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Dictionary of Phrase and Fable

E. Cobham Brewer From The Edition Of 1894

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G

This letter is the outline of a camel's head and neck. It is called in Hebrew gimel (a camel).

G.C.B.

(See Bath .)

G.H.V.L.

on the coin of William III. of the Netherlands is Groot Hertog Van Luxemburg (grand duke of Luxembourg).

G.O.M.

The initial letters of Grand Old Man; so Mr. Gladstone was called during his premiership

1881—1885. Lord Rosebery first used the expression 26th April, 1882, and the Right Hon. Sir William Harcourt repeated it, 18th October, the same year; since then it has become quite a synonym for the proper name.

Gab

(g hard). The gift of the gab. Fluency of speech; or, rather, the gift of boasting. (French, gaber, to gasconade; Danish and Scotch, gab, the mouth; Gaelic gob; Irish, cab; whence our gap and gape, gabble and gobble. The gable of a house is its beak.)

“There was a good man named Job

Who lived in the laud of Uz

He had a good gift of the gob,

The same thing happened us.”

Book of Job, by Zach. Boyd.

“Thou art one of the knights of France, who hold it for glee and pastime to gab, as they term it, of exploits that are beyond human power.” — Sir W. Scott: The Talisman, chap.ii.

Gabardine'

(3 syl.). A Jewish coarse cloak. (Spanish, gavardina, a long coarse cloak.)

“You call me misbeliever, cut—throat dog,

And spit upon my Jewish gabardine.”

Shakespeare: Merchant of Venice, i. 3.

Gabel', Gabelle

(g hard). A salt—tax. A word applied in French history to the monopoly of salt. All the salt made in France had to be brought to the royal warehouses, and was there sold at a price fixed by the Government. The iniquity was that some provinces had to pay twice as much as others. Edward III. jokingly called this monopoly “King Philippe's Salic law.” It was abolished in 1789. (German, gabe, a tax.)

Gaberlunzie

or A gaberlunzie man (g hard). A mendicant; or; more strictly speaking, one of the king's bedesmen, who were licensed beggars. The word gaban is French for “a cloak with tight sleeves and a hood.” Lunzie is a diminutivo of laine (wool); so that gaberlunzie means “coarse woollen gown.” These bedesmen were also called blue—gowns (q.v.), from the colour of their cloaks. (See above, Gabardine.)

Gabriel

(g hard), in Jewish mythology, is the angel of death to the favoured people of God, the prince of fire and thunder, and the only angel that can speak Syriac and Chaldee. The Mahometans call him the chief of the four favoured angels, and the spirit of truth. In mediæval romance he is the second of the seven spirits that stand before the throne of God, and, as God's messenger, carries to heaven the prayers of men. (Jerusalem Delivered, book i.) The word means “power of God.” Milton makes him chief of the angelic guards placed over Paradise.

“Betwixt these rocky pillars Gabriel sat,

Chief of the angelic guards.”

Paradise Lost, iv. 549—550.

Longfellow, in his Golden Legend, makes him the angel of the moon, and says he brings to man the gift of hope.

“I am the angel of the moon ...

Nearest the earth, it is my ray

That best illumines the midnight way.

I bring the gift of hope.“

The Miracle Play, iii.

It was Gabriel who (we are told in the Koran) took Mahomet to heaven on Al—borak (q.v.), and revealed to him his “prophetic lore.” In the Old Testament Gabriel is said to have explained to Daniel certain visions; and in the New Testament it was Gabriel who announced to Zacharias the future birth of John the Baptist, and that afterwards appeared to Mary, the mother of Jesus. (Luke i. 26, etc.)

Gabriel's horse. Haïzum.

Gabriel's hounds, called also Gabble Ratchet. Wild geese. The noise of the bean—goose (anser segtum) in flight is like that of a pack of hounds in full cry. The legend is that they are the souls of unbaptised children wandering through the air till the Day of Judgment.

Gabrielle

(3 syl.; g hard). La Belle Gabrielle. Daughter of Antoine d'Estrées, grand—master of artillery, and governor of the Ile de France. Henri IV., towards the close of 1590, happened to sojourn for a night at the Chateau de Cœuvres, and fell in love with Gabrielle, then nineteen years of age. To throw a flimsy veil over his intrigue, he married her to Damerval de Liancourt, created her Duchess de Beaufort, and took her to live with him at court.

“Charmante Gabrielle,

Percé de mille dards,

Quand la gloire máppelle

A la suite de Mars.” Henri IV.

Gabrina

in Orlando Furioso, is a sort of Potiphar's wife. (See under Argeo.) When Philander had unwittingly killed her husband,Gabrina threatened to deliver him up to the law unless he married her; an alternative that Philander accepted, but ere long she tired of and poisoned him. The whole affair being brought to light, Gabrina was shut up in prison, but, effecting her escape, wandered about the country as an old hag. Knight after knight had to defend her; but at last she was committed to the charge of Odorico, who, to get rid of her, hung her on an old elm. (See Odorico.)

Gabrioletta

(g hard). Governess of Brittany, rescued by Amadis of Gaul from the hands of Balan, “the bravest and strongest of all the giants.” (Amadis of Gaul, bk. iv. ch. 129.)

Gad

(g hard). Gadding from place to place. Wandering from pillar to post without any profitable purpose.

“Give water no passage, neither a wicked woman liberty to gad abroad.” — Ecclesiasticus xxv.

25.

Gad—about

(A). A person who spends day after day in frivolous visits, gadding from house to house.

Gad—fly

is not the roving but the goading fly. (Anglo—Saxon, gad, a goad.)

Gad—steel

Flemish steel. So called because it is wrought in gads, or small bars. (Anglo—Saxon, gad, a small bar or goad; Icelandic, gaddr, a spike or goad.)

“I will go get a leaf of brass,

And with a gad of steel will write these words.” Shakespeare: Titus Andronicus, iv. 1.

Gadshill

in Kent, near Rochester. Famous for the attack of Sir John Falstaff and three of his knavish companions on a party of four travellers, whom they robbed of their purses. While the robbers were dividing the spoil, Poins and the Prince of Wales set upon them, and “outfaced them from their prize;” and as for the “Hercules of flesh,” he ran and “roared for mercy, and still ran and roared,” says the prince, “as ever I heard a

bull—calf.” Gadshill is also the name of one of the thievish companions of Sir John. (Shakespeare: 1 Henry

IV., ii. 4.)

Charles Dickens lived at Gadshill.

Gaels

A contraction of Gaid—heals (hidden rovers). The inhabitants of Scotland who maintained their ground in the Highlands against the Celts.

Gaff

(g hard). Crooked as a gaff. A gaff is an iron hook at the end of a short pole, used for landing salmon, etc. The metal spurs of fighting—cocks. In nautical language, a spar to which the head of a fore—and—aft sail is bent. (Dana: Seaman's Manual, p. 97.) (Irish, gaf; Spanish and Portuguese, gafa.)

Gaffer

(g hard). A title of address, as “Gaffer Grey,” “Good—day, Gaffer.” About equal to “mate.” (Anglo—Saxon, gefera, a comrade.) Many think the word is “grandfather.” (See Gammer.)

“If I had but a thousand a year, Gaffer Green,

If I had but a thousand a year.”

Gaffer Green and Robin Rough.

Gags

in theatrical parlance, are interpolations. When Hamlet directs the players to say no more “than is set down,” he cautions them against indulgence in gags. (Hamlet, iii. 2.) (Dutch, gaggelen, to cackle. Compare Anglo—Saxon, geagl, the jaw.)

Gala Day

(g hard). A festive day; a day when people put on their best attire. (Spanish, gala, court dress; Italian, gala, finery; French, gala, pomp.)

Galactic Circle

(The) is to sidereal astronomy what the ecliptic is to planetary astronomy. The Galaxy being the sidereal equator, the Galactic circle is inclined to it at an angle of 63 degrees.

Galahad

or Sir Galaad (g hard). Son of Sir Launcelot and Elaine, one of the Knights of the Round Table, so pure in life that he was successful in his search for the Sangrail. Tennyson has a poem on the subject, called The Holy Grail.

“There Galaad sat, with manly grace,

Yet maiden meekness in his face.”

Sir W. Scott: Bridal of Triermain, ii. 13.

Galaor

(Don). Brother of Amadis of Gaul, a gay libertine, whose adventures form a strong contrast to those of the more serious hero.

Galate'a

A sea—nymph, beloved by Polypheme, but herself in love with Acis. Acis was crushed under a huge rock by the jealous giant, and Galatea threw herself into the sea, where she joined her sister nymphs. Carlo Maratti (1625—1713) depicted Galatea in the sea and Polypheme sitting on a rock. Handel has an opera entitled Acis and Galatea.

Galathe

(3 syl.). Hector's horse.

“There is a thousand Hectors in the field;

Now here he fights on Galathe his horse,

And there lacks work.”

Shakespeare: Troilus and Cressida, v. 5.

Galaxy

(The). The “Milky Way.” A long white luminous track of stars which seems to encompass the heavens like a girdle. According to classic fable, it is the path to the palace of Zeus (1 syl.) or Jupiter. (Greek, gala, milk, genitive, galaktos.)

A galaxy of beauty. A cluster, assembly, or coterie of handsome women.

Gale's Compound

Powdered glass mixed with gunpowder to render it non—explosive. Dr. Gale is the patentee.

Galen

(g hard). Galen says “Nay,” and Hippocrates “Yea.” The doctors disagree, and who is to decide? Galen was a physician of Asia Minor in the second Christian century. Hippocrates — a native of Cos, born B.C. 460 — was the most celebrated physician of antiquity.

Galen. A generic name for an apothecary. Galenists prefer drugs (called Galenical medicines), Paracelsians use mineral medicines.

Galeotti

(Martius). Louis XI.'s Italian astrologer. Being asked by the king if he knew the day of his own death, he craftily replied that he could not name the exact day, but he knew this much: it would be

twenty—four hours before the decease of his majesty. Thrasullus, the soothsayer of Tiberius, Emperor of Rome, made verbally the same answer to the same question.

“ `Can thy pretended skill ascertain the hour of thine own death?'“

“ `Only by referring to the fate of another,' said Galeotti.

“ `I understand not thine answer,' said Louis.

“ `Know then, O king,' said Martius, `that this only I can tell with certainty concerning mine own death, that it shall take place exactly twenty—four hours before your majesty's.' “ Sir W. Scott: Quentin Durward, chap. xxix.

Galerana

(g hard), according to Ariosto, was wife of Charlemagne. (Orlando Furioso, bk. xxi.) (See Charlemagne.)

Galere

(2 syl.). Que diable allait—il faire dans cette galère? (What business had he to be on that galley?) This is from Molière's comedy of Les Fourberies de Scapin. Scapin wants to bamboozle Géonte out of his money, and tells him that his master (Géonte's son) is detained prisoner on a Turkish galley, where he went out of curiosity. He adds, that unless the old man will ransom him, he will be taken to Algiers as a slave. Géonte replies to all that Scapin urges, “What business had he to go on board the galley?” The retort is given to those who beg money to help them out of difficulties which they have brought on themselves. “I grant you are in trouble, but what right had you to go on the galley?” Vogue la Galère. (See Vogue.)

Galesus

(g hard). A river of Puglia, not far from Tarentum. The sheep that fed on the meadows of Galesus were noted for their fine wool. (Horace: 2 Carminum Liber, vi. 10.)

Galiana

(g hard). A Moorish princess. Her father, King Gadalfe of Toledo, built for her a palace on the Tagus so splendid that the phrase “a palace of Galiana” became proverbial in Spain.

Galimaufrey

or Gallimaufrey (g hard). A medley; any confused jumble of things; but strictly speaking, a hotch—potch made up of all the scraps of the larder. (French, galimafrée; Spanish, gallofa, “broken meat,” gallofero, a beggar.)

“He woos both high and low, both rich and poor,

Both young and old, one with another, Ford;

He loves thy gaily—mawfry [all sorts].”

Shakespeare: Merry Wives, ii.1.

Gall and Wormwood

Extremely disagreeable and annoying.

“It was so much gall and wormwood to the family.” — Mrs.E. Lynn Linton.

Gall of Bitterness

(The). The bitterest grief; extreme affliction. The ancients taught that grief and joy were subject to the gall, affection to the heart, knowledge to the kidneys, anger to the bile (one of the four humours of the body), and courage or timidity to the liver. The gall of bitterness, like the heart of hearts, means the bitter centre of bitterness, as the heart of hearts means the innermost recesses of the heart or affections. In the Acts it is used to signify “the sinfulness of sin,” which leads to the bitterest grief.

“I perceive thou art in the gall of bitterness, and in the bond of iniquity.” — Acts viii. 23.

Gall of Pigeons

The story goes that pigeons have no gall, because the dove sent from the ark by Noah burst its gall out of grief, and none of the pigeon family have had a gall ever since.

“For sin' the Flood of Noah

The dow she had nae ga'.”

Jamieson: Popular Ballads (Lord of Rorlin's Daughter).

Gall's Bell

(St.). A four—sided bell, which was certainly in existence in the seventh century, and is still shown in the monastery of St. Gall, Switzerland.

Gallant

(g hard). Brave, polite, courteous, etc. (French, galant.)

Gallery To play with one eye on the gallery. To work for popularity. As an actor who sacrifices his author for popular applause, or a stump political orator “orates” to catch votes.

“The instant we begin to think about success and the effect of our work — to play with one eye on the gallery — we lose power, and touch, and everything else.” — Rudyard Kipling: The Light that Failed.

Galley

(g hard). A printer's frame into which type from the stick (q.v.) is emptied. In the galley the type appears only in columns; it is subsequently divided into pages, and transferred to the “chase” (q.v.). (French, galée.)

Galley Pence

Genoese coin brought over by merchants (“galleymen"), who used the Galley Wharf, Thames Street. These pence, or rather halfpence, were larger than our own.

Gallia

(g hard). France.

