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
Catalogue details

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.

    28/1457 (page 16)
    One of the names given by the Jews to Jehovah, for fear of breaking the com- mand, “Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord [Jehovah] thy God in vain.” Adona is (4 syl.). The song about Ado'nis ; Shelley’s elegy on Keats is so called. iSee Bion’s Lament for Adonis. Ado'nies. Feasts of Adonis, cele- brated in Assyria, Alexandria, Egypt, Judea, Persia, Cyprus, and all Greece, for eight days. Lucian gives a long description of them. In these feasts wheat, flowers, herbs, fruits, and branches of trees were carried in pro- cession, and thrown into the sea or some fountain. Ado'nis. A beautiful boy. The allu- sion is to Ado'nis, who was beloved by Venus, and was killed b}’^ a boar while hunting. “Rose-cheeked Adonis liied him to the chase ; Hunting he loved; but love he laughed to scorn. Sick-thoughted Venus makes amain unto him, And, like a bold-faced suitor,’gins to woohim.” Shal:ei^peare: Venus and Adonis. Adonis of 50. Leigh Hunt was sent to prison for applying this term to George IV. when Regent. Adonis Flower (T/ie), according to Bion, is the rose: Pliny (i. 23) says it is the anemone; others say it is the field poppy, certainly the prince of weeds ; but what we now generally mean by the Adonis flower is pheasant’s eye, called in French ffonte-de sanff, because in fable it sprang from the blood of the gored hunter. “Atga poSov TiKTet, ra de BaKpva rav avep.inuan. (Blood brings forth roses, tears anemone.; J<jlegy on Adonis. See also Ovid; Metamorphoses, Bk. X., Fable 1.5.) Adonis Garden, or yl f/arden of Adonis (Greek). A worthless toy; a very perishable good. The allusion is to the fennel and lettuce jars of the ancient Greeks, called “ Adonis gar- dens,” because these herbs were planted in them for the annual festival of the young huntsman, and thrown away the next morning. (1 Henry VJ., i. 6.) Adonis River. A river in Phoenicia, which always runs red at the season of the year when the feast of Adonis is held. The legend ascribes this redness to sympathy with the youn^; hunter; others ascribe it to a sort of minium, or red earth, which mixes with the water. “ ThM.mmuz came next beliiiul, Whose annual wound in Lebanon allnred The S.vriati damsels fo lament his fate In amorous ditties all a summer’s da.v, While smooth Adonis from his native rock Ran puride to the sea, su))i)osed with blood Of Thaininu'/, yearly woun(led.” Milton: Panulisc Lost, Book T, line 4t.>, etc. Ado'nists. Those Jews who maintain that the proper vowels of the word Je- hovah are unknown, and that the word is never to be pronounced Ado'nai. (Hebrew, adon., lord.) Adop'tion. Adoption by arms. An ancient custom of giving arms to a jierson of merit, which laid him under the obligation of being your champion and defender. Adoption by Jtaptism. Being god- father or godmother to a child. The child by baptism is your god-child. Adoption by hair. Cutting off your hair, and giving it to a pertoii in proof that you receive him as your adopted father. Thus Bo son, King of Arles, cut off his hair and gave it to Pope John VIII., who adopted him. Adoption Controversy. Elipand, Archbishop of Tole'do, and Felix, Bishop of Urgel, maintained that Jesus Christ in his human nature was the son of God by adoption only (Rom. viii. 29), though in his pre-existing state he was the “be- gotten Son of God ” in the ordinary catholic acceptation. Duns Scotus, Du- randus, Calixtus, and others sujiported this view. Adop'tionist. A disciple of Elipand, Archbishop of Tole'do, and Felix, Bishop of Urgel (in Spain), is so called. Adore (2 syl.) means to “ carry to one’s mouth” “to kiss” {ad-os, ad- ordre). The Romans performed adora- tion by placing their right hand on their mouth and bowung. The Greeks i)aid adoration to kings by putting the ro3’al robe to their lips. The Jews kissed in homage: thus God said to Elijah he had 7,000 in Israel who had not bowed unto Baal, “every mouth which hath not kissed him” (1 Kings xix. 18; see also Hos. xiii. 2). “Kiss the Son lest He be angry ” (Psalm ii. 12), means worship, reverence the Son. Even in England we do homage by kissing the hand of the sovereign. Adram'melech. God of the people of Sc'pharva'im, to whom infants were burnt in sacrifice (Kings xvii, 31). Prob- abl}^ the sun. Adrastus. An Indian prince from the banks of the Ganges, who aided the King of Egypt against the crusaders. He wore a serpent’s skin, and rode on an elephant. Adrastus was slain by Rinaldo.— Tasso: Jerusalem JJtitvercd, Book XX.