BREWER'S DICTIONARY OF PHRASE & FABLE | Publisher : HARPER & BROTHERS
Publisher : HARPER & BROTHERS (part 1)
A. The form of this letter is modified from
the Egyptian hieroglyph which represents the
eagle. The Phoenician (Hebrew) symbol was
N (aleph—a.n ox), which has been thought,
probably erroneously, to represent an ox-head
in outline. The Greek A (alpha) was the
symbol of a bad augury in the sacrifices. See
also SCARLET LETTER.
A m logic denotes a universal affirmative.
A asserts, E denies. Thus, syllogisms mbfij-bArA
(<7.v.) contain three universal affirmative pro-
positions.
Al means first-rate — the very best. In
Lloycr's Register of British and Foreign Ship-
ping, the character of the ship's hull is desig-
nated by letters, and that of the anchors,
cables, and stores by figures. Al means hull
first-i ate, and also anchors, cables, and stores;
A2, hull first-rate, but fittings second-rate.
Vessels of an inferior character are classified
under the letters ^E, E, and I.
Aaron (ar on). t The name of the patriarch of
the Jewish priesthood, possibly connected
with haaron, " the ark." •
Aaron's Beard. The popular name of many
wild plants, including Great St. John's Wort
(Rose of Sharon), the Ivy-leaved Toadflax,
Meadowsweet, Saxifrage Sarmentosa, etc.
Aaron's Rod. The name given (with refer-
ence to Num. xvii, 8) to various flowering
plants, including Golden Rod, Great Mullein,
and others.
Aaron's serpent. Something so powerful
as to eliminate minor powers.
And hence one master passion in the breast,
Like Aaron's serpent swallows up the rest.
POPE: Essay on Man, ii, 131.
The allusion is to Exod. vii, 10-12.
A.B. See ABLE-BODIED.
Aback. This was originally a nautical term
used when a gust of wind forced the sails back
against the mast and suddenly stayed the
ship's progress. From this comes the phrase
"I was taken aback,** meaning "I was
astounded, taken by surprise."
Abacus (ab' a kus). A primitive calculating
machine, consisting of a small frame with
wires stretched across it in one direction, each
wire having threaded on
it ten balls which can be
shifted backwards or
forwards. It is used to
teach children addition
and subtraction and
was employed by the
Greeks and Romans for
calculations, as a modification of it was used
to a much later date by the Chinese. The
word is derived from the Greek, aj8o£, a
cyphering table (a slab covered with sand).
1
The multiplication table invented by Pytha-
goras is called Abacus Pythagoricus.
In architecture the abacus is the topmost
member of a capital.
Abaddon (a bad' on). The angel of the bot-
tomless pit (Rev. ix, 11), from Heb. abad, he
perished.
Milton uses the name for the bottomless pit
itself:—
In all her gates Abaddon rues
Thy bold attempt.
Paradise Regained, iv, 624.
Abaris (ab' a ris). A mythical Greek sage of
the 6th century B.C. (surnamed "the Hyper-
borean"") mentioned by Herodotus, Pindar,
etc. Apollo gave him a magic arrow which
rendered him invisible, cured diseases, gave
oracles, and on which he could ride through
the air. Abans gave it to Pythagoras, who,
in return, taught him philosophy. Hence the
dart of Abaris.
Abatement (O.Fr. batre, to beat down). In
heraldry, a mark of depreciation annexed to
coat armour, whereby the honour of it is
abated.
Abaton (ab' a ton) (Gr. a, not; j3cuVa>, I go).
As inaccessible as Abaton. A name given to
various places of antiquity difficult of access.
Abbassides (ab' a sldz). A dynasty of thirty-
seven caliphs who reigned over the Moham-
medan Empire from 750 to 1258. They were
descended from Abbas, uncle of Mohammed.
Haroun al-Raschid (born 765, reigned 786-
808), of the Arabian Nights, was one of their
number.
Abbot of Misrule. See KING OF MISRULE.
Abbotsford. The name given by Sir Walter
Scott to Clarty Hole, on the south bank of the
Tweed, after it became his residence in 1812.