“Impending hangs o'er Gallia's humbled coast.”

Thomson: Summer.

Gallia Braccata

[trousered Gaul ]. Gallia Narbonensis was so called from the “braccæ"' or trousers which the natives wore in common with the Scythians and Persians.

Gallia Comata

That part of Gaul which belonged to the Roman emperor, and was governed by legates (legati), was so called from the long hair (coma) worn by the inhabitants flowing over their shoulders.

Gallicenæ

The nine virgin priestesses of the Gallic oracle. By their charms they could raise the wind and waves, turn themselves into any animal form they liked, cure wounds and diseases, and predict future events. (Gallic mythology.)

Gallicism

(g hard). A phrase or sentence constructed after the French idiom; as, “when you shall have returned home you will find a letter on your table.” Government documents are especially guilty of this fault. In St. Matt. xv. 32 is a Gallicism: “I have compassion on the multitude, because they continue with me now three days, and have nothing to eat.” (Compare St. Mark viii. 2.)

Gallicum Merleburgæ

French of “Stratford atte Bowe.”

“There is a spring which (so they say), if anyone tastes, he murders his French [Gallice barbarizat]; so that when anyone speaks that language ill, we say he speaks the French of Marlborough [Gallicum Merleburgæ].” — Walter Map.

Galligantus

A giant who lived with Hocus—Pocus in an enchanted castle. By his magic he changed men and women into dumb animals, amongst which was a duke's daughter, changed into a roe. Jack the Giant Killer, arrayed in his cap, which rendered him invisible, went to the castle and read the inscription: “Whoever can this trumpet blow, will cause the giant's overthrow.” He seized the trumpet, blew a loud blast, the castle fell down, Jack slew the giant, and was married soon after to the duke's daughter, whom he had rescued from the giant's castle. (Jack the Giant Killer.)

Gallimaufry

(See Galimaufrey.)

Gallipot

(g hard) means a glazed pot, as galletyles (3 syl.) means glazed tiles. (Dutch, gleipot, glazed pot.) In farce and jest it forms a by—name for an apothecary.

Gallo—Belgicus. An annual register in Latin for European circulation, first published in 1598.

“It is believed,

And told for news with as much diligence

As if 'twere writ in Gallo—Belgicus.”

Thomas May: The Heir. (1615.)

Galloon

(See Caddice.)

Galloway

(g hard). A horse less than fifteen hands high, of the breed which originally came from Galloway in Scotland.

“Thrust him downstairs! Know we not Galloway nags?” — Shakespeare: 2 Henry IV., ii. 4.

“The knights and esquires are well mounted on large bay horses, the common people on little Galloways.” — S. Lanier: Boy's Froissart, book i. chap. xiv. p. 25.

Gallowglass

An armed servitor (or foot—soldier) of an ancient Irish chief.

Gallus Numidicus

(A). A turkey cock. Our common turkey comes neither from Turkey nor Numidia, but from North America.

“And bedecked in borrowed plumage, he struts over his pages as solemnly as any old Gallus Numidicus over the farmyard.” — Fra. Ollie (1885).

Galore

(2 syl., hard). A sailor's term, meaning “in abundance.” (Irish, go leor, in abundance.) For his Poll he had trinkets and gold galore,

Besides of prize—money quite a store.”

Jack Robinson.

Galvanism

(g hard). So called from Louis Galvani, of Bologna. Signora Galvani in 1790 had frog—soup prescribed for her diet, and one day some skinned frogs which happened to be placed near an electric machine in motion exhibited signs of vitality. This strange phenomenon excited the curiosity of the experimenter, who subsequently noticed that similar convulsive effects were produced when the copper hooks on which the frogs were strung were suspended on the iron hook of the larder. Experiments being carefully conducted, soon led to the discovery of this important science.

Galway Jury

An enlightened, independent jury. The expression has its birth in certain trials held in Ireland in 1635 upon the right of the king to the counties of Ireland. Leitrim, Roscommon, Sligo and Mayo, gave judgment in favour of the Crown, but Galway opposed it; whereupon the sheriff was fined £1,000, and each of the jurors £4,000.

Gam

(See Ganelon.)

Gama

(g hard). Vasco da Gama, the Portuguese, was the first European navigator who doubled the Cape of Good Hope.

“With such mad seas the daring Gama fought ...

Incessant labouring round the stormy Cape.” Thomson: Summer.

Vasco da Gama. The hero of Camoëns' Lusiad. He is represented as sagacious, intrepid, tender—hearted, pious, fond of his country, and holding his temper in full command. He is also the hero of Meyerbeer's posthumous opera, L' Africaine.

“Gama, captain of the venturous band,

Of bold emprise, and born for high command, Whose martial fires, with prudence close allied, Ensured the smiles of fortune on his side.” Camoëns: Lusiad, bk. i.

Gamaheu

a natural cameo, or intaglio. These stones (chiefly agate) contain natural representations of plants, landscapes, or animals. Pliny tells us that the “Agate of Pyrrhus” contained a representation of the nine Muses, with Apollo in the midst. Paracelsus calls them natural talismans. Albertus Magnus makes mention of them, and Gaffaret, in his Curiosités inouïes, attributes to them magical powers. (French, camaïeu, from the oriental gamahuia, camehuia, or camebouia.)

When magic was ranked as a science, certain conjunctions were called “Gamahæan unions.”

Gamaliel.

In the Talmud is rather a good story about this pundit. Caesar asked Gamaliel how it was that God robbe'd Adam in order to make Eve. Gamaliel's daughter instantly replied, the robbery was substituting a golden vessel for an earthen one.

Gamboge

(2 syl., first ghard, second g soft). So called from Cambodia or Camboja, whence it was first brought.

Game

includes hares, pheasants, partridges, grouse, heath—game, or moor—game, black—game, and bustards. (Game Act, 1, 2, Will. IV.) (See Sporting Season.)

Game

Two can play at that game. If you claw me I can claw you; if you throw stones at me I can do the same to you. The Duke of Buckingham led a mob to break the windows of the Scotch Puritans who came over with James I., but the Puritans broke the windows of the duke's house, and when he complained to the king, the British Solomon quoted to him the proverb, “Those who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones.”

You are making game of me. You are chaffing me. (Anglo—Saxon, gamen, jest, scoffing.)

Game—leg

A bad or lame leg. (Welsh, cam; Irish, gam, bad, crooked.)

Game for a Spree

Are you game for a spree? Are you inclined to join in a bit of fun? The allusion is to

game—cocks, which never show the white feather, but are always ready for a fight.

Game is not worth the Candle

(The). The effort is not worth making; the result will not pay for the trouble. (See Candle.)

Game's Afoot

(The). The hare has started; the enterprise has begun.

“I see you stand like greyhounds in the slips,

Straining upon the start. The game's afoot! Follow your spirit! And upon this charge

Cry `God for Harry! England! and St. George.' “ Shakespeare: Henry V., iii. 1.

Gamelyn

(3 syl., g hard). The youngest of the three sons of Sir Johan de Boundys. On his death—bed the old knight left “five plowes of land” to each of his two elder sons, and the rest of his property to Gamelyn. The eldest took charge of the boy, but entreated him shamefully; and when Gamelyn, in his manhood, demanded of him his heritage, the elder brother exclaimed, “Stand still, gadelyng, and hold thy peace!” “I am no gadelyng,” retorted the proud young spirit; “but the lawful son of a lady and true knight.” At this the elder brother sent his servants to chastise the youngling, but Gamelyn drove them off with “a pestel.” At a wrestling—match held in the neighbourhood, young Gamelyn threw the champion, and carried off the prize

ram; but on reaching home found the door shut against him. He at once kicked down the door, and threw the porter into a well. The elder brother, by a manœuvre, contrived to bind the young scapegrace to a tree, and left him two days without food; but Adam, the spencer, unloosed him, and Gamelyn fell upon a party of ecclesiastics who had come to dine with his brother, “sprinkling holy water on the guests with his stout oaken cudgel.” The sheriff now sent to take Gamelyn and Adam into custody; but they fled into the woods and came upon a party of foresters sitting at meat. The captain gave them welcome, and in time Gamelyn rose to be

“king of the outlaws.” His brother, being now sheriff, would have put him to death, but Gamelyn constituted himself a lynch judge, and hanged his brother. After this the king appointed him chief ranger, and he married. This tale is the foundation of Lodge's novel, called Euphue's Golden Legacy, and the novel furnished Shakespeare with the plot of As You Like It.

Gammer

(g hard). A corruption of grandmother, with an intermediate form “granmer.” (See Halliwell, sub voce.)

Gammer Gurton's Needle

The earliest comedy but one in the English language. It was “Made by Mr. S., Master of Arts.” The author is said to have been Bishop Still of Bath and Wells (1543—1607).

Gammon

(g hard). A corruption of gamene. Stuff to impose upon one's credulity; chaff. (Anglo—Saxon, gamen, scoffing; our game, as “You are making game of me.”)

Gammon (g hard) means the leg, not the buttock. (French, jambon, the leg, jambe; Italian, gamba.)

Gammut

or Gamut g (hard). It is gamma ut, “ut" being the first word in the Guido—von—Arrezzo scale of ut, re mi, fa, sol, la. In the eleventh century the ancient scale was extended a note below the Greek proslambanomy note (our A), the first space of the bass staff. The new note was termed g (gamma), and when “ut” was substituted by Arrezzo the “supernumerary” note was called gamma or ut, or shortly gamm' ut — i.e. “G ut.” The gammut, therefore, properly means the diatonic scale beginning in the bass clef with “G.”

Gamp

(Mrs.), or Sarah Gamp (g hard). A monthly nurse, famous for her bulky umbrella and perpetual reference to Mrs. Harris, a purely imaginary person, whose opinions always confirmed her own. (Dickens: Martin Chuzzlewit.)

“Mrs. Harris, I says to her, if I could afford to lay out all my fellow creeturs for nothink, I would gladly do it. Such is the love I bear `em.”

Punch caricatures the Standard as “Mrs. Sarah Gamp,” a little woman with an enormous bonnet and her characteristic umbrella.

A Sarah Gamp, or Mrs. Gamp. A big, pawky umbrella, so called from Sarah Gamp. (See above.) In France it is called un Robinson, from Robinson Crusoe's umbrella. (Defoe.)

Gamps and Harrises

Workhouse nurses, real or supposititious. (See Gamp.)

“Mr. Gathorne Hardy is to look after the Gamps and Harrises of Lambeth and the Strand.” — The Daily Telegraph.

Ganabim

The island of thieves and plagiarists. So called from the Hebrew ganab (a thief). (Rabelais: Pantagruel, iv. 66.)

Gander

(g hard). What's sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander. Both must be treated exactly alike. Applesauce is just as good for one as the other. (Anglo—Saxon gós, related to gons and gans. The d and r of gan—a are merely euphonic; the a being the masculine suffix. Thus han—a was the masculine of hen. Latin, anser.)

Gander—cleugh Folly cliff; that mysterious land where anyone who makes a “goose of himself” takes up his temporary residence. The hypothetical Jedediah Cleishbotham, who edited the Tales of My Landlord, lived there, as Sir Walter Scott assures us.

Gander—month

Those four weeks when the “monthly nurse” rules the house with despotic sway, and the master is made a goose of.

Ganelon

(g hard). Count of Mayence, one of Charlemagne's paladins, the “Judas” of knights. His castle was built on the Blocksberg, the loftiest peak of the Hartz mountains. Jelousy of Roland made him a traitor; and in order to destroy his rival, he planned with Marsillus, the Moorish king, the attack of Roncesvallës. He was six and a—half feet high, with glaring eyes and fiery hair; he loved solitude, was very taciturn, disbelieved in the existence of moral good, and never had a friend. His name is a by—word for a traitor of the basest sort.

“Have you not held me at such a distance from your counsels, as if I were the most faithless spy since the days of Ganelon?” — Sir Walter Scott: The Abbot, chap. xxiv.

“You would have thought him [Ganelon] one of Attila's Huns, rather than one of the paladins of Charlemagne's court.” — Croquemitaine, iii.

Ganem

(g hard), having incurred the displeasure of Caliph Haroun—al—Raschid, effected his escape by taking the place of a slave, who was carrying on his head dishes from his own table. (Arabian Nights' Entertainments.)

Ganesa

(g hard). Son of Siva and Parbutta; also called Gunputty, the elephant god. The god of wisdom, fore—thought, and prudence. The Mercury of the Hindus.

“Camdeo bright and Ganesa sublime

Shall bless with joy their own propitious clime.” Campbell: Pleasures of Hope, i.

Gang a—gley

(To). To go wrong (Scotch.)

“The best—laid schemes of mice and men

Gang aft agley.” Burns.

Gang—board

or Gang—way (g hard). The board or way made for the rowers to pass from stem to stern, and where the mast was laid when it was unshipped. Now it means the board with cleats or bars of wood by which passengers walk into or out of a ship or steamboat. A gang is an alley or avenue.

“As we were putting off the boat they laid hold of the gangboard and unhooked it off the boat's stern.” — Cook: Second Voyage, bk. iii. chap. iv.

Gang—day

(g hard). The day in Rogation week when boys with the clergy and wardens used to gang round the parish to beat its bounds.

Gangway

(g hard). Below the gangway. In the House of Commons there is a sort of bar extending across the House, which separates the Ministry and the Opposition from the rest of the members. To sit “below the gangway” is to sit amongst the general members, neither among the Ministers nor with the Opposition.

Clear the gangway. Make room for the passengers from the boat, clear the passage. (See Gang—Board.)

Ganges (The) is so named from gang, the earth. Often called Gunga or Ganga.

“Those who, through the curse, have fallen from heaven, having performed ablution in this stream, become free from sin; cleansed from sin by this water, and restored to happiness, they shall enter heaven and return again to the gods. After having performed ablution in this living water, they become free from all iniquity.” — The Ramayuna (section xxxv.).

Ganna

A Celtic prophetess, who succeeded Velleda. She went to Rome, and was received by Domitian with great honours. (Tacitus: Annals, 55.)

