace. This sense of the word has
since been extended to include any more
than usually expert flier, bridge-player, golfer,
etc.
Within an ace. Within a hair's breadth of;
he who wins within an ace wins within a
single mark. See AMBSAS.
To bate an ace is to make an abatement,
or to give a competitor some start or other
advantage, in order to render the combatants
more equal. See BOLTON. Taylor, the water
poet (1580-1654), speaking of certain women,
says —
Though bad they be, they will not bate an ace
To be call' d Prudence, Temp'rance, Faith, and Grace.
Aceldama (a sel' da ma). The "field of
blood" near Jerusalem, mentioned in Matt.
xxvii, 8, and Acts i, 19. It was appropriated
as a cemetery for strangers, and was used as
a burial-place by Christians during the Cru-
sades and even as late as the 17th century.
The name, which is Aramaic and means " the
field of blood," is figuratively used for any
place of great slaughter.
Acephalites (a sef a litz) (Gr. akephale, with-
out a head). The name given to various
rebellious and discontented groups of early
Christians, principally to (1) a faction among
the Monophysites who seceded from the
authority of Peter; (2) certain bishops of
the Eastern Church exempt from the juris-
diction and discipline of their patriarch;
(3) a party of English levellers in the reign of
Henry I, who acknowledged no leader.
The name is also given to the monsters
described in various legends and mediaeval
books of travel as having no head, the eyes
and mouth being placed elsewhere.
Acestes (ases'tez). The arrow of Acestes.
In a trial of skill Acestes, the Sicilian, dis-
charged his arrow with such force that it took
fire. (JEneid, V, 525.)
Acestes . . . shooting upward, sends his shaft
to show
An archer's art, and boast his twanging bow;
The feathered arrow gave a dire portent —
And latter augurs judge from this event —
Chafed by the speed, it fired, and as at flew
A trail of following flames ascending drew.
DRYDEN: ^£n., V, 687.
Achaean League (a ke' an). The first Achaean
League was a religious confederation of the
twelve towns of Achsea, lasting from very early
times till it was broken up by Alexander the
Great. The second was a powerful political
federation of the Achaean and many other
Greek cities, formed to resist Macedonian
domination in 280 B.C., and dissolved by the
Romans in 147 B.C.
Achates (a ka' tez). A fidus Achates is a
faithful companion, a bosom friend. Achates
in Virgil s s€neid is the chosen companion of
the hero in adventures of all kinds.
Achemon (a ke' mon). According to Greek
fable Achemon and his brother Basalas were
Acheron
Achitophel
two Cercopes forever quarrelling. One day
they saw Hercules asleep under a tree and
insulted him, but Hercules tied them by
their feet to his club and walked off with them,
heads downwards, like a brace ^of hare.
Everyone laughed at the sight, and it became
a proverb among the Greeks, when two men
were seen quarrelling — "Look out for
Melampygos! " (i.e. Hercules): —
Ne insidas in Melampygum.
Acheron (ak' er on). A Greek word meaning
"the River of Sorrows"; the river of the
infernal regions into which Phlegethon and
Cocytus flow: also the lower world (Hades)
itself.
They pass the bitter waves of Acheron
Where many souls sit wailmg woefully.
SPENSER: Faerie Queenc, I, v, 33.
Acherontian Books. See TAGES.
Acherusia (ak er ooz' i a). A cavern on the
borders of Pontus, through which Hercules
dragged Cerberus to earth from the infernal
regions.
Acheulian (a sher' li an). The name given to
the paleolithic period identified by the remains
found m the cave of St. Acheul, France.
Achillea (ak il e' a). A genus of herbaceous
plants of the aster family, including the
common yarrow (Achillea miUefolium), so
called from Achilles. The tale is, that when
the Greeks invaded Troy, Telephus, son-in-
law of Priam, attempted to stop their landing;
but, Bacchus causing him to stumble, Achilles
wounded him with his spear. The young
Trojan was told by an oracle that "Achilles
(meaning milfoil or yarrow) would cure the
wound"; instead of seeking the plant he
applied to the Grecian chief, and promised
to conduct the host to Troy if he would cure
the wound. Achilles consented to do so,
scraped some rust from his spear, and from
the filings rose the plant milfoil, which being
applied to the wound, had the desired effect.