Sir Walter devised it from the fancy that the
abbots of Melrose Abbey used to pass over
the ford of the Tweed near by.
ABC. An abbreviation having a number of
meanings that can be decided only by the
context. Thus, "So-and-so doesn't know his
ABC" means that he. is intensely ignorant:
"he doesn't understand the A B C of engineer-
ing" means that he has not mastered its
rudiments. So, an ABC Book, or Absey
Book, is a primer which used to be used as a
child's first lesson book and contained merely
the alphabet and "a few rudimentary lessons
often set in catechism form, as is evident from
Shakespeare's lines: —
That is question now;
And then comes answer .like an Absey book.
King John, j, 1.
Abd in Arabic^ slave or servant, as Abdiel
fa.v.) and Abd- All ah (servant of God), Abd-el-
Kader (servant of the Mighty One), Abd-ul-
Latif (servant of the Gracious One), etc.
Abdallah (Sb dal' a). The father of Moham-
med. He died shortly before his famous son.
Abdals
Abou Hassan
was born, and is said to have been so beautiful
that when he married Amina, 200 virgins
broke their hearts from disappointed love —
See Washington living's Life of Mahomet.
Abdals (ab' dalz). The name given by Mo-
hammedans to certain mysterious persons
whose identity is known only to God, and
through whom the world is able to continue
in existence. \Vhen one of them dies another
is secretly appointed by God to fill the vacant
place.
Abdera (ab der' a). A maritime town of
Thrace (said to have been founded by Abdera,
sister of Diomede), so overrun with rats that
it was abandoned, and the inhabitants
migrated to Macedonia. The Abdentes, or
Abderitans, were proverbial for stupidity, yet
the city gave birth to some of the wisest men
of Greece, among them being Democritus
(the laughing philosopher, from whom we
get the phrases Abderitan laughter, meaning
"scoffing laughter," and an Abderite, or
"scoffer"), Protagoras (the great sophist),
Anaxarchos (the philosopher and friend of
Alexander), and Hecatseus (the historian).
Abdiel (aV del) (Arab., the servant of God;
cf. ABD). In Milton's Paradise Lost (v. 805,
896, etc".) the faithful seraph who withstood
Satan when he urged the angels to revolt.
Abecedarian (a be si dar' i an). Usually, one
who teaches or is learning his ABC; but
also the name of a 1 6th-century sect of Anabap-
tists who regarded the teaching of the Holy
Spirit (as extracted by them f from the Bible)
as sufficient for every purpose in life, and hence
despised all learning of every kind, except so
much of the A B C as was necessary to enable
them to read. The sect was founded in 1520
by Nicholas Stork, a weaver of Zwickau;
hence they are also spoken of as "the
Zwickau prophets"
Abecedarian Hymns. Hymns the lines 9r
other divisions of which are arranged in
alphabetical order. In Hebrew the 119th
Psalm is abecedarian. See ACROSTIC POETRY.
Abelites (ab'elltz), Abelians, or Abelonians.
A Christian sect of the 4th century mentioned
by St. Augustine as living in North Africa,
They married but remained virgin, as they
affirmed Abel did — on the assumption that be-
cause no children of his are mentioned in
Scripture he had none. The sect was main-
tained by adopting the children of others.
Abhorrers. See PETITIONERS.
Abidhamma (ab id a' ma). The third pitaka
of the three Pali texts (Tripitaka) which
together form the sacred canon of the Bud-
dhists. The Abidhamma contains "the
analytical exercises in the psychological sys-
tem on which the doctrine is based," in seven
treatises. See TRIPITAKA.
Abif. See HIRAM ABIF.
Abigail (ab' i gal). A lady's maid. Abigail,
wife of Nabal and afterwards of David, is a
well-known Scripture heroine (1 Sam. xxv, 3).