Ganor

(g hard), Gineura (g soft), or Guinever. Arthur's wife.

Ganymede

(3 syl.; g hard). Jove's cup—bearer; the most beautiful boy ever born. He succeeded Hebe in office.

“When Ganymede above

His service ministers to mighty Jove.”

Hoole's Ariosto.

Gaora

A tract of land inhabited by a people without heads. Their eyes are in their shoulders, and their mouth in their breast. (Hakluyt's Voyages.) (See Blemmyes.)

Gape

(g hard). Looking for gapeseed. Gaping about and doing nothing, A corruption of “Looking a—gapesing;” gapesing is staring about with one's mouth open. A—gapesing and a—trapesing are still used in Norfolk.

Seeking a gape's nest. (Devonshire.) A gape's nest is a sight which people stare at with wide—open mouth. The word “nest” was used in a much wider sense formerly than it is now. Thus we read of a “nest of shelves,” a “nest of thieves,” a “cosy nest.” A gape's nest is the nest or place where anything stared at is to be found.

(See Mare's Nest.)

Garagantua

(g hard). The giant that swallowed five pilgrims with their staves and all in a salad. From a book entitled The History of Garagantua, 1594. Laneham, however, mentions the book of Garagantua in 1575. The giant in Rabelais is called Gargantua (q.v.).

“You must borrow me Gargantua's mouth first [before I can utter so long a word]; `tis a word too great for any mouth of this age's size.” — Shakespeare: As You Like It, iii. 2.

Garagantuan

Threatening, bullying. (See preceding.)

Garble (g hard) properly means to sift out the refuse. Thus, by the statute of 1 James I. 19, a penalty is imposed on the sale of drugs not garbled. We now use the word to express a mutilated extract, in which the sense of the author is perverted by what is omitted. (French, garber, to make clean; Spanish, garbillar.)

“A garbled quotation may be the most effectual perversion of an author's meaning.” — McCosh: Divine Government, p. 14.

One of the best garbled quotations is this: David said (Psalm xiv. 1), “There is no God” (omitting the preceding words, “The fool hath said in his heart.”)

Garcias

(g hard). The soul of Pedro Garcias. Money. It is said that two scholars of Salamanca discovered a tombstone with this inscription: — “Here lies the soul of the licentiate Pedro Garcias;" and on searching for this “soul” found a purse with a hundred golden ducats. (Gil Blas, Preface.)

Gardarike

(4 syl., g hard). So Russia is called in the Eddas.

Garden

(g hard). The garden of Joseph of Arimathea is said to be the spot where the rotunda of the Holy Sepulchre now stands.

The Garden or Garden Sect. The disciples of Epicurus, who taught in his own private garden.

“Epicurus in his garden was languid; the birds of the air have more enjoyment of their food.” — Ecce Homo.

Garden of England. Worcestershire and Kent are both so called. Garden of Europe. Italy.

Garden of France. Amboise, in the department of Indre—et—Loire. Garden of India. Oude.

Garden of Ireland. Carlow. Garden of Italy. The island of Sicily. Garden of South Wales. The southern division of Glamorganshire. Garden of Spain. Andalusia.

Garden of the Sun. The East Indian (or Malayan) archipelago. Garden of the West. Illinois; Kansas is also so called. Garden of the World. The region of the Mississippi.

Gardener

(g hard). Get on, gardener! Get on, you slow and clumsy coachman. The allusion is to a man who is both gardener and coachman.

Gardener. Adam is so called by Tennyson.

“From you blue sky above us bent,

The grand old gardener and his wife [Adam and Eve] Smile at the claims of long descent.”

Lady Clara Vere de Vere

“Thou, old Adam's likeness,

Get to dress this garden.”

Shakespeare: Richard II., III. 4.

Gardening

(g hard). (See Adam's Profession.)

Father of landscape gardening. Lenotre (1613—1700).

Gargamelle (3 syl., g hard) was the wife of Grangousier, and daughter of the king of the Parpaillons (butterflies). On the day that she gave birth to Gargantua she ate sixteen quarters, two bushels, three pecks, and a pipkin of dirt, the mere remains left in the tripe which she had for supper; for, as the proverb says —

“Scrape tripe as clean as e'er you can,

A tithe of filth will still remain.”

Gargamelle. Said to be meant for Anne of Brittany. She was the mother of Gargantua, in the satirical romance of Gargantua and Pantagruel', by Rabelais. Motteux, who makes “Pantagruel” to be Anthony de Bourbon, and “Gargantua” to be Henri d'Albret, says “Gargamelle” is designed for Catherine de Foix, Queen of Navarre. (Rabelais, i. 4.)

Gargantua

(g hard), according to Rabelais, was son of Grangousier and Gargamelle. Immediately he was born he cried out “Drink, drink!” so lustily that the words were heard in Beauce and Bibarois; whereupon his royal father exclaimed, “Que grand tu as!” which, being the first words he uttered after the birth of the child, were accepted as its name; so it was called “Gah—gran'—tu—as,” corrupted into Gar—g'an—tu—a. It needed

17,913 cows to supply the babe with milk. When he went to Paris to finish his education he rode on a mare as big as six elephants, and took the bells of Notre Dame to hang on his mare's neck as jingles. At the prayer of the Parisians he restored the bells, and they consented to feed his mare for nothing. On his way home he was fired at from the castle at Vede Ford, and on reaching home combed his hair with a comb 900 feet long, when at every “rake” seven bullet—balls fell from his hair. Being desirous of a salad for dinner, he went to cut some lettuces as big as walnut—trees, and ate up six pilgrims from Sebastian, who had hidden themselves among them out of fear. Picrochole, having committed certain offences, was attacked by Gargantua in the rock Clermond, and utterly defeated; and Gargantua, in remembrance of this victory, founded and endowed the abbey of Theleme [Te—lame]. (Rabelais: Gargantua, i. 7.)

Gargantua is said to be a satire on Francois I., but this cannot be correct, as he was born in the kingdom of the butterflies, was sent to Paris to finish his education, and left it again to succour his own country. Motteux, perceiving these difficulties, thinks it is meant for Henri d'Albret, King of Navarre.

Gargantua's mare. Those who make Gargantua to be Francois I. make his “great mare” to be Mme. d'Estampes. Motteux, who looks upon the romance as a satire on the Reform party, is at a loss how to apply this word, and merely says, “It is some lady.” Rabelais says, “She was as big as six elephants, and had her feet cloven into fingers. She was of a burnt—sorrel hue, with a little mixture of dapple—grey; but, above all, she had a terrible tail, for it was every whit as great as the steeple pillar of St. Mark.” When the beast got to Orléans, and the wasps assaulted her, she switched about her tail so furiously that she knocked down all the trees that grew in the vicinity, and Gargantua, delighted, exclaimed, “Je trouve beau ce!” wherefore the locality has been called “Beauce” ever since. The satire shows the wilfulness and extravagance of court mistresses.

(Rabelais: Gargantua and Pantagruel, book i. 16.)

Gargantua's shepherds, according to Motteux, mean Lutheran preachers; but those who look upon the romance as a political satire, think the Crown ministers and advisers are intended.

Gargantua's thirst. Motteux says the “great thirst” of Gargantua, and “mighty drought" at Pantagruel's birth, refer to the withholding the cup from the laity, and the clamour raised by the Reform party for the wine as well as the bread in the eucharist.

Gargantuan

Enormous, inordinate, great beyond all limits. It needed 900 ells of Châtelleraut linen to make the body of his shirt, and 200 more for the gussets; for his shoes 406 ells of blue and crimson velvet were required, and 1,100 cow—hides for the soles. He could play 207 different games, picked his teeth with an elephant's tusk, and did everything in the same “large way.”

“It sounded like a Gargantuan order for a dram.” — The Standard.

A Gargantuan course of studies. A course including all languages, as well ancient as modern, all the sciences, all the —ologies and —onomies, together with calisthenics and athletic sports. Gargantua wrote to his son Pantagruel, commanding him to learn Greek, Latin, Chaldaic, Arabic; all history, geometry, arithmetic, and music; astronomy and natural philosophy, so that “there be not a river in all the world thou dost not know the name of, and nature of all its fishes; all the fowls of the air; all the several kinds of shrubs and herbs; all the metals hid in the bowels of the earth; with all gems and precious stones. I would furthermore have thee study the Talmudists and Cabalists, and get a perfect knowledge of man. In brief, I would have thee a bottomless pit of all knowledge.” (Rabelais: Pantagruel, book ii. 8.)

Gargittios

One of the dogs that guarded the herds and flocks of Geryon, and which Hercules killed. The other was the two—headed dog, named Orthos, or Orthros.

Gargouille

or Gargoil (g hard). A water—spout in church architecture. Sometimes also spelt Gurgoyle. They are usually carved into some fantastic shape, such as a dragon's head, through which the water flows. Gargouille was the great dragon that lived in the Seine, ravaged Rouen, and was slain by St. Romanus, Bishop of Rouen, in the seventh century. (See Dragon.)

Garibaldi's Red Shirt

The red shirt is the habitual upper garment of American sailors. Any Liverpudlian will tell you that some fifteen years ago a British tar might be discerned by his blue shirt, and a Yankee “salt” by his red. Garibaldi first adopted the American shirt, when he took the command of the merchantman in Baltimore.

Garland

(g hard).

“A chaplet should be composed of four roses ... and a garland should be formed of laurel or oak leaves, interspersed with acorns.” — J. E. Handbook of Heraldry, chap. vii. p. 105.

Garland. A collection of ballads in True Lovers' Garland, etc.

Nuptial garlands are as old as the hills. The ancient Jews used them, according to Selden (Uxor Heb., iii. 655); the Greek and Roman brides did the same (Vaughan, Golden Grove); so did the Anglo—Saxons and Gauls.

“Thre ornamentys pryncipaly to a wyfe: A rynge on hir fynger, a broch on hir brest, and a garlond on hir hede. The rynge betokenethe true love; the broch clennesse in herte and chastitye; the garlond ... gladness and the dignity of the sacrement of wedlock.” — Leland: Dives and Pauper (1493).

Garlick

is said to destroy the magnetic power of the loadstone. This notion, though proved to be erroneous, has the sanction of Pliny, Solinus, Ptolemy, Plutarch, Albertus, Mathiolas, Rueus, Rulandus, Renodaeus, Langius, and others. Sir Thomas Browne places it among Vulgar Errors (book ii. chap. 3.)

“Martin Rulandus saith that Onions and Garlick ... hinder the attractive power [of the magnet] and rob it of its virtue of drawing iron, to which Renodaeus agrees but this is all lies.” — W. Salmon: The Complete English Physician, etc., chap. xxv. p. 182.

Garnish

(g hard). Entrance—money, to be spent in drink, demanded by jailbirds of new—comers. In prison slang garnish means fetters, and garnish—money is money given for the “honour” of wearing fetters. The custom became obsolete with the reform of prisons. (French, garnissage, trimming, verb garnir, to decorate or

adorn.) (See Fielding's and Smollett's novels.)

Garratt

(g hard). The Mayor of Garratt. Garratt is between Wands—worth and Tooting; the first mayor of this village was elected towards the close of the eighteenth century; and his election came about thus: Garratt Common had been often encroached on, and in 1780 the inhabitants associated themselves together to defend their rights. The chairman of this association was entitled Mayor, and as it happened to be the time of a general election, the society made it a law that a new “mayor” should be chosen at every general election. The addresses of these mayors, written by Foote, Garrick, Wilkes, and others, are satires on the corruption of electors and political squibs. The first Mayor of Garratt was “Sir” John Harper, a retailer of brickdust in London; and the last was “Sir” Harry Dimsdale, muffin—seller, in 1796. Foote has a farce entitled The Mayor of Garratt.

Garraway's

i.e. Garraway's coffee—house, in Exchange Alley. It existed for 216 years, and here tea was sold, in 1657, for 16s. up to 50s. a pound. The house no longer exists.

Garrot'e

or Garotte (2 syl., g hard) is the Spanish garrote (a stick). The original way of garrotting in Spain was to place the victim on a chair with a cord round his neck, then to twist the cord with a stick till strangulation ensued. In 1851 General Lopez was garrotted by the Spanish authorities for attempting to gain possession of Cuba; since which time the thieves of London, etc., have adopted the method of strangling their victim by throwing their arms round his throat, while an accomplice rifles his pockets.

Garter

(g hard). Knights of the Garter. The popular legend is that Joan, Countess of Salisbury, accidentally slipped her garter at a court ball. It was picked up by her royal partner, Edward III., who gallantly diverted the attention of the guests from the lady by binding the blue band round his own knee, saying as he did so, “Honi soit qui mal y pense” (1348).

Wearing the garters of a pretty maiden either on the hat or knee was a common custom with our forefathers. Brides usually wore on their legs a host of gay ribbons, to be distributed after the marriage ceremony amongst the bridegroom's friends; and the piper at the wedding dance never failed to tie a piece of the bride's garter round his pipe. If there is any truth in the legend given above, the impression on the guests would be wholly different to what such an accident would produce in our days; but perhaps the “Order of the Garter,” after all, may be about tantamount to “The Order of the Ladies' Champions,” or “The Order of the Ladies' Favourites.”

Garvies

(2 syl., g soft). Sprats. So called from Inch Garvie, an isle in the Frith of Forth, near which they are caught.

Gasconade

(3 syl., g hard). Talk like that of a Gascon — absurd boasting, vainglorious braggadocio. It is said that a Gascon being asked what he thought of the Louvre in Paris, replied, “Pretty well; it reminds me of the back part of my father's stables.” The vainglory of this answer is more palpable when it is borne in mind that the Gascons were proverbially poor. The Dictionary of the French Academy gives us the following specimen: “A Gascon, in proof of his ancient nobility, asserted that they used in his father's house no other fuel than the batons of the family marshals.”

Gaston

(g hard). Lord of Claros, one of Charlemagne's paladins.