It is called by the French the herbe aitx
charpentiers — i.e. carpenters' wort, because it
was supposed to heal wounds made by car-
penters' tools.
Achilles (a kil' ez). In Greek legend, the son
of Peleus and Thetis and grandson of Eacus,
king of the Myrmidons (in Thessaly), and hero
of the Iliad (tf.v,)- He is represented as being
brave and relentless; but, at the opening of the
poem, in consequence of a quarrel between
him and Agamemnon, commander-in-chief
of the allied Greeks, he refused to fight. The
Trojans prevailed, and Achilles sent Patroclus
to oppose them. Patroclus fell; and Achilles,
rushing into the battle, killed Hector fa.v.).
He himself, according to later poems, was
slain at the Scaean gate, before Troy was
taken, by an arrow in his heel. See ACHILLES
TENDON.
•Death of Achilles. It was Paris who
wounded Achilles in the heel with an arrow
(a post-Homeric story).
Achilles's horses. Balios and Xanthos (see
HORSE).
Achilles's mistress in Troy. Hippodarnia,
surnamed Briseis (tf.v.).
Achilles's tomb. In Sigoeum, over which
no bird ever flies. — Pliny 9 x, 29.
Achilles's tutors. First, Phoenix, who
taught him the elements; then Chiron the
centaur, who taught him the uses and virtues
of plants.
Achilles's wife. Deidamia (#.v.).
The English Achilles. John Talbot, first
Earl of Shrewsbury (13887-1453).
Achilles of England. The Duke of Welling-
ton (1769-1852).
Achilles of Germany. Albert Elector of
Brandenburg (1414-1486).
Achilles of Lombardy. In Tasso's Jerusalem
Delivered, the brother of Sforza and Pala-
medes, brothers in the allied army of Godfrey.
Achilles of Lombardy was slain by Corinna.
Achilles of Rome. Lucius Sicinius Denta-
tus, tribune of the Roman plebs, 454 B.C.;
put to death 450 B.C.; also called the Second
Achilles.
Achilles of the West. Roland the Paladin;
also called "The Christian Theseus."
Achilles and the tortoise. The allusion is
to the following paradox proposed by Zeno:
In a race Achilles, who can run ten times as
fast as a tortoise, gives the latter 100 yards
start; but it is impossible for him to overtake
the tortoise and win the race; for, while he is
running the first hundred yards the tortoise
runs ten, while Achilles runs that ten the
tortoise is running one, while Achilles is
running one the tortoise runs one-tenth of a
yard, and so on ad infinitum.
Achilles's spear. Shakespeare's lines:—
That gold must round engirt these brows of mine
Whose smile and frown, like to Achilles' spear,
Is able with the change to kill and cure.
2 Henry VI, v, I.
is an allusion from the story told above (s.v.
ACHILLEA) of the healing of Telephus. It is
also referred to by Chaucer: —
. . . speche of Thelophus the king,
And of Achilles with his queynte spere,
For he coude with it both hele and dere (harm).
Squire's Tale, 238.
Achilles tendon, A strong sinew running
along the heel to the calf of the leg, frequently
strained by athletes. The tale is that Thetis
took her son Achilles by the heel, and dipped
him in the river Styx to make him invulnerable.
The water washed every part, except the heel
in his mother's hand. It was on this vulner-
able point the hero was slain; and the sinew
of the heel is called, in consequence, tendo
Achillis. A post-Homeric story.
The heel of Achilles. The vulnerable or
weak point in a man's character or of a nation.
Aching Void, An. That desolation of heart
which arises from the recollection of some
cherished endearment no longer possessed.
What peaceful hours I once enjoy'd,
How sweet their memory still ;
But they have left an aching void
The world can never fill.
COWPER: Walking with Cod.
Achitophel (a kit' 6 fel). Ahithophel was
David's traitorous counsellor, who deserted
Achor
8
Action Games
to Absalom; but his advice being disregarded,
he hanged himself (2 Sam. xvii, 23). The
Achitophel of Dryden's satire (see ABSALOM
AND ACHITOPHEL) was the Earl of Shaftesbury.
