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.

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$to the Virgin Mary that she would be tlie mother of the Messiah. Annus Luctus, the period duriug which a widow is morally supposed to remaiu chaste. If she marries within about nine months from the death of her late husband and a child is born, a doubt might arise as to the paternity of the child. Such a marriage is not illegal, but it is inexpedient. Annus Mirahllis. The year of wonders, 1666, memorable for the great fire of London and the successes of our arms over the Dutch. Dryden has ^vritten a poem with this title, in which he describes both these events. Anodyne Necklace (Ah), a halter. An anodyne is a medicine to relieve pain. Probably a pun on i/odus, a knot, is intended also. George Primrose says: “May I die by an anodyne necklace, but I had rather be an under-turnkey than an usher in a boarding-school.” Anomoe'ans or Unllkists. A sect in the fourth century which maintained that the essence of the Sou is wholly unlike that of the Father. (Greek, an'omuios, unlike.) Anon, immediately, at once. The Old English tm-on or an-ane = at once. Variants, on one, anone. “ They kuovvye hyni in brekyug of biede, and oiioue he vauyste awaye fro hem.”—J//S. Lincoln, A 1,17. “ Spek the lion . . . To the fox anone his wille.” Wright’a Political no tigs. V “ For the nonce ” is a corrupt form of “ For the-n once,” where the-n is the accusative case, meaning “For the once ” or “ For this once.” Anonrightes. Right quickly. “ He liad in town five hundred knightes, He Item [thctri] of [pff\ sent auon-riglites.” Arthur and Merlin, p. ss. Ansa'rian. The Moslems of Medi'ua were called Ansarians {auxiliaries) by Mahomet, because they received him and took his part when he was driven from house and home by the Koreishites {Kore-ish’-Ues). Answer is the Old English verb and swar-ian or swerian, where And is the preposition = the Latin re in re-spond-eo. {See Swear.) To answer like a Norman, that is, evasivei}b “We say. in Trance, ‘ Answering like a Nor- I nian,’ which means to give an eva.sive answer, j neither yes nor no.”—Max O’ Bell: Friend M'Dotiald, eh. V. To answer its purpose, to carry out what was expected or what was in- tended. Celsus says, “ Medicina sa.qtius respondet, interdum tamen fallit. ” . To answer the hell is to go and see what it was rung for. To answer the door is to go and open it when a knock or ring has been given. In both the last two instances the word is “answering to a summons.” To swear means literally “ to affirm something,” and to an-sieear is to “say something” by wa}'^ of rejoinder ; but figuratively both the “swer” and the “ answer ” may be made without words. “. . . . My story being done, . . ; She [Desdemona'] swore laffirmed^ ’twas strange, .... 'Twa.s pitiful,’twas wondrous pitiful.” Shakespeare; Othello, i. :>. I Answer more Scotico {To). To divert the direct question by starting ; another question or subject. “‘Hark you, sirrah,’ said the doctor, ‘ I trust you remember you ai'e owing to the laird 4 stone of barleynieal and a bow of oats ’ “ ‘1 was thinking,' replied the man more Scotico, that is, returning no direct answer on the subject on which he was addressed, ‘ I was thinking my ! best way would be to come down to your honour, and take your advice, in case my trouble should come back.’Nir Walter Scott: The Abbot, ch. xxvi. Ant^'os, in Greek mythology, was a gigantic wrestler, whose strength was in'sdncible so long as he touched the earth ; and every time he tvas lifted from it, was renewed by touching it again. {See Male'Gar.) “ As once Autmos, on the Libyan strand, More fierce recovei’ed when he reached the sand.” Hoole’s Ariosto, book iv. It was Hercules who succeeded in killing this charmed giant. He “ Lifts proud Antmos from his mother’s plains, And with strong grasp the struggling giant strains ; Back falls his panting liead and clammy hair, Writhe his weak limbs and fiits his life in air.” Darwin: Economy of Vegetation. Antece'dents. I know nothing of his antecedents —life, character, or conduct. (Latin, aniecedens, fore- going.) Antedilu vian, Before the Deluge, meaning the Scripture Deluge. AntM'a. The lady-love of Abroc'- omas in Xenophon’s romance, called Ephesi'aca. Shakespeare has borrowed from this Greek novel the leading incidents of his Romeo and Juliet, es- pecially that of the potion and mock entombment. N.B. This is not the historian, but a Xenophon who lived in the fourth Christian century. Anthony. Anthong {St.). Patron saint of swine- herds, because he always lived in woods i m)d forpsts.$