Gastrolators

People whose god is their belly. (Rabelais: Pantagruel, iv. 58.)

Gat—tooth

(g hard). Goat—tooth. (Anglo—Saxon, gæt.) Goat—toothed is having a lickerish tooth. Chaucer makes the wife of Bath say, “Gat—toothed I was, and that became me wele.”

Gate Money

Money paid at the gate for admission to the grounds where some contest is to be seen.

Gate—posts The post on which the gate hangs and swings is called the “hanging—post”; that against which it shuts is called the “banging post.”

Gate of Italy

That part of the valley of the Adige which is in the vicinity of Trent and Roveredo. A narrow gorge between two mountain ridges.

Gate of Tears

[Babelmandeb]. The passage into the Red Sea. So called by the Arabs from the number of shipwrecks that took place there.

“Like some ill—destined bark that steers

In silence through the Gate of Tears.”

T. Moore: Fire Worshippers.

Gath

(g hard), in Dryden's satire of Absalom and Achitophel, means Brussels, where Charles II. long resided while he was in exile.

“Had thus old David [Charles II.] ...

Not dared, when fortune called him, to be king, At Gath an exile he might still remain.”

Tell it not in Gath. Don't let your enemies hear it. Gath was famous as being the birthplace of the giant Goliath.

“Tell it not in Gath, publish it not in the streets of Askelon; lest the daughters of the Philistines rejoice, lest the daughters of the uncircumcised triumph.” — 2 Sam.i.20.

Gathered

= dead. The Bible phrase, “He was gathered to his fathers.”

“He was (for he is gathered) a little man with a coppery complexion.” — Dr. Geist, p. 25.

Gathers

(g hard). Out of gathers. In distress; in a very impoverished condition. The allusion is to a woman's gown, which certainly looks very seedy when “out of gathers” — i.e. when the cotton that kept the “pleats” together has given way. (Anglo—Saxon, gader—ian, to gather, or pleat.)

Gauche

(French, the left hand). Awkward. Awk, the left hand. (See Adroit.)

Gaucherie

(3 syl., g hard). Things not comme il faut; behaviour not according to the received forms of society; awkward and untoward ways. (See above.)

Gaudifer

(g hard). A champion, celebrated in the romance of Alexander. Not unlike the Scotch Bruce.

Gaudy—day

(A). A holiday, a feastday. (Latin gaudeo, to rejoice.)

Gaul

(g hard). France.

“Insulting Gaul has roused the world to war.”

Thomson: Autumn.

“Shall haughty Gaul invasion threat?” — Burns.

Gaunt (g hard). John of Gaunt. The third son of Edward III.; so called from Ghent, in Flanders, the place of his birth.

Gauntgrim

(g hard). The wolf.

“For my part (said he), I don't wonder at my cousin's refusing Bruin the bear and Gauntgrim the wolf. ... Bruin is always in the sulks, and Gauntgrim always in a passion.” — E. B. Lytton: Pilgrims of the Rhine, chap. xii.

Gauntlet

(g hard). To run the gantlet. To be hounded on all sides. Corruption of gantlope, the passage between two files of soldiers. (German, ganglaufen or gassenlaufen.) The reference is to a punishment common among sailors. If a companion had disgraced himself, the crew, provided with gauntlets or ropes' ends, were drawn up in two rows facing each other, and the delinquent had to run between them, while every man dealt him, in passing, as severe a chastisement as he could.

The custom exists among the North American Indians. (See Fenimore Cooper and Mayne Reid.)

To throw down the gauntlet. To challenge. The custom in the Middle Ages, when one knight challenged another, was for the challenger to throw his gauntlet on the ground, and if the challenge was accepted the person to whom it was thrown picked it up.

“It is not for Spain, reduced as she is to the lowest degree of social inanition, to throw the gauntlet to the right and left.” — The Times.

Gautama

(g hard). The chief deity of Burmah, whose favourite offering is a paper umbrella.

The four sublime verities of Gautama are as follows: (1) Pain exists.

(2) The cause of pain is “birth sin.” The Buddhist supposes that man has passed through many previous existences, and all the heaped—up sins accumulated in these previous states constitute man's “birth sin.”

(3) Pain is ended only by Nirvana.

(4) The way that leads to Nirvana is — right faith, right judgment, right language, right purpose, right practice, right obedience, right memory, and right meditation (eight in all).

Gautier

and Garguille (French). All the world and his wife.

Se mocquer de Gautier et de Garguille (to make fun of everyone). Gautier—Garguille was a clown of the seventeenth century, who gave himself unbounded licence, and provoked against himself a storm of angry feeling.

Gauvaine

or Gawain = Gau—wain (2 syl., g hard). Sir Gauvaine the Courteous. One of Arthur's kinghts, and his nephew. He challenged the Green Knight, and struck off his head; but the headless knight picked up his poll again and walked off, telling Sir Gauvaine to meet him twelve months hence. Sir Gauvaine kept his appointment, and was hospitably entertained; but, taking possession of the girdle belonging to the lady of the house, was chastised by the Green Knight, confessed his fault, and was forgiven.

“The gentle Gawain's courteous lore,

Hector de Mares and Pellinore,

And Lancelot that evermore

Looked stol'nwise on the queen.”

Sir W. Scott: Bridal of Triermain, ii. 13.

Gavelkind

(g hard). A tenure in Wales, Kent, and Northumberland, whereby land descended from the father to all his sons in equal proportions. The youngest had the homestead, and the eldest the horse and arms.

Coke (1 Institutes, 140 a) says the word is gif eal cyn (give all the kin); but Lambarde suggests the Anglo—Saxon gafol or gavel, rent; and says it means “land which yields rent”! gavel cyn, rent for the family derived from land. There is a similar Irish word, gabhailcine, a family tenure.

Gawain

(g hard). (See Gauvaine .)

Gawrey

(g hard). One of the race of flying women who appeared to Peter Wilkins in his solitary cave. (Robert Pultock: Peter Wilkins.)

Gay

(g hard). Gay as the king's candle. A French phrase, alluding to an ancient custom observed on the 6th of January, called the “Eve or Vigil of the Kings,” when a candle of divers colours was burnt. The expression is used to denote a woman who is more showily dressed than is consistent with good taste.

Gay Deceiver

(A). A Lothario (q.v.); a libertine.

“I immediately quitted the precincts of the castle, and posted myself on the high road, where the gay deceiver was sure to be intercepted on his return.” — Le Sage: Adventures of Gil Blas (Smollett's translation). (1749.)

Gay Girl

A woman of light or extravagant habits. Lady Anne Berkeley, dissatisfied with the conduct of her

daughter—in—law (Lady Catherine Howard), exclaimed, “By the blessed sacrament, this gay girl will beggar my son Henry.” (See above.)

“What eyleth you? Some gay gurl, God it wot, Hath brought you thus upon the very trot” (i.e. put you on your high horse, or into a passion). Chaucer: Canterbury Tales, 3,767.

Gaze

(1 syl., g hard). To stand at gaze. To stand in doubt what to do. A term in forestry. When a stag first hears the hounds it stands dazed, looking all round, and in doubt what to do.

Heralds call a stag which is represented full—faced, a “stag at gaze.”

“The American army in the central states remained wholly at gaze.” — Lord Mahon: History.

“As the poor frighted deer, that stands at gaze,

Wildly determining which way to fly.”

Shakespeare: Rape of Lucrece, 1149—50.

Gaze—hound

(See Lyme—Hound .)

Gazette

(2 syl., g hard). A newspaper. The first newspapers were issued in Venice by the Government, and came out in manuscript once a month, during the war of 1563 between the Venetians and Turks. The intelligence was read publicly in certain places, and the fee for hearing it read was one gazetta (a Venetian coin, somewhat less than a farthing in value).

The first official English newspaper, called The Oxford Gazette, was published in 1642, at Oxford, where the Court was held. On the removal of the Court to London, the name was changed to The London Gazette. The name was revived in 1665, during the Great Fire. Now the official Gazette, published every Tuesday and Friday, contains announcements of pensions, promotions, bankruptcies, dissolutions of partnerships, etc. (See Newspapers.)

Gazetted

(g hard). Published in the London Gazette, an official newspaper.

Gaznivides

(3 syl.). A dynasty of Persia, which gave four kings and lasted fifty years (999—1049), founded by Mahmoud Gazni, who reigned from the Ganges to the Caspian Sea.

Gear

(g hard) properly means “dress.” In machinery, the bands and wheels that communicate motion to the working part are called the gearing. (Saxon, gearwa, clothing.)

In good gear. To be in good working order. Out of gear. Not in working condition, when the “gearing” does not act properly; out of health.

Gee—up!

and Gee—woo! addressed to horses both mean “Horse, get on.” Gee = horse. In Notts and many other counties nurses say to young children, “Come and see the gee—gees.” There is not the least likelihood that Gee—woo is the Italian gio, because gio will not fit in with any of the other terms, and it is absurd to suppose our peasants would go to Italy for such a word. Woa! or Woo! (q.v.), meaning stop, or halt, is quite another word. We subjoin the following quotation, although we differ from it. (See Come Ather.)

“Et cum sic gloriaretur, et cogitares cum quanta gloria duceretur ad illum virum super equum, dicendo Gio! Gio! cepit pede percutere terram quasi pungeret equum calcaribus.” — Dialogus Creaturarum (1480).

Geese

(g hard). (See Gander , Goose.)

Geese save the capitol. The tradition is that when the Gauls invaded Rome a detachment in single file clambered up the hill of the capitol so silently that the foremost man reached the top without being challenged; but while he was striding over the rampart, some sacred geese, disturbed by the noise, began to cackle, and awoke the garrison. Marcus Manlius rushed to the wall and hurled the fellow over the precipice. To commemorate this event, the Romans carried a golden goose in procession to the capitol every year (B.C. 390).

“Those consecrated geese in orders,

That to the capitol were warders,

And being then upon patrol,

With noise alone beat off the Gaul.”

Butler: Hudibras, ii. 3.

All his swans are geese, or All his swans are turned to geese. All his expectations end in nothing; all his boasting ends in smoke. Like a person who fancies he sees a swan on a river, but finds it to be only a goose. The phrase is sometimes reversed thus, “All his geese are swans.” Commonly applied to people who think too much of the beauty and talent of their children.

Every man thinks his own geese swans. Everyone is prejudiced by self—love. Every crow thinks its own nestling the fairest. Every child is beautiful in its mother's eyes. (See Æsop's fable, The Eagle and the Owl.)

Latin: Suum cuique pulchrum. Sua cuique sponsa, mihi meas. Sua cuique res est carissima. Asinus asino, sus suo pulcher.

German: Eine güte mutter halt ihre kinder vor die schönsten. French: A chaque oiseau son nid paraît beau.

Italian: A ogni grolla paion' belli i suoi grollatini. Ad ogni uccello, suo nido è bello.

The more geese the more lovers. The French newspaper called L'Europe, December, 1865, repeats this proverb, and says: — “It is customary in England for every gentleman admitted into society to send a fat goose at Christmas to the lady of the house he is in the habit of visiting. Beautiful women receive a whole magazine

... and are thus enabled to tell the number of their lovers by the number of fat geese sent to them.” (The Times, December 27th, 1865.) Truly the Frenchman knows much more about us than we ever “dreamt of in our philosophy.”

Geese. (See Goose, Cag Mag.)

Gehenna

(Hebrew, g hard). The place of eternal torment. Strictly speaking, it means simply the Valley of Hinnom (Ge—Hinnom), where sacrifices to Moloch were offered and where refuso of all sorts was subsequently cast, for the consumption of which fires were kept constantly burning.

“And made his grove

The pleasant valley of Hinnom, Tophet thence And black Gehenna called, the type of hell.” Milton: Paradise Lost, book i. 403—5.

Gelert

(g hard). The name of Llewellyn's dog. One day a wolf entered the room where the infant son of the Welsh prince was asleep; Gelert flew at it and killed it; but when Llewellyn returned home and saw his dog's mouth bloody, he hastily concluded that it had killed his child, and thrust it through with his sword. The howl of the dog awoke the child, and the prince saw too late his fatal rashness. Beth—gelert is the name of the place where the dog was buried. (See Beth—Gelert, Dog.)

A similar story is told of Czar Piras of Russia. In the Gesta Romanorum the story is told of Folliculus, a knight, but instead of a serpent the dog is said to have killed a wolf. The story occurs again in the Seven Wise Maste,s. In the Sanskrit version the dog is called an ichneumon and the wolf a “black snake.” In the Hitopadesa (iv, 3) the dog is an otter; in the Arabic a weasel; in the Mongolian a pole—cat; in the Persian a cat, etc.

Gellatley

(Davie). The idiot servant of the Baron of Bradwardine. (Sir W. Scott: Waverley.) Also spelt GELLATLY.

Gemara

(g hard), which means “complement,” is applied to the second part of the Talmud, which consists of annotations, discussions, and amplifications of the Jewish Mishna. There is the Babylonian Gemara and the Jerusalem Gemara. The former, which is the more complete, is by the academies of Babylon; the latter by those of Palestine.

“Scribes and Pharisees ... set little value on the study of the Law itself, but much on that of the commentaries of the rabbis, now embodied in the Mishna and Gemara.” — Geikie: Life of Christ, vol. ii. ch. xxxvi. p. 64.

Gemmagog

Son of the giant Oromedon, and inventor of the Poulan shoes — i.e. shoes with a spur behind, and turned—up toes fastened to the knees. These shoes were forbidden by Charles V. of France in 1365, but the fashion revived again. (Duchat: Ouvres de Rabelais.)

According to the same authority, giants were great inventors: Erix invented legerdemain; Gabbara, drinking healths; Gemmagog, Poulan shoes; Hapmouche, drying and smoking neats' tongues; etc. etc.

Gems

(See Jewels .)

