Dictionary of phrase and fable, giving the derivation, source or origin of common phrases, allusions, and words that have a tale to tell... . To which is added a concise bibliography of English literature / by Ebenezer Cobham Brewer.

  • E. Cobham Brewer
Date:
1910
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Licence: In copyright

Credit: Dictionary of phrase and fable, giving the derivation, source or origin of common phrases, allusions, and words that have a tale to tell... . To which is added a concise bibliography of English literature / by Ebenezer Cobham Brewer. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    Abste'mious, according to Fabius and Aulus Gellius, is compounded of abs and teme'tum. “ Teme'tuni” was a strong, intoxicating drink, allied to the Greek methu (strong drink). “Viinini pi’isca liugua appellabant.”— Aulus Gellius, x. 23. Abstract Numbers are numbers considered abstractly—1,2, 3 ; but if we say 1 year, 2 feet, 3 men, etc., the numbers are no longer abstract, but con- crete. Taken in the abstract. Things are said to be taken in the abstract when they are considered absolutely, that is, with- out reference to other matters or per- sons. Thus, in the abstract, one man is as good as another, but not so socially and politically. Abstrac'tion. An empty Abstraction., a mere ideality, of no practical use. Every noun is an abstraction, but the narrower genera may be raised to highei ones, till the common thread is so fine that hardly anything is left. These high abstractions, from which everything but one common cord is taken, are called empty abstractions. For example, man is a genus, but may be raised to the genus animal., thence to organised being, thence to created being, thence to matter in the abstract, and so on, till everything but one is emptied out. Absurd means strictly, quite deaf. (Latin, ab, intensive, and surdus, deaf.) Reductio ad absurdum. Proving a proposition to be right by showing that every supposable deviation from it would involve an absurdity, Abu'dah. A merchant of Bagdad haunted every night by an old hag ; he finds at last that the way to rid himself of this torment is to “fear God, and keep his commandments.”—Tales of the Genii. “ Like Abudah, he is alwa,vs looking out for the Fu-ry, and knows that the night will come with the inevitable hag with it.”—Thackeray. Abundant Number {An). A num- ber such that the sum of all its divis- ors (except itself) is greater than the number itself. Thus 12 is an abundant number, because its divisors, 1, 2, 3, 4, 6 — 16, which is greater than 12. A Deficient number is one of which the sum of all its divisors is less than itself, as 10, the divisors of which are 1, 2, 5 ~ 8, which is less than 10. A Perfect number is one of which the sum of all its divisors exactly measures itself, as 6, the divisors of which are 1, 2, 3 =r 6. Abus, the river Humber. “ For by the river that whylonie was Light The ancien Abus . . . [was from] . . . Their chieftain, Humber, named aright.” And Drayton, in his Polyolbion, 28, says:— “ For my princely name, From Humber, king of Huns, as anciently it came.” See Geoffrey’s Chronicles, Bk. ii. 2. Ab'yla. A mountain in Africa, op- posite Gibraltar. This, with Calpe in Spain, 16 m, distant, forms the pillars oj Hercules. “ Heaves up huge Abyla on Afric’s sand, Crowns with high Calpe Europe’s salient strand.” Darwin: Economy of Vegetation. Abyssin'ians. A sect of Christian in Abyssinia, who admit only one nature in Jesus Christ, and reject the Council of Chalce'don. Acace'tus. One who does nothing badly. It was a name given to Mercury or Hermes for his eloquence. (Greek, a, not; kakos, bad.) Academics The followers of Plato were so called, because they attended his lectures in the Academy, a garden planted by Acade'mos. “ See there the olive grove of Academus, Plato’s retreat.” Milton : Paradise Lost, Book iv. Acad'emy. Divided into—Old, the philosophic teaching of Plato and his immediate followers; Middle, a modifi- cation of the Platonic system, taught by Arcesila'os ; jTew, the half - sceptical school of Car'neades. Plato taught that matter is eternal and infinite, but without form or order: and that there is an intelligent cause, the author of everything. He maintained that we could grasp truth only so far as we had elevated our mind by thought to its divine essence, Arcesila'os was the great antagonist of the Stoics, and wholly denied man’s ca- pacity for grasping truth. Car'neades maintained that neither our senses nor our understauding could sup- ply us with a sure criterion of truth. The talent of the Academy, so Plato called Aristotle (b.c. 384-322). Academy Figures. Drawings in black and white chalk, on tinted paper, from living models, used by artists. So called from the Royal Academy of Artists. Acadia—i.e.. Nova Scotia, so called by the French from the river Shuben- aeadie. The name was changed in 1621.
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