Marlowe called the daughter of Barrabas, his
Jew of Malta, by this name, and it was given
by Beaumont and Fletcher to the "waiting
gentlewoman" in The Scornful Lady. Swift,
Fielding, and other novelists of the period
employ it in their novels, and it was further
popularized by the notoriety of Abigail Hill,
better known as Mrs. Masham, Queen Anne's
Lady in Waiting and personal friend.
Abimelech (a bim' e lek). A Canaanitish regal
title probably meaning "Melech, the divine
king, is father." Besides the two of this
name in the Bible (Gen. xxvi and Judges i\)
it occurs as that of a prince of Arvad in the
Annals of Assurbampal, and in the Amarna
tables as that of an Egyptian governor of
Tyre.
Abingdon La\$. See CUPAR JUSTICE.
Able-bodied Seaman, An, or, an able seaman,
is a skilled seaman, a sailor of the first class.
A crew is divided into three classes: (1) skilled
seamen, termed A B. (Abie-Bodied); (2) ordin-
ary seamen; and (3) boys, which include
"green hands," or inexperienced men, without
regard to age or size.
Aboard. A ship is said to fall aboard another
when it runs against it.
Aboard main tack is an old sea-term meaning
to draw one of the lower corners of the main-
sail down to the chess-tree.
Abolitionists. In U.S.A. the term applied to
those who advocated and agitated for the
abolition of Negro slavery. In Australia the
name was given to those who between 1820
and 1867 sought to obtain by law the abolition
of the transportation of convicts to Australia.
Abolla (a bol' a). An ancient military gar-
ment worn by the Greeks and Romans,
opposed to the toga or robe of peace. The
abolla being worn by the lower orders, was
affected by philosophers in the vanity of
humility.
Abomination of Desolation, The, mentioned in
Dan. (chs. ix, xi, and xii), and in Matt. xxfV,15,
probably refers to some statue set up in the
Temple by either the heathens or the Romans.
The subject is very obscure, the best Hebrew
and Greek scholarship leaving the actual thing
intended unidentified, Dr. Cheyne concluding
that "the 'abomination' which thrusts itself
into the 'holy place' has for its nature
'desolation' — i.e. finds its pleasure in undoing
the divine work of a holy Creator."
Abonde (a bond'). Dame Abonde is the
French equivalent of Santa Claus, a good
fairy who brings children presents while they
are asleep on New Year's Eve.
Abou-Bekr (aboobekr) (571-634), called
Father of the Virgin, i.e. Mohammed's
favourite wife. He was the first caliph, or
successor of Mohammed, of the Sunni
Moslems, and reigned for only two years.
Abou Hassan (a boo has' an). A rich mer-
chant (in The Arabian Nights), transferred dur-
ing sleep to the bed and palace of the Caliph
Haroun al-Raschid. Next morning he was
treated as the caliph, and every effort was made
to make him forget his identity (The Sleeper
Awakened). The same story, localized to
Shakespeare's own Warwickshire, forms the
Abou ibn Sina
Abram-man
Induction to The Taming of the Shrew,
where a tinker, Christopher Sly, takes the
place of Abou Hassan. The incident is said
by Burton (Anatomy of Melancholy, II, iv)
actually to have occurred during the wedding
festivities of Philip the Good of Burgundy
(about 1440). The Ballad of the Frolicsome
Duke, or the Tinker's Good Fortune in the
Percy Reliques, and another version in
Calderon's play, Life's a Dream (c. 1633),
go to show how popular and widely spread
was this Oriental fable.
Abou ibn Sina, commonly called Avicenna
from his birthplace, Afshena, near Bokhara,
A great Persian physician whose canons of
medicine were founded on those of Galen,
Hippocrates, and Aristotle, and whose teach-
ing had great influence on western mediaeval
medicine. He died in 1037.
Above-board. Honest and open. According
to Johnson, this is a figurative expression
"borrowed from gamesters, who, when they
put their hands under the table, are changing
their cards."
Above par. A commercial term meaning
that the article referred to is at more than its
nominal value. See PAR.
Above your hook. See HOOK.