Gendarmes “Men at arms,” the armed police of France. The term was first applied to those who marched in the train of knights; subsequently to the cavalry; in the time of Louis XIV. to a body of horse charged with the preservation of order; after the revolution to a military police chosen from old soldiers of good character; now it is applied to the ordinary police, whose costume is half civil and half military.

Gender—words:

Billy, nanny; boar, sow; buck, doe; bull, cow; cock, hen; dog, bitch; ewe, tup; groom = man; he, she; Jack, Jenny; male, female; man, maid; man, woman; master, mistress; Tom; tup, dam; and several

“Christian” names; as in the following examples: —

Ape: Dog ape, bitch ape. Ass: Jack ass and Jenuy; he ass, she ass. Bear: He bear, she bear.

Bird: Male bird, female bird; cock bird, hen bird.

Blackcock (grouse); moorcock and hen (red grouse). Bridegroom, bride.

Calf: Bull calf, cow calf.

Cat: Tom cat, lady cat, he and she cat. Gib cat (q.v.). Charwoman.

Child: Male child, female child; man child, woman child (child is either male or female, except when sex is referred to).

Devil: He and she devil (if sex is referred to). Donkey: Male and female donkey. (See Ass.) Elephant: Bull and cow elephant; male and female elephant. Fox: Dog and bitch fox; the bitch is also called a vixen.

Game cock.

Gentleman, gentlewoman or lady.

Goat: Billy and Nanny goat; he and she goat; buck goat. Hare: Buck and doe hare.

Heir: Heir male, heir female

Kinsman, kinswoman.

Lamb: ewe lamb, tup lamb.

Mankind, womankind.

Merman, mermaid.

Milkman, milkmaid or milk—woman.

Moorcock, moorhen

Otter: Dog and bitch otter.

Partridge: Cock and hen partridge.

Peacock, peahen.

Pheasant: Cock and hen pheasant. Pig: Boar and sow pig.

Rabbit: Buck and doe rabbit. Rat: A Jack rat.

Schoolmaster, schoolmistress.

Seal: Bull and cow. The bull of fur seals under six years of age is called a “Bachelor.” Servant: Male and female servant; man and maid servant.

Singer, songstress; man and woman singer.

Sir [John], Lady [Mary].

Sparrow: Cock and hen sparrow.

Swan: A cob or cock swan, pen—swan.

Turkey cock and hen.

Wash or washer—woman.

Whale: Bull or Unicorn, and cow.

Wren: Jenny; cock Robin; Tom tit; etc. Wolf: Dog wolf, bitch or she—wolf.

Generally the name of the animal stands last; in the following instances, however, it stands before the genderword: —

Blackcock; bridegroom; charwoman; gamecock; gentleman and gentlewoman; heir male and female; kinsman and woman; mankind, womankind; milkman, milkmaid or —woman; moorcock and hen; peacock and hen; servant man and maid; turkey cock and hen; wash or washer—woman.

In a few instances the gender—word does not express gender, as jackdaw, jack pike, roebuck, etc. (2) The following require no genderword: —

Bachelor, spinster or maid.

Beau, belle.

Boar, sow (pig).

Boy, girl (both child).

Brother, sister.

Buck, doe (stag or deer).

Bull, cow (black cattle).

Cock, hen (barndoor fowls).

Cockerel, pullet.

Colt, filly (both foal).

Dad, father.

Dog, bitch (both dog, if sex is not referred to).

Drake, duck (both duck, if sex is not referred to). Drone, bee.

Earl, countess.

Father, mother (both parents).

Friar, nun.

Gaffer, gammer.

Gander, goose (both geese, if sex is not referred to). Gentleman, lady (both gentlefolk).

Hart, roe (both deer).

Husband, wife.

Kipper, shedder or baggit (spent salmon).

King, queen (both monarch or sovereign). Lad, lass.

Mallard, wild—duck (both wild fowl).

Man, maid.

Man, woman.

Master, mistress.

Milter, spawner (fish).

Monk, nun.

Nephew, niece.

Papa, mamma.

Ram, ewe (sheep).

Ruff, reeve.

Sir, ma'am.

Sir [John], Lady [Mary].

Sire, dam.

Sloven, slut.

Son, daughter.

Stag, hind (both stag, if sex is not referred to). Stallion, mare (both horse).

Steer, heifer.

Tup, dam (sheep).

Uncle, aunt.

Widow, widower.

Wizard, witch.

The females of other animals are made by adding a suffix to the male (—ess, —ina, —ine, —ix, —a, —ee, etc.); as, lion, lioness; czar, czarina; hero, heroine; testator, testatrix, etc.

General Funk

A panic.

“The influence of `General Funk' was, at one time, far too prevalent among both the colonists and the younger soldiers.” — Montague: Campaigning in South Africa, chap. vi. (1880).

General Issue

is pleading “Not guilty” to a criminal charge; “Never indebted" to a charge of debt; the issue formed by a general denial of the plaintiff's charge.

Generalissimo

(g soft). Called Tagus among the ancient Thessalians, Brennus among the ancient Gauls, Pendragon among the ancient Welsh or Celts.

Generous

(g soft). Generous as Hatim. An Arabian expression. Hatim was a Bedouin chief famous for his warlike deeds and boundless generosity. His son was contemporary with Mahomet.

Geneura

(g soft). Daughter of the King of Scotland. Lurcanio carried her off captive, and confined her in his father's castle. She loved Ariodantes, who being told that she was false, condemned her to die for incontinence, unless she found a champion to defend her. Ariodantes himself became her champion, and, having vindicated her innocence, married her. This is a satire on Arthur, whose wife intrigued with Sir Launcelot. (Orlando Furioso, bk. 1.)

Geneva

(g soft), contracted into Gin. Originally made from malt and juniper—berries. (French, genièvre, a juniper berry.)

Geneva Bible

The English version in use prior to the present one; so called because it was originally printed at Geneva (in 1560).

Geneva Bible

(The). The wine cup or beer pot. The pun is on Geneva, which is the synonym of gin. (Latin, bibo, I drink [gin].)

“Eh bien, Gudyil, lui dit le vieux major, quelle—diable de discipline? Vous avez déjà lu la Bible de Genève ce matin.” — Les Puritains d'Ecosse, part iii. chap. 2.

Geneva Bull

Stephen Marshall, a preacher who roared like a bull of Bashan. Called Geneva because he was a disciple of John Calvin.

Geneva Courage

Pot valour; the braggadocio which is the effect of having drunk too much gin. Gin is a corrupt contraction of Geneva, or, rather, of genièvre. The juniper—berry at one time used to flavour the extract of malt in the manufacture of gin. It may be used still in some qualities of gin. (See Dutch Courage.)

Geneva Doctrines

Calvinism. Calvin, in 1541, was invited to take up his residence in Geneva as the public teacher of theology. From this period Geneva was for many years the centre of education for the Protestant youths of Europe.

Geneva Print (Reading). Drinking gin or whisky.

“ `Why, John,' said the veteran, `what a discipline is this you have been keeping? You have been reading Geneva print this morning already.' `I have been reading the Litany,' said John. shaking his head, with a look of drunken gravity.” — Sir W. Scott: Old Mortality, chap. xi.

Genevieve

(St.). The sainted patroness of the city of Paris. (422—512.)

Genii King

King Solomon is supposed to preside over the whole race of genii. (D'Herbelot: Notes to the Koran, c. 2.)

Genitive Case

means the genus case, the case which shows the genus; thus, a bird of the air, of the sea, of the marshes, etc. The part in italics shows to what genus the bird belongs. Our's is the adjective sign, the same as the Sanskrit syâ, as udaka (water), udakasya (of water, or aquatic). So in Greek, demos (people), demo—sios (belonging to the people), or genitive demosio, softened into demo—'io. In Chaucer, etc., the genitive is written in full, as The Clerkes Tale, The Cokes Tale, The Knightes Tale, The Milleres Tale, etc.

Genius

Genii (Roman mythology) were attendant spirits. Everyone had two of these tutelaries from his cradle to his grave. But the Roman genii differ in many respects from the Eastern. The Persian and Indian genii had a corporeal form, which they could change at pleasure. They were not guardian or attendant spirits, but fallen angels, dwelling in Ginnistan, under the dominion of Eblis. They were naturally hostile to man, though compelled sometimes to serve them as slaves. The Roman genii were tutelary spirits, very similar to the guardian angels spoken of in Scripture (St. Matt. xviii. 10). (The word is the old Latin geno, to be born, from the notion that birth and life were due to these dii genitales.)

Genius (birth—wit) is innate talent; hence propensity, nature, inner man. “Cras genium mero curabis” (to—morrow you shall indulge your inner man with wine), Horace, 3 Odes, xvii. 14. “Indulgere genio” (to give loose to one's propensity), Persius, v. 151. “Defraudare genium suum” (to stint one's appetite, to deny one's self), Terence: Phormio, i. 1. (See above.)

Genius. Tom Moore says that Common Sense went out one moonlight night with Genius on his rambles; Common Sense went on many wise things saying, but Genius went gazing at the stars, and fell into a river. This is told of Thale by Plato, and Chaucer has introduced it into his Milleres Tale.

“So ferde another clerk with astronomye:

He walkëd in the feeldës for to prye

Upon the sterrës, what ther shuld befall,

Till he was in a marlë pit i—fall.”

Canterbury Tales, 3,457.

My evil genius (my ill—luck). The Romans maintained that two genii attended every man from birth to death

— one good and the other evil. Good luck was brought about by the agency of “his good genius,” and ill luck by that of his “evil genius.”

Genius Loci

(Latin). The tutelary deity of a place.

“In the midst of this wreck of ancient books and utensils, with a gravity equal to [that of] Marius among the ruins of Carthage, sat a large black cat, which, to a superstitious eye, might have presented the genius loci, the tutelar demon of the apartment.” — Sir W. Scott: The Antiquary, chap. iii.

Genoa

from the Latin, genu (the knee); so called from the bend made there by the Adriatic. The whole of Italy is called a man's leg, and this is his knee.

Genovefa

(g soft). Wife of Count Palatine Siegfried, of Brabant, in the time of Charles Martel. Being suspected of infidelity, she was driven into the forest of Ardennes, where she gave birth to a son, who was nourished by a white doe. In time, Siegfried discovered his error, and restored his wife and child to their proper home.

Genre Painter

(genre 1 syl.). A painter of domestic, rural, or village scenes, such as A Village Wedding, The Young Recruit, Blind Man's Buff, The Village Politician, etc. It is a French term, and means, “Man: his customs, habits, and ways of life.” Wilkie, Ostade, Gerard Dow, etc., belonged to this class. In the drama, Victor Hugo introduced the genre system in lieu of the stilted, unnatural style of Louis XIV.'s era.

“We call those `genre' canvases, whereon are painted idyls of the fireside, the roadside, and the farm; pictures of real life.” — E. C. Stedman: Poets of America, chap. iv. p. 98.

Gens Braccata

Trousered people. The Romans wore no trousers like the Gauls, Scythians, and Persians. The Gauls wore “braccæ” and were called Gens braccata.

Gens Togata

The nation which wore the toga. The Greeks wore the “pallium" and were called Gens palliata.

Gentle

(g soft) means having the manners of genteel persons — i.e. persons of family, called gens in Latin.

“We must be gentle, now we are gentlemen.” —

Shakespeare: Winter's Tale, v. 2.

The gentle craft. The gentleman's trade, so called from the romance of Prince Crispin, who is said to have made shoes. It is rather remarkable that the “gentle craft” should be closely connected with our snob (q.v.).

“Here Hans Sachs, the cobbler poet, laureate of the gentle craft, Wisest of the Twelve Wise Masters, in huge folios sang and laughed.” Longfellow: Nuremberg, stanza 19.

The gentle craft. Angling. The pun is on gentle, a maggot or grub used for baiting the hook in angling.

Gentle Shepherd

(The). George Grenville, the statesman, a nickname derived from a line applied to him by Pitt, afterwards Earl of Chatham. Grenville, in the course of one of his speeches, addressed the House interrogatively, “Tell me where? tell me where?” Pitt hummed a line of a song then very popular, “Gentle shepherd, tell me where?” and the House burst into laughter (1712—1720).

Gentleman

(g soft). A translation of the French gentilhomme, one who belongs to the gens or stock. According to the Roman law, gens—men, or gentlemen, were those only who had a family name, were born of free parents, had no slave in their ancestral line, and had never been degraded to a lower rank.

A gentleman of the four outs. A vulgar upstart, with—out manners, with—out wit, with—out money, and with—out credit.

Gentleman of Paper and Wax The first of a new line ennobled with knighthood or other dignity, to whom are given titles and coat—armour. They are made “gentlemen” by patent and a seal.

Geoffrey Crayon

The hypothetical author of the Sketch Book. Washington Irving, of New York (1783—1859).

Geology

(g soft). The father of geology. William Smith (1769—1840).

Geomancy

(g soft). Divining by the earth. So termed because these diviners in the sixteenth century drew on the earth their magic circles, figures, and lines. (Greek, ge, the earth; mantei'a, prophecy.)

Geometry

(g soft) means land—measuring. The first geometrician was a ploughman pacing out his field. (Greek, ge, the earth; metron, a measure.)

George II

was nicknamed “Prince Titi.” (See Titi .)

George III

was nicknamed “Farmer George,” or “The Farmer King.” (See Farmer.)

George IV

was nicknamed “The First Gentleman of Europe,” “Fum the Fourth,” “Prince Florizel,” “The Adonis of fifty,” and “The Fat Adonis of fifty.” (See each of these nicknames. )

George, Mark, John

(SS.). Nostradamus wrote in 1566:

“Quand Georges Dieu crucifera,

Que Marc le ressucitera,

Et que St. Jean le portera,

La fin du monde arrivera.”

In 1886 St. George's day fell on Good Friday, St. Mark's day on Easter Sunday, and St. John's day on Corpus Christi — but “the end of the world” did not then arrive.

