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

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.

58/1457 (page 46)

$to some other planet when the Hood came,—Jh/run : Heaven and Earth. Ana'na. The pine-apple (the Bra- zilian (uiatuis). “ Witness tbou, best Anana ! tbou tbe pride ()f vegeta!)]e life.” TIioinHoii; Sam/nier, 08.'),list’). Anastasia (<SY.). Her attributes are a stake and faggots, with a palm branch in her hand. The allusion is, of course, to her martyrdom at the stake. Anathema. A denunciation or curse. The word is Greek, and means to place., or set up., in allusion to the mythological custom of hanging in tlie temple of a patron god sometliiug de- voted to him. Thus Gordius hung up his yoke and beam; the shipwrecked hung up their wet clothes; workmen retired from business hung up their tools, etc. Hence anything set apart for destruction; and so, set apart from the Church as under a curse. “ Me tabula s;icer Votiva paries iudicat uvida Suspeudisse poteuti Vestimenta maris deo.” Horace: Odes (v. 13—U>). *** Horace, having escaped the love- snares of Pyrrha, hangs up his votive tablet, as one who has escaped the dangers of the sea. Anat omy. He. ivas like an anatomy — i.e. a mere skeleton, very thin, like one whose flesh had been anatomised or cut off. Shakespeare uses atomy as a syno- nym. Thus the hostess Quickly says to the Beadle: “ Thou atomy, thou ! ” and Boll Tearsheet caps the phrase with, “Come, you thin thing; come, you rascal.”—2 Henry 11., v. 4. Anaxarete (o syl.) of Salaijiis Avas changed into stone for despising the love of Iphis, who hung himself.—Ovid. : Metamorphoses, xiv. 750. Anaxar'te (4 syl.). A knight whose adventures and exploits form a supple- mental part of the Spanish romance called Am'adis of Gaul. This part was added by Feliciano de Silva. . Ancse'os. Helmsman of the ship Argo, after the death of Ti'phys. He was told by a slave that he Avoidd never live to taste the wine of his Auneyards. When a bottle made from his oavh grapes was set before him, he sent for ihe slave to laugh at his prognostica- rions ; but the slav'e made answer, “There’s many a slip ’twixt the cup and the lip.” At this instant a mes- senger came in, and told Ancieos that a wild boar was laying his vinr>yard waste, whereupon he set down his cup, went out against the boar, and was killed in the encounter. Ancal'itcs (4 syl.) Inhabitants of parts of Berkshire and Wiltshire, re- ferred to b}^ Caesar in his Commen- taries. Anchor. Tliat was my sheet anchor —i.e. my best hope, ni}^ last refuge. The sheet anchor is the largest anchor of a ship, which, in stress of Aveather, is the sailor's chief dependence. The word sheet is a corruption of the word shote (thrown out), meaning the anchor “thrown out” in foul Aveather. The Greeks and Homans said, “ my sacred anchor,” because the sheet anchor was ahvays dedicated to some god. Anchor {The)., in Christian art, is given to Clement of Home and Nicolas of Bari. Pope Clement, in a.d. 80, was bound to an anchor and cast into the sea. Nicolas of Bari is the patron saint of sailors. The anchor is apeak—that is, the cable of the anchor is so tight that the ship is drawn completely over it. {Hee Bower Anchor, Sheet Anchor.) The anchor comes home, the anchor has been dragged from its hold. Figura- tively, the euterjAi’ise has failed, not- Avithstanding the precautions employed. To weigh anchor, to haul in the anchor, that the ship may sail away from its mooring. Figuratively, to begin an enterprise which has hung on hand. Anchor Watch {An). A watch of one or two men, while the vessel rides at anchor, in port. Ancien Regime. An antiquated system of governm^ent. This phrase, in the French Revolution, meant the monai'chical form of government, or the system of government, with all its evils, vAdiich existed prior to that great change. Ancient. A corruption of ensign—a, flag and the officer who bore it. Pi.stol was Falstaff’s “ancient.” “Ten tiiues more clisbonoura,bly ragged than an old-faced ancient.”—.S'/iafcesjoeare; 1 Henry IV., iv. 21. “ My AAdiole charge consists of ancients, cor- porals, lieutenants, gentlemen of companies . . . .—Shakespeare: 1 Henry IV., iv. 2. Ancient Mariner. Having shot an albatross, he and his companions were subjected to fearful penalties. On re- pentance he AA^as forgiven, and on reach- ing land told his story to a hermit.$