Ab ovo. From the very beginning. Stasinus,
in his Cypna, a poem in 11 books belonging
to the Homeric cycle and forming an intro-
duction to the Iliad, does not rush (as does
the Iliad itself) in medias res, but begins with
the eggs of Leda, from one of which Helen
was born. If Leda had not laid this egg,
Helen would never have been born, therefore
Paris could not have eloped with her, therefore
there would have been no Trojan War, etc.
The English use of the phrase probably derives
from the line in Horace's De Arte Poetica: —
Nee gemmo bellum Troianum orditur ab ovo
Abracadabra. A cabalistic charm, said to be
made up from the initials of the Hebrew
words Ab (Father), Ben (Son), and Ruach
ACadsch (Holy Spirit), and formerly used as
a powerful antidote against ague, flux, tooth-
ache, etc. The word was written on parch-
ment, and suspended from the neck by a linen
thread, in the following form: — •
ABRACADABRA
ABRACADABR
ABRACADAB
ABRACADA
A B R A C A D
A B R A C A
A B R A C
A B R A
A B R
A B
A
Abracax. See ABRAXAS,
Abraham. Mohammedan mythology adds
the following legends to those told us in the
Bible concerning the patriarch. His parents
were Prince Azar and his wife, Adna. As
King Nimrod had been told that one shortly
to be born would dethrone him, he proclaimed
a "massacre of the innocents," and Adna
retired to a cave where Abraham was born.
He was nourished by sucking two of her
1*
fingers, one of which supplied milk and the
other honey. At the age of fifteen months
Abraham was equal in size to a lad of fifteen,
and was so wise that his father introduced
him to the court of King Nimrod.
Other Mohammedan traditions relate that
Abraham and his son "Ismail" rebuilt for
the fourth time the Kaaba over the sacred
stone at Mecca; that Abraham destroyed the
idols manufactured and worshipped by his
father, Terah; and that the mountain (called
in the Bible "Mount Moriah") on which he
offered up his son was "Arfaday."
The Ghebers say that the infant Abraham
was thrown into the fire by Nimrod's order,
but the flame turned into a bed of roses, on
which he went to sleep. Hence Moore's
allusion in Lalla Rookh : —
Sweet and welcome as the bed
For their own infant prophet spread,
When pitying Heaven to roses turned
The death-flames that beneath him burned.
Fire Worshippers.
To sham Abraham. See ABRAM-MAN.
Abrahamic covenant. The covenant made
by God with Abraham (Gen. xii, 2, 3, and xvii),
interpreted to mean that the Messiah should
spring from his seed. This promise was given
to Abraham, because he left his father's house
to live in a strange land, as God told him.
Abraham Newland, An. A bank-note. So
called from the name of the chief cashier at
the Bank of England from 1782 to 1807,
without whose signature no Bank of England
notes were genuine.
Abraham's bosom. The repose of the happy
in death —
The sons of Edward sleep in Abraham's bosom.
Richard ///, iv, 3.
The allusion is to Luke xvi, 22, and refers to
the ancient custom of allowing a dear friend
to recline on one's bosom, as did John on the
bosom of Jesus.
There is no leaping from Delilah's lap into
Abraham's bosom — i.e. those who live and die
in notorious sin must not expect to go to
heaven at death.
^ Abram-colour. "Abram" here is a corrup-
tion of auburn. In Coriolanus, ii, 3, the word is
so printed in the first three Folios —
Our heads are some brown, some black, some
Abram, some bald.
But in the fourth Folio (1685) and in later
editions auburn is given. Kyd's tragedy,
Soliman and Perseda (1588) has: —
Where is the eldest son of Priam, the Abram-
coloured Trojan?
And Middleton, in Blurt, Master Constable
(1601), mentions: —
A goodly, long, thick Abram-coloured beard.
Abram-man, or Abraham cove, A pre-
tended maniac who, in Tudor and early
Stuart times, wandered about the country as
a begging impostor; a Tom o' Bedlam (#.y.);
hence the phrase, to sham Abraham, meaning
to pretend illness or distress, in order to get
off work.
Inmates of Bedlam (q-v.\ who were not
dangerously mad were kept in the "Abraham
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