George

(St.) (g soft). Gibbon, in his Decline and Fall, ii. 323, asserts that the patron saint of England was George of Cappadocia, the turbulent Arian Bishop of Alexandria, torn to pieces by the populace in 360, and revered as a saint by the opponents of Athanasius; but this assertion has been fully disproved by the Jesuit Papebroch, Milner, and others.

That St. George is a veritable character is beyond all reasonable doubt, and there seems no reason to deny that he was born in Armorica, and was beheaded in Diocletian's persecution by order of Datianus, April 23rd, 303. St. Jerome (331—420) mentions him in one of his martyrologies; in the next century there were many churches to his honour. St. Gregory (540—604) has in his Sacramentary a “Preface for St. George's Day;” and the Venerable Bede (672—735), in his martyrology, says, “At last St. George truly finished his martyrdom by decapitation, although the gests of his passion are numbered among the apocryphal writings.”

In regard to his connection with England, Ashmole, in his History of the Order of the Garter, says that King Arthur, in the sixth century, placed the picture of St. George on his banners; and Selden tells us he was patron saint of England in the Saxon times. It is quite certain that the Council of Oxford in 1222 commanded his festival to be observed in England as a holiday of lesser rank; and on the establishment of the Order of the Garter by Edward III. St. George was adopted as the patron saint.

The dragon slain by St. George is simply a common allegory to express the triumph of the Christian hero over evil, which John “the Divine” beheld under the image of a dragon. Similarly, St. Michael, St. Margaret, St. Silvester, and St. Martha are all depicted as slaying dragons; the Saviour and the Virgin as treading them under their feet; and St. John the Evangelist as charming a winged dragon from a poisoned chalice given him to drink. Even John Bunyan avails himself of the same figure, when he makes Christian encounter Apollyon and prevail against him.

George (St.), the Red Cross Knight (in Spenser's Faërie Queene, bk. i.), represents “Piety.” He starts with Una (Truth) in his adventures, and is driven into Wandering Wood, where he encounters Error, and passes the night with Una in Hypocrisy's cell. Being visited by a false vision, the knight abandons Una, and goes with Duessa (False—faith) to the palace of Pride. He leaves this palace clandestinely, but being overtaken by Duessa is persuaded to drink of an enchanted fountain, when he becomes paralysed, and is taken captive by Orgoglio. Una informs Arthur of the sad event, and the prince goes to the rescue. He slays Orgoglio, and the Red Cross Knight, being set free, is taken by Una to the house of Holiness to be healed. On leaving Holiness, both Una and the knight journey towards Eden. As they draw near, the dragon porter flies at the knight, and St. George has to do battle with it for three whole days before he succeeds in slaying it. The dragon being slain, the two enter Eden, and the Red Cross Knight is united to Una in marriage.

St. George and the Dragon. According to the ballad given in Percy's Reliques, St. George was the son of Lord Albert of Coventry. His mother died in giving him birth, and the new—born babe was stolen away by the weird lady of the woods, who brought him up to deeds of arms. His body had three marks; a dragon on the breast, a garter round one of the legs, and a blood—red cross on the arm. When he grew to manhood he first fought against the Saracens, and then went to Sylene, a city of Libya, where was a stagnant lake infested by a huge dragon, whose poisonous breath “had many a city slain,” and whose hide “no spear nor sword could pierce.” Every day a virgin was sacrificed to it, and at length it came to the lot of Sabra, the king's daughter, to become its victim. She was tied to the stake and left to be devoured, when St. George came up, and vowed to take her cause in hand. On came the dragon, and St. George, thrusting his lance into its mouth, killed it on the spot. The king of Morocco and the king of Egypt, unwilling that Sabra should marry a Christian, sent St. George to Persia, and directed the “sophy" to kill him. He was accordingly thrust into a dungeon, but making good his escape, carried off Sabra to England, where she became his wife, and they lived happily at Coventry together till their death.

A very similar tale is told of Hesionê, daughter of Laomedon. (See Hesione, Sea Monsters.)

St. George he was for England, St. Denis was for France. This refers to the war—cries of the two nations — that of England was “St. George!” that of France, “Montjoye St. Denis!”

“Our ancient word of courage, fair `St. George,'

Inspire us with the spleen of fiery dragons.” Shakespeare: Richard III., v. 3.

When St. George goes on horseback St. Yves goes on foot. In times of war lawyers have nothing to do. St. George is the patron of soldiers, and St. Ives of lawyers.

St. George's Arm. The Hellespont is so called by the Catholic Church in honour of St. George, the patron saint of England. (Papebroch: Actes des Saints. )

St. George's Channel. An arm of the Atlantic, separating Ireland from Great Britain; so called in honour of St. George, referred to above.

St. George's Cross. Red on a white field.

St. George's Day (April 23rd). A day of deception and oppression. It was the day when new leases and contracts used to be made.

George a' Green

As good as George a' Green. Resolute—minded; one who will do his duty come what may. George a' Green was the famous pinder or pound—keeper of Wakefield, who resisted Robin Hood, Will Scarlett, and Little John single—handed when they attempted to commit a trespass in Wakefield.

“Were ye bold as George—a—Green,

I shall make bold to turn again.”

Samuel Butler: Hudibras.

George Eliot

The literary name of Marian Evans [Lewes], authoress of Adam Bede, Mill on the Floss, Felix Holt, etc.

George Geith

The hero of a novel by Mrs. Trafford [Riddell]. He is one who will work as long as he has breath to draw, and would die in harness. He would fight against all opposing circumstances while he had a drop of blood left in his veins, and may be called the model of untiring industry and indomitable moral courage.

George Sand

The pen—name of Mme. Dudevant, born at Paris 1804. Her maiden name was Dupin.

George Street

(Strand, London) commences the precinct of an ancient mansion which originally belonged to the bishops of Norwich. After passing successively into the possession of Charles Brandon, Duke of Suffolk, the archbishops of York, and the Crown, it came to George Villiers, Duke of Buckingham. The second Duke of Buckingham pulled down the mansion and built the streets and alley called respectively “George" (street), “Villiers” (street), “Duke” (street), “Of” (alley), and “Buckingham” (street).

Geraint'

(g hard). Tributary Prince of Devon, and one of the knights of the Round Table. Overhearing part of E'nid's words, he fancied she was faithless to him, and treated her for a time very harshly; but Enid nursed him so carefully when he was wounded that he saw his error, “nor did he doubt her more, but rested in her fealty, till be crowned a happy life with a fair death.” (Tennyson: Idylls of the King; Enid. )

Geraldine

(3 syl., g soft). The Fair Geraldine. Lady Elizabeth Fitzgerald is so called in the Earl of Surrey's poems.

Geranium

(g soft). The Turks say this was a common mallow changed by the touch of Mahomet's garment. The word is from the Greek geranos (a crane); and the plant is called “Crane's Bill,” from the resemblance of the fruit to the bill of a crane.

Gerda

(g hard). Wife of Frey, and daughter of the frost giant Gymer. She is so beautiful that the brightness of her naked arms illuminates both air and sea. Frey (the genial spring) married Gerda (the frozen earth), and Gerda became the mother of children. (Scandinavian mythology. )

German or Germaine (g soft). Pertaining to, related to, as cousins—german (first cousins), german to the subject (bearing on or pertinent to the subject). This word has no connection with German (the nation), but comes from the Latin germanus (of the same germ or stock). First cousins have a grandfather or grandmother in common.

“Those that are germaine to him, though removed fifty times, shall all come under the hangman.” — Shakespeare: Winter's Tale, iv. 3.

German

Jehan de Maire says, “Germany is so called from Caesar's sister Germana, wife of Salvius Brabon.” Geoffrey of Monmouth says that Ebrancus, a mythological descendant of Brute, King of Britain, had twenty sons and thirty daughters. All the sons, except the eldest, settled in Germany, which was therefore, called the land of the Germans or brothers. (See above.)

“[Ebrank.] An happy man in his first days he was,

And happy father of fair progeny;

For all so many weeks as the year has

So many children he did multiply!

Of which were twenty sons, which did apply Their minds to praise and chivalrous desire. These germans did subdue all Germany,

Of whom it hight ...”

Spenser: Faërie Queene, ii. 10.

Probably the name is Ger—man, meaning “warman.” The Germans call themselves Deutech—en, which is the same as Teut—on, with the initial letter flattened into D, and “Teut” means a multitude. The Romans called the people Germans at least 200 years before the Christian era, for in 1547 a tablet (dated B.C. 222) was discovered, recording the victories of the Consul Marcellus over Veridomar, “General of the Gauls and Germans.”

Father of German literature. Gotthold Ephraim Lessing. (1729—1781.)

German Comb

The four fingers and thumb. “Se pygnoit du pygne d' Almaing" (Rabelais), He combed his hair with his fingers. Oudin, in his Dictionnaire, explains pygne d' Aleman by “los dedos et la dita. ” The Germans were the last to adopt periwigs, and while the French were never seen without a comb in one hand, the Germans adjusted their hair by running their fingers through it.

“He apparelled himself according to the season, and afterwards combed his head with an Alman comb.” — Rabelais: Gargantua and Pantagruel, book i. 21.

German Silver

is not silver at all, but white copper, or copper, zinc, and nickel mixed together. It was first made in Europe at Hildberg—hausen, in Germany, but had been used by the Chinese time out of mind.

Gerrymander

(g hard). So to divide a county or nation into representative districts as to give one special political party undue advantage over others. The word is derived from Elbridge Gerry, who adopted the scheme in Massachusetts when he was governor. Gilbert Stuart, the artist, looking at the map of the new distribution, with a little invention converted it into a salamander. “No, no!” said Russell, when shown it, “not a Sala—mander, Stuart; call it a Gerry—mander.”

To gerrymander is so to hocuspocus figures, etc., as to affect the balance.

Gerst—Monat

Barley—month. The Anglo—Saxon name for September; so called because it was the time of barley—beer making.

Gertrude (2 syl., g hard). Hamlet's mother, who married Claudius, the murderer of her late husband. She inadvertently poisoned herself by drinking a potion prepared for her son. (Shakespeare: Hamlet.)

Gertrude

(St.), in Christian art, is sometimes represented as surrounded with rats and mice; and sometimes as spinning, the rats and mice running about her distaff.

Gertrude of Wyoming

The name of one of Campbell's poems.

Gervais

(St.). The French St. Swithin, June 19th. (See Swithin.) In 1725, Bulliot, a French banker, made a bet that, as it rained on St. Gervais's Day, it would rain more or less for forty days afterwards. The bet was taken by so many people that the entire property of Bulliot was pledged. The bet was lost, and the banker was utterly ruined.

Geryon

(g hard). A human monster with three bodies and three heads, whose oxen ate human flesh, and were guarded by a two—headed dog. Hercules slew both Geryon and the dog. This fable means simply that Geryon reigned over three kingdoms, and was defended by an ally, who was at the head of two tribes.

Geryoneo

A giant with three bodies; that is, Philip II. of Spain, master of three kingdoms. (Spenser: Faëric Queene, v. 11.)

Gesmas

(g hard). (See Desmas.)

Gessler

(g hard). The Austrian governor of the three Forest Cantons of Switzerland. A man of most brutal nature and tyrannical disposition. He attempted to carry off the daughter of Leuthold, a Swiss herdsman; but Leuthold slew the ruffian sent to seize her, and fled. This act of injustice roused the people to rebellion, and Gessler, having put to death Melchtal, the patriarch of the Forest Cantons, insulted the people by commanding them to bow down to his cap, hoisted on a high pole. Tell refusing so to do, was arrested with his son, and Gessler, in the refinement of cruelty, imposed on him the task of shooting with his bow and arrow an apple from the head of his own son. Tell succeeded in this dangerous skill—trial, but in his agitation dropped an arrow from his robe. The governor insolently demanded what the second arrow was for, and Tell fearlessly replied, “To shoot you with, had I failed in the task imposed upon me.” Gessler now ordered him to be carried in chains across the lake, and cast into Kusnacht castle, a prey “to the reptiles that lodged there.” He was, however, rescued by the peasantry, and, having shot Gessler, freed his country from the Austrian yoke.

Gesta Romanorum

(g soft), compiled by Pierre Bercheur, prior of the Benedictine convent of St. Eloi, Paris, published by the Roxburgh Society. Edited by Sir F. Madden, and afterwards by S. J. Herrtage.

Geste

or Gest (g soft). A story, romance, achievement. From the Latin gesta (exploits).

“The scene of these gestes being laid in ordinary life.” — Cyclopædia Britan. (Romance).

Get

(To). To gain; to procure; to obtain.

“Get wealth and place, if possible with grace:

If not, by any means get wealth and place.”

Horace (Satires says: — “Rem facis, recte si possis; si non, rem facis.”

Get, Got

(Anglo—Saxon, git—an.)

“I got on horseback within ten minutes after I got your letter. When I got to Canterbury I got a chaise for town; but I got wet through, and have got such a cold that I shall not get rid of in a hurry. I got to the Treasury about noon, but first of all got shaved and dressed. I soon got into the secret of getting a memorial before the Board, but I could not get an answer then; however, I got intelligence from a messenger that I should get one next morning. As soon as I got back to my inn, I got my supper, and then got to bed. When I got up next morning, I got my breakfast, and, having got dressed, I got out in time to get an answer to my memorial. As soon as I got it, I got into a chaise, and got back to Canterbury by three, and got home for tea. I have got nothing for you, and so adieu.” — Dr. Withers.

Get by Heart

(To). To commit to memory. In French, “Apprendre une chose par cœur. “

Get One's Back Up

(To). To show irritation, as cats set up their backs when angry.

Get—up

(A). A style of dress, as “His get—up was excellent,” meaning his style of dress exactly suited the part he professed to enact.

Get up

(To).

To rise from one's bed.

To learn, as “I must get up my Euclid.”

To organise and arrange, as “We will get up a bazaar.”

Gethsemane

The Orchis maculata, supposed in legendary story to be spotted by the blood of Christ.

Gewgaw

(g hard). A showy trifle. (Saxon, ge—gaf, a trifle; French, joujou, a toy.)