Acfaor (a' kor). Said by Pliny to be the name
of the deity prayed to by the Cyreneans for
the averting of insect pests. See FLIES,
GOD OF.
Acid Test. The application of acid is a cer-
tain test of gold. Hence the phrase is used
of a test or trial which will conclusively decide
the value, worth, or reliability of anything.
Acis (a7 sis). In Greek mythology, the son
of Faunus, in love with Galatea. His rival,
Polyphemus, the Cyclop, crushed him to
death beneath a huge rock.
Ack emma. See PIP EMMA.
Acme (ak'rm) (Gr. a point). The highest
pitch of perfection; the term used by old
medical writers for the crisis of a disease.
They divided the progress of a disease into
four periods: the atche, or beginning; the
anabasis, or increase; the acme> or term of its
utmost violence; and the paracme, or decline.
Aconite (ak'onlt). The herb Monkshood
or Wolfsbane. Classic fabulists ascribe its
poisonous qualities to the foam which dropped
from the mouths of the three-headed Cerberus,
when Hercules, at the command of Eurys-
theus, dragged the monster from the infernal
regions. (Gr. aKovirov; Lat. aconitum.}
Lurida terribiles miscent Aconita novercae.
Ovro: Metamorphoses,, i, 147.
Acrasia (a kra' zi a). In Spenser's Faerie
Queene (Bk. II, ca. 12), an enchantress,
mistress of the "Bower of Bliss." She trans-
formed her lovers into monstrous shapes, and
kept them captives. Sir Guyon captures her,
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 name signifying " lack of self-
control/'
Acre. O.E. cecer* is akin to the Lat. ager
and Gen 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 from
Germany.
Acre-shot. An obsolete name for a land
tax. "Shot" is scot. See SCOT AND LOT.
Acres, Bob. A coward by character in
Sheridan's The Rivals, whose courage always
"oozed out at his fingers* ends." Hence, a
man of this kind is sometimes called "a
regular Bob Acres."
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-
mental gate.
Acrostic (Gr. akros, extremity; stichos, row,
line of verse). A piece of verse in which the
initial letters of each line read downwards
consecutively form a word; if the final letters
read in the same way also form a word it is a
double acrostic-, if the middle letters as well
it is a triple acrostic. The term was first
applied to the excessively obscure prophecies
of the Erythraean sibyl; they were written on
loose leaves, and the initial letters made a
word when the leaves were sorted and laid
in order. (Dionys. iv, 62.)
Acrostic Poetry among the Hebrews C9n-
sisted of twenty-two lines or stanzas beginning
with the letters of the alphabet in succession
(cp. ABECEDARIAN HYMNS).
Act and Opponency. An ~Act," in our
University language, consists of a thesis
publicly maintained by a candidate for a
degree, with the "disputation" thereon. The
person "disputing" with the "keeper of the
Act" is called the "opponent," and his func-
tion is called an "opponency". In some
degrees the student is required to keep his
Act, and then to be the opponent of another
disputant. This custom has long been given
up at Oxford, but at Cambridge the thesis and
examination for the doctor's degree in
Divinity, Law, and Medicine is still called an
"Act."
Act of Faith. See AUTO DA FE.
Act of God. 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
redress. A Devonshire jury once found —
"That deceased died by the act of God,
brought about by the flooded condition of
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
name 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 m
chapters and officially quoted according to
the year of the reign m which they are passed.
See REGNAL YEAR. The Acts of the English
Parliament go back to 1235.
Actaeon (akte'on). 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 representa-
tive of men whose wives are unfaithful. See
HORN,
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 Games (ak' ti an). The games cele-
brated at Actium in honour of Apollo. They
were reinstituted by Augustus to celebrate his
naval victory over Antony, 31 B.C., and were
held every five years.
Action Sermon
Adam
Action Sermon. A sermon (in the Scots
Presbyterian Church) preached before the
celebration of Communion.