Ghebers

or Guebres. The original natives of Iran (Persia), who adhered to the religion of Zoroaster, and (after the conquest of their country by the Arabs) became waifs and outlaws. The term is now applied to fire—worshippers generally. Hanway says that the ancient Ghebers wore a cushee or belt, which they never laid aside.

Ghibelline

(g hard), or rather Waiblingen. The war—cry of Conrad's followers in the battle of Weinsberg (1140). Conrad, Duke of Suabia, was opposed to Henry the Lion, Duke of Saxony, whose slogan was Guelph or Welfe, his family name.

Ghost

To give up the ghost. To die. The idea is that life is independent of the body, and is due to the habitation of the ghost or spirit in the material body. At death the ghost or spirit leaves this tabernacle of clay, and either returns to God or abides in the region of spirits till the general resurrection. Thus in Ecc. xii. 7 it is said, “Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was: and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it.”

“Man dieth, and wasteth away: yea, man giveth up the ghost, and where is he?” — Job xiv. 10.

The ghost of a chance. The least likelihood. “He has not the ghost of a chance of being elected,” not the shadow of a probability.

Ghoul

(See Fairy .)

Giaffir

(Djaf—fir). Pacha of Abydos, and father of Zuleika. He tells her he intends to marry her to Kara Osman Ogloo, governor of Magnesia; but Zuleika has betrothed herself to her cousin Selim. The lovers flee, Giaffir shoots Selim, Zuleika dies of grief, and the pacha lives on, a heart—broken old man, ever calling to the winds, “Where is my daughter?” and echo answers, “Where?” (Byron: Bride of Abydos. )

Giall

The infernal river of Scandinavian mythology.

Giallar Bridge

The bridge of death, over which all must pass to get to Helheim. (Scandinavian mythology.)

Giallar Horn

(The). Heimdall's horn, which went out into all worlds whenever he chose to blow it. (Scandinavian mythology.)

Gian ben Gian

(g soft). King of the Ginns or Genii, and founder of the Pyramids. He was overthrown by Azazil or Lucifer. (Arab superstitions.)

Giant of Literature

(The). Dr. Samuel Johnson (1709—1783). Also called “the great moralist.”

Giants

(g soft). (1) Of Greek mythology, sons of Tartaros and Ge. When they attempted to storm heaven, they were hurled to earth by the aid of Hercules, and buried under Mount Etna.

(2) Of Scandinavian mythology, were evil genii, dwelling in Jötunheim (giantland), who had the power of reducing or extending their stature at will.

(3) Of nursery mythology, are cannibals of vast stature and immense muscular power, but as stupid as they are violent and treacherous. The best known are Blunderbore (q.v.), Cormoran (q.v.), Galliantus (q.v.), Gombo (q.v.), Megadore and Bellygan.

(4) In the romance of Gargantua and Pantagruel, by Rabelais, giants mean princes.

(5) Giants of Mythology.

ACAMAS. One of the Cyclops. (Greek fable.)

ADAMASTOR (q.v.).

ÆGÆON, the hundred—handed. One of the Titans. (Greek fable.) AGRIOS. One of the Titans. He was killed by the Parcæ. (Greek fable. ) ALCYONEUS [Al—si—o—nuce], or ALCION. Jupiter sent Hercules against him for stealing some of the Sun's oxen. But Hercules could not do anything, for immediately the giant touched the earth he received fresh strength. (See below, Antæos.) At length Pallas carried him beyond the moon. His seven daughters were metamorphosed into halcyons. (Argonautic Expedition, i. 6.)

ALGEBAR. The giant Orion is so called by the Arabs.

ALIFANFARON or ALIPHARNON (q.v.).

ALOEOS. Son of Poseidon Canace. Each of his two sons was 27 cubits high. (Greek fable.) AMERANT. A cruel giant slain by Guy of Warwick. (Percy: Reliques.)

ANGOULAFFRE (q.v.). (See below, 21 feet.)

ANTÆOS (q.v.; see above, Alcyoneus). (See below, 105 feet.) ARGES (2 syl.). One of the Cyclops. (Greek fable.)

ASCAPART (q.v.).

ATLAS (q.v.).

BALAN (q.v.).

BELLE (1 syl.) (q.v.).

BELLERUS (q.v.).

BLUNDERBORE (3 syl.). (q.v.).

BRIAREOS or BRIAREUS (3 syl.) (q.v.).

BROBDINGNAG (q.v.).

BRONTES (2 syl.) (q.v.).

BURLOND (q.v.).

CACOS or CACUS (q.v.).

CALIGORANT (q.v.).

CARACULIAMBO. The giant that Don Quixote intended should kneel at the feet of Dulcinea. (Cervantes: Don Quixote.)

CARUS. In the Seven Champions.

CHALBROTH. The stem of all the giant race. (Rabelais: Pantagruel ). CHRISTOPHERUS. (See Christopher, St.)

CLYTIOS (q.v.).

CŒOS. Son of Heaven and Earth. He married Phœbe, and was the father of Latona. (Greek fable.) COLBRAND. (See Colbronde.)

CORFLAMBO (q.v.).

CORMORAN (q.v.)

CORMORANT. A giant discomfited by Sir Brian. (Spenser: Faërie Queene, vi. 4.) COTTAS (q.v.).

COULIN (q.v.).

CYCLOPS (The (q.v.).

DESPAIR (q.v.).

DONDASCH (q.v.).

ENCELADOS (q.v.).

EPHLALTES (4 syl.) (q.v.).

ERIX (q.v.).

EURYTOS. One of the giants that made war with the gods. Bacchus killed him with his thyrsus. (Greek fable.) FERREGUS, slain by Orgando, was 28 feet in height.

FERRACUTE (3 syl.) (q.v.).

FIERABRAS [Fe—a—ra—brah] (q.v.).

FION (q.v.).

FIORGWYN, the father of Frigga (Scandinavian mythology).

FRACASSUS (q.v.).

GALBARA. Father of Goliah of Secondille (3 syl.), and inventor of the custom of drinking healths. (Duchat: Œuvres de Rabelais. 1511.)

GALAPAS. The giant slain by King Arthur. (Sir T. Malory: History of Price Arthur.) GALLIGANTUS (q.v.).

GARAGANTUA (q.v.).

GARGANTUA (q.v.).

GARLAN. In the Seven Champions.

GEMMAGOG (q.v.).

GERYONEO (q.v.).

GIRALDA (q.v.).

GODMER (q.v.).

GORMOT or GOEMAGOT (q.v.).

GOGMAGOG. King of the giant race of Albion; slain by Corineus. GRANGOUSIER. The giant king of Utopia, father of Gargantua. (Rabelais: Gargantua.) GRANTORTO (q.v.).

GRIM (q.v.).

GRUMBO (q.v.).

GUY OF WARWICK (q.v.).

GYGES (2 syl.). One of the Titans. He had fifty heads and a hundred hands. (Greek fable.) HAPMOUCHE (2 syl.) (q.v.).

HIPPOLYTOS. One of the giants who made war with the gods. He was killed by Hermês. (Greek fable.) HRASVELG (q.v.).

HRIMTHURSAR (q.v.).

HURTALI (q.v.).

INDRACITTRAN (q.v.).

IRUS (q.v.).

JOTUN. The giant of Jötunheim or Giant—land. (Scandinavian mythology.) JULIANCE. A giant of Arthurian romance.

JUNNER (q.v.).

KIFRI. The giant of atheism and infidelity.

KOTTOS. One of the Titans. He had a hundred hands. (See Briareos.) (Greek fable.) MALAMBRUNO (q.v.).

MARGUTTE (q.v.).

MAUGYS (q.v.)

MAUL (q.v.).

MONT—ROGNON (q.v.).

MORGANTE (3 syl.) (q.v.).

MUGILLO. —A giant famous for his mace with six balls. OFFERUS (q.v.).

OGLAS (q.v.).

ORGOGLIO (q.v.).

ORION (q.v.. (See below, 80 ½ feet.)

OTOS (q.v.).

PALLAS (q.v.).

PANTAGRUEL (q.v.).

PHIDON. In the Seven Champions.

POLYBOTES (4 syl.) (q.v.).

POLYPHEMUS or POLYPHEME (3 syl.) (q.v.).

PORPHYRION (q.v.).

PYRACMON. One of the Cyclops. (Greek fable.)

RAPHSARUS. In the Seven Champions.

RITHO (q.v.).

RITHO. The giant who commanded King Arthur to send him his beard to complete the lining of a robe. In the Arthurian romance.

SKRYMIR. (See Draught of Thor, p. 380.)

SLAY—GOOD (q.v.).

STEROPES (3 syl.). One of the Cyclops. (Greek fable.)

TARTARO. The Cyclops of Basque mythology.

TEUTOBOCHUS (King. (See below, 30 feet.)

THAON. One of the giants who made war with the gods. He was killed by the Parcæ. (Greek fable.) TITANS (The) (q.v.).

TITYOS (q.v.).

TREYEAGLE (q.v.).

TYPHŒUS (q.v.).

TYPHON (q.v.).

WIDENOSTRILS (q.v.).

YOHAK. The giant guardian of the caves of Babylon. (Southey: Thalaba, book v.)

Of these giants the following are note—worthy: 19 feet in height: A skeleton discovered at Lucerne in 1577. Dr. Plater is our authority for this measurement. 21 feet in height: Angoulaffre of the Broken Teeth, was 12 cubits in height. (A cubit was 21 inches.)

30 feet in height: Teutobochus, whose remains were discovered near the Rhone in 1613. They occupied a tomb 30 feet long. The bones of another gigantic skeleton were exposed by the action of the Rhone in 1456. If this was a human skeleton, the height of the living man must have been 30 feet.

80 ½ feet in height: Orion, according to Pliny, was 46 cubits in height.

105 feet in height: Antæos is said by Plutarch to have been 60 cubits in height. He furthermore adds that the grave of the giant was opened by Serbonios.

300 feet in height: The “monster Polypheme.” It is said that his skeleton was discovered at Trapani, in Sicily, in the fourteenth century. If this skeleton was that of a man, he must have been 300 feet in height.

(6) Giants of Real Life.

ANAK (of Bible history), father of the Anakim. The Hebrew spies said they were mere grasshoppers in comparison with these giants (Joshua xv. 14; Judges i. 20; and Numbers xiii. 33.)

·

ANAK. (See Brice.)

·

ANDRONI'CUS II. was 10 feet in height. He was grandson of Alexius Comnenus. Nicetas asserts that he had seen him.

BAMFORD (Edward) was 7 feet 4 inches. He died in 1768, and was buried in St. Dunstan's churchyard.

BATES (Captain) was 7 feet 11 1/2 inches. He was a native of Kentucky, and was exhibited in London in 1871. His wife (Anna Swann) was the same height.

BLACKER (Henry) was 7 feet 4 inches, and most symmetrical. He was born at Cuckfield, in Sussex, in 1724, and was called “The British Giant.”

BRADLEY (William) was 7 feet 9 inches in height. He was born in 1787, and died 1820. His birth is duly registered in the parish church of Market Weighton, in Yorkshire, and his right hand is preserved in the museum of the College of Surgeons.

BRICE (M. J.) exhibited under the name of Anak, was 7 feet 8 inches in height at the age of 26. He was born in 1840 at Ramonchamp, in the Vosges, and visited England 1862—5. His arms had a stretch of 95 1/2 inches, and were therefore 3 1/2 inches too long for symmetry.

BRUSTED (Von) was 8 feet in height. This Norway giant was exhibited in London in 1880.

BUSBY (John) was 7 feet 9 inches in height, and his brother was about the same. They were natives of Darfield, in Yorkshire.

CHANG, the Chinese giant, was 8 feet 2 inches in height. The entire name of this Chinese giant was Chang—Woo—Goo. He was exhibited in London in 1865—1866, and again in 1880. He was a native of Fychou.

CHARLEMAGNE was nearly 8 feet in height, and was so strong he could squeeze together three horseshoes with his hands.

COTTER (Patrick) was 8 feet 7 1/2 inches in height. This Irish giant died at Clifton, Bristol, in 1802. A cast of his hand is preserved in the museum of the College of Surgeons.

DANIEL, the porter of Oliver Cromwell, was a man of gigantic stature.

ELEA'ZER was 7 cubits (nearly 14 feet). Vitellius sent this giant to Rome; and he is mentioned by Josephus. N.B. — The height of Goliath was 6 cubits and a span.

Nothing can be a greater proof that the cubit was not 21 inches, for no recorded height of any giant known has reached 10 feet. The nearest approach to it was Gabara, the Arabian giant (9 feet 9 inches) mentioned by Pliny, and Middleton of Lancashire (9 feet 3 inches) mentioned by Dr. Plott. Probably a cubit was about 18 inches.

ELEIZEGUE (Joachim). Was 7 feet 10 inches in height. He was a Spaniard, and exhibited in the Cosmorama, Regent Street, London.

EVANS (William) was 8 feet at death. He was a porter of Charles I., and died in 1632.

FRANK (Big). Was 7 feet 8 inches in height. He was an Irishman whose name was Francis Sheridan, and died in 1870.

FRENZ (Louis) was 7 feet 4 inches in height. He was called “the French giant.”

FUNNUM (court giant of Eugene II.) was 11 feet 6 inches.

GABARA, the Arabian giant, was 9 feet 9 inches. This Arabian giant is mentioned by Pliny, who says he was the tallest man seen in the days of Claudius.

GILLY was 8 feet. This Swedish giant was exhibited in the early part of the nineteenth century.

GOLI'ATH was 6 cubits and a span (11 feet 9 inches, if the cubit = 21 inches, and the span = 9 inches).

See note to the giant ELEAZER. If the cubit was 18 inches, then Goliath was the same height as the Arabian giant Gabara.

GORDON (Alíce) was 7 feet in height. She was a native of Essex, and died in 1737, at the age of 19.