Acton. 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
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 m plays have hitherto
been acted by men in the habits of women ... we
do permit and give leave for the time to come that
all women's parts be acted by women.
Charles IPs licence of 1662.
Acu tetigisti. See HEM ACU.
Ad inquirendum (ad in kwl ren' dum) (Lat.).
A judicial writ commanding an inquiry to be
made into some complaint.
Ad Kalendas Graecas (M ka len' das gre' kas)
(Lat.). (Deferred) to the Greek Calends —
i.e. for ever. (It shall be done) on the Greek
Calends — i.e. never — for the Greeks had no
Calends (<?.v.). Suetonius tells us that this
used to be the reply of Augustus to the question
when he was going to pay his creditors.
Ad libitum (ad lib' i turn) (Lat.). To choice,
at pleasure, without restraint.
Ad rem (ad rem') (Lat.). To the point in
hand; to the purpose.
Ad valorem (ad val or' em) (Lat.). According
to • the price charged. A commercial term
used in imposing customs duties according to
the value of the goods imported. Thus, if
teas pay duty ad valorem, the high-priced
tea will pay more duty per pound than the
lower-priced tea.
Ad vitam aut culpam (ad yi' tarn awt kul' pam)
(Lat.). A phrase, meaning literally "to life-
time or fault," used in Scottish law of the
permanency of an appointment, unless for-
feited by misconduct.
Adam. The Talmudists say that Adam lived
in Paradise only twelve hours, and account
for the time thus : —
I. God collected the dust and animated it.
II. Adam stood on his feet.
IV. He named the animals.
VI. He slept and Eve was created.
VII. He married the woman.
X. He fell.
XII. He was thrust out of Paradise.
Mohammedan legends add to the Bible
story the tradition that —
God sent Gabriel, Michael, and Israfel one after
the other to fetch seven handfuls of earth from
different depths and of different colours for the
creation of Adam (thereby accounting for the varying
colours of mankind), but that they returned empty-
handed 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,
and left to dry for either forty days or forty years.
It is also said that while the clay was being endowed
with 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
of Arabia.
In Greek the word Adam is made up of the
four initial letters of the cardinal quarters: —
Arktos, north; Dusis9 west;
Anatole., east; Mesembria, south.
The Hebrew word (without vowels) forms
an anagram with the initials: A[dam],
D[avid], M[essiah].
According to Moslem writers: After the
Fall Adam and Eve were separated, Adam
being placed on Mt. Vassem, in the east.
Eve at Jeddah, on the Red Sea coast of
Arabia. The Serpent was exiled to the coast
of Ebleh. After a hundred years had been
thus spent, Adam and Eve were reunited at
Arafat, in the vicinity of Mecca. Adam died
on Friday, April 7, at the age of 930 years.
His body was wrapped in cerements by the
Archangel Michael; Gabriel performed the
last rites. The body was buried in the grotto
of Ghar' ul Kenz, near Mecca. When Noah
went into the Ark he took Adam's coffin
with him, after the Flood restoring it to its
original burial place.
The old Adam. The offending: Adam, etc.
Consideration, like an angel, came
And whipped the offending Adam out of him.
SHAKESPEARE: Henry V, i, 1.
Adam, as the head of unredeemed man,
stands for "original sin," or "man without
regenerating grace."
The second Adam. The new Adam, etc.
Jesus Christ is so called.
The Tempter set
Our second Adam, in the wilderness,
To show him all earth's kingdoms and their glory.
Paradise Lost, xi, 383.
Milton probably derived the idea from Rom.
vi, 6, or 1 Cor. xv, 22: —
For as in Adam all die, even so ia Ckrist shall all
be made alive.
Compare the address of God to the Saviour
in Paradise Lost, iii : —
Be thou in Adam's room
The head of all mankind, though Adam's son.
As in him perish all men, so in thee,
As from a second root, shall be restored
As many as are restored.
In the same way Milton calls Mary our
"second Eve'* (Paradise Lost, v, 387, and
x, 183).
When Adam delved: —
When Adam delved and Eve span,
Who was then the gentleman.
This, according to the Historia Anglicana of
Thos. Walsingham (d. 1422), was the text of
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