HALE (Robert) was 7 feet 6 inches in height. He was born at Somerton, in Norfolk, and was called “the Norfolk giant” (1820—1862).

HAR'DRADA (Harold) was nearly 8 feet in height (“5 ells of Norway"), and was called “the Norway giant.” Snorro Sturleson says he was “about 8 feet in height.”

HOLMES (Benjamin) was 7 feet 6 inches in height. He was a Northumberland man, and was made sword—bearer of the Corporation of Worcester. He died in 1892.

JOHN FREDERICK, Duke of Brunswick, was 8 feet 6 inches in height.

KINTOLOCHUS REX was 15 feet 6 inches in height (!), 5 feet through the chest to the spine (1), and 10 feet across the shoulders (1). This, of course, is quite incredible.

LA PIERRE was 7 feet 1 inch in height. He was born at Stratgard, in Denmark.

LOUIS was 7 feet 4 inches in height. Called “the French giant.” His left hand is preserved in the museum of the College of Surgeons.

LOUISHKIN was 8 feet 5 inches in height. This Russian giant was drum—major of the Imperial Guards.

MCDONALD (James) was 7 feet 6 inches in height. He was born in Cork, Ireland, and died in 1760.

MCDONALD (Samuel) was 6 feet 10 inches in height. This Scotchman was usually called “Big Sam.” He was the Prince of Wales's footman, and died in 1802.

MAGRATH (Cornelius) was 7 feet 10 inches in height at the age of 16. He was an orphan reared by Bishop Berkeley, and died at the age of twenty (1740—1760).

MELLON (Edmund) was 7 feet 6 inches in height at the age of nineteen. He was born at Port Leicester, in Ireland (1740—1760).

MIDDLETON (John) was 9 feet 3 inches in height. “His hand was 17 inches long and 8 1/2 broad.” He was born at Hale, Lancashire, in the reign of James I. (See above, Gabara.) (Dr. Plott: Natural History of Staffordshire, p. 295.)

MILLER (Maximilian Christopher) was 8 feet in height. His hand measured 12 inches, and his forefinger was 9 inches long. This Saxon giant died in London at the age of sixty (1674—1734).

MURPHY was 8 feet 10 inches in height. This Irish giant was contemporary with O'Brien (see below), and died at Marseilles.

O'BRIEN, or CHARLES BYRNE, was 8 feet 4 inches in height. The skeleton of this Irish giant is preserved in the College of Surgeons. He died in Cockspur Street, London, and was contemporary with Murphy (1761—1783).

MAXIMI'NUS was 8 feet 6 inches in height. The Roman emperor, from 235 to 238.

O'BRIEN (Patrick) was 8 feet 7 inches in height. He died August 3, 1804, aged thirty—nine.

OG, King of Bashan. According to tradition, he lived 3,000 years, and walked beside the Ark during the Flood. One of his bones formed a bridge over a river. His bed (Deuteronomy iii. 11) was 9 cubits by 4 cubits.

If the cubit was really 21 inches, this would make the bed 15 3/4 feet by 10 1/2. The great bed of Ware, Herts, is 12 feet by 12. (See above, Eleazar — note.)

OSEN (Heinrich) was 7 feet 6 inches in height at the age of 27, and weighed above 37 stone. He was born in Norway. (See above, Hardrada.)

PORUS was “5 cubits in height” (7 feet 6 inches). He was an Indian king who fought against Alexander the Great near the river Hydaspes. (Quintus Curtius: De rebus gestis Alexandri Magni.)

Whatever the Jewish cubit was, the Roman cubit was not more than 18 inches.

RIECHART (J. H.) was 8 feet 4 inches in height. He was a native of Friedberg, and both his father and mother were of gigantic stature.

SALMERON (Martin) was 7 feet 4 inches in height. He was called “The Mexican Giant.”

Giant's Causeway

in Ireland. A basaltic mole, said to be the commencement of a road to be constructed by the giants across the channel, reaching from Ireland to Scotland.

Giants' Dance

(The). Stonehenge, which Geoffrey of Monmouth says was removed from Killaraus, a mountain in Ireland, by the magical skill of Merlin.

“If you [Aurelius] are desirous to honour the burying—place of these men [who routed Hengist] with an everlasting monument, send for the Giants' Dance, which is in Killaraus, a mountain in Ireland.” — Geoffrey of Monmouth: British History, book viii. chap. 10.

Giant's Leap

(The). Lam—Goemagog. The legend is that Corineus (3 syl.), in his encounter with Goemagog, or Gomagog, slung him on his shoulders, carried him to the top of a neighbouring cliff, and heaved him into the sea. Ever since then the cliff has been called Lam—Goemagog. (Thomas Boreman: Gigantick History; 1741.)

SHERIDAN. (See above, Frank.)

SWANN (Anne Hanen) was 7 feet 11 1/2 inches in height. She was a native of Nova Scotia.

TOLLER (James) was 8 feet at the age of 24. He died in February, 1819.

Becanus asserts that he had seen a man nearly 10 feet high, and a woman fully 10 feet.

Gasper Bauhin speaks of a Swiss 8 feet in height.

Del Rio tells us he himself saw a Piedmontese in 1572 more than 9 feet in height.

C. F. S. Warren, M.A. (in Notes and Queries, August 14th, 1875), tells us that his father knew a lady 9 feet in height, and adds “her head touched the ceiling of a good—sized room.”

Vanderbrook says he saw at Congo a black man 9 feet high.

In the museum of Trinity College, Dublin, is a human skeleton 8 feet 6 inches in height.

Thomas Hall, of Willingham, was 3 feet 9 inches at the age of 3.

A giant was exhibited at Rouen in the early part of the eighteenth century 17 feet 10 inches (!) in height.

Gorapus, the surgeon, tells us of a Swedish giantess, who, at the age of 9, was over 10 feet in height.

Turner, the naturalist, tells us he saw in Brazil a giant 12 feet in height.

M. Thevet published, in 1575, an account of a South American giant, the skeleton of which he measured. It was 11 feet 5 inches.

SAM (Big). (See Mac Donald.)

Josephus speaks of a Jew 10 feet 2 inches.

Giants' War with Jove

(The). The War of the Giants and the War of the Titans should be kept distinct. The latter was after Jove or Zeus was god of heaven and earth, the former was before that time. Kronos, a Titan, had been exalted by his brothers to the supremacy, but Zeus made war on Kronos with the view of dethroning him. After ten years' contest he succeeded, and hurled the Titans into hell. The other war was a revolt by the giants against Zeus, which was readily put down by the help of the other gods and the aid of Hercules.

Giaour

(jow'—er). An unbeliever, one who disbelieves the Mahometan faith. A corruption of the Arabic Kiafir. It has now become so common that it scarcely implies insult, but has about the force of the word “Gentile,” meaning “not a Jew.” Byron has a poetical tale so called, but he has not given the giaour a name.

“The city won for Allah from the Giaour,

The Giaour from Othman's race again may wrest.”

Byron: Childe Harold, canto ii. stanza 77.

Gib

(g soft). The cut of his gib. (See Jib.)

To hang one's gib. To be angry, to pout. The lower lip of a horse is called its gib, and so is the beak of a male salmon.

Gib Cat

A tom—cat. The male cat used to be called Gilbert. Nares says that Tibert or Tybalt is the French form of Gilbert, and hence Chaucer in his Romance of the Rose, renders “Thibert le Cas” by “Gibbe, our Cat"

(v. 6204). Generally used for a castrated cat. (See Tybalt.)

“I am as melancholy as a gib cat or a lugged bear.” — Shakespeare: 1 Henry IV., i. 2.

Gibberish

(g hard). Geber, the Arabian, was by far the greatest alchemist of the eleventh century, and wrote several treatises on “the art of making gold” in the usual mystical jargon, because the ecclesiastics would have put to death any one who had openly written on the subject. Friar Bacon, in 1282, furnishes a specimen of this gibberish. He is giving the prescription for making gunpowder, and says —

“Sed tamen salis—petræ

LURU MONE CAP URBE

Et sulphuris.”

The second line is merely an anagram of Carbonum pulvere (pulverised charcoal). “Gibberish,” compare jabber, and gabble.

Gibbet

(g soft). A foot—pad, who “piqued himself on being the best—behaved man on the road.” (George Farquhar: Beaux' Stratagem. )

To gibbet the bread (Lincolnshire). When bread turns out ropy and is supposed to be bewitched, the good dame runs a stick through it and hangs it in the cupboard. It is gibbeted in terrorem to other batches.

Gibelins

or Ghibellines (g hard). (See Guelphs.)

Gibeonite

(4 syl., g hard). A slave's slave, a workman's labourer, a farmer's understrapper, or

Jack—of—all—work. The Gibeonites were made “hewers of wood and drawers of water” to the Israelites. (Josh.

ix. 27.)

“And Giles must trudge, whoever gives command,

A Gibeonite, that serves them all by turn.”

Bloomfield: Farmer's Boy.

Giblets

(The Duke of). A very fat man. In Yorkshire a fat man is still nicknamed “giblets.”

Gibraltar

(g soft). A contraction of Gibel al Tari (Gibal Tar), “mountain of Tari.” This Tari ben Zeyad was an Arabian general who, under the orders of Mousa, landed at Calpë in 710, and utterly defeated Roderick, the Gothic King of Spain. Cape Tarifa is named from the same general.

Gibraltar of Greece. A precipitous rock 700 feet above the sea, in Nauplia (Greece). Gibraltar of the New World. Cape Diamond, in the province of Quebec.

Gif Gaff

Give and take, good turn for good turn.

“I have pledged my word for your safety, and you must give me yours to be private in the matter — giff gaff, you know.” — Sir W. Scott: Redgauntlet, chap. xii.

Gift—horse

Don't look a gift—horse in the mouth. When a present is made, do not inquire too minutely into its intrinsic value.

Latin: “Noli equi dentes inspicere donati.” “Si quis det mannos ne quære in dentibus annos” (Monkish). Italian: “A cavallao daio non guardar in bocca.”

French: “A cheval donné il ne faut pas regarder aux dents.” Spanish: “A cavall dato no le mirem el diénte.”

Gig

(g hard). A whipping top, made like a Ñ.

“Thou disputest like an infant. Go, whip thy gig.” — Shakespeare: Love's Labour's Lost, v. 1.

Gig—lamps

Spectacles. Gig—lamps are the “spectacles” of a gig. (See Verdant Green.)

Gig—manity

Respectability. A word invented by Carlyle. A witness in the trial of John Thurtell said, “I always thought him [Thurtell] a respectable man.” And being asked by the judge what he meant, replied, “He [Thurtell] kept a gig.”

“A princess of the blood, yet whose father had sold his inexpressibles ... in a word, Gigmanity disgigged. — Carlyle: The Diamond Necklace, chap. v.

Giggle

(g hard). Have you found a giggle's nest? A question asked in Norfolk when anyone laughs immoderately and senselessly. The meaning is, “Have you found a nest of romping girls that you laugh so?” Giglet is still in common use in the West of England for a giddy, romping, Tom—boy girl, and in Salop a flighty person is called a “giggle.” (See Gape's—Nest.)

Gil Blas (g soft). The hero of Le Sage's novel of the same name. Timid, but audacious; well—disposed, but easily led astray; shrewd, but easily gulled by practising on his vanity; good—natured, but without moral principle. The tale, according to one account, is based on Matteo Aleman's Spanish romance, called the Life of Guzman; others maintain that the original was the comic romance entitled Relaciones de la Vida del Escudero Marcos de Obregon.

Gilbertines

(3 syl., g hard). A religious order founded in the twelfth century by St. Gilbert of Lincolnshire.

Gild the Pill

(To). To do something to make a disagreeable task less offensive, as a pill is gilded to make it less offensive to the sight and taste. Children's powders are hidden in jam, and authors are “damned with faint praise.”

Gilded Chamber

(The). The House of Lords.

“Mr. Rowland Winn is now Lord St. Oswald, and after years spent in the Lower House he has retired to the calm of the gilded chamber.” — Newspaper paragraph, June 26th, 1885.

Gilderoy'

(3 syl., g hard). A famous robber, who robbed Cardinal Richelieu and Oliver Cromwell. There was a Scotch robber of the same name in the reign of Queen Mary. Both were noted for their handsome persons, and both were hanged.

Gilderoy's Kite

Higher than Gilderoy's kite. To be hung higher than Gilderoy's kite is to be punished more severely than the very worst criminal. The greater the crime, the higher the gallows, was at one time a practical legal axiom. Haman, it will be remembered, was hanged on a very high gallows. The gallows of Montrose was 30 feet high. The ballad says: —

“Of Gilderoy sae fraid they were

They bound him mickle strong,

Till Edenburrow they led him thair

And on a gallows hong;

They hong him high abone the rest,

He was so trim a boy ....”

He was “hong abone the rest” of the criminals because his crimes were deemed to be more heinous. So high he hung he looked like “a kite" in the clouds.

Gildippe

(in Jerusalem Delivered). Wife of Edward, an English baron. She accompanied her husband to the Holy War, and performed prodigies of valour (book ix.). Both she and her husband were slain by Solyman

(book xx.).

Giles

(1 syl., g soft). The “farmer's boy” in Bloomfield's poem so called.

Giles

(St.). Patron saint of cripples. The tradition is that the king of France, hunting in the desert, accidentally wounded the hermit in the knee; and the hermit, that he might the better mortify the flesh, refusing to be cured, remained a cripple for life.

The symbol of this saint is a hind, in allusion to the “heaven—directed hind” which went daily to his cave near the mouth of the Rhone to give him milk. He is sometimes represented as an old man with an arrow in his knee and a hind by his side.

St. Giles's parish. Generally situated in the outskirts of a city, and originally without the walls, cripples and beggars not being permitted to pass the gates.

Hopping or Hobbling Giles. A lame person; so called from St. Giles, the tutelar saint of cripples. (See

Cripplegate.)

Lame as St. Giles', Cripplegate. (See above.)

Giles Overreach

(Sir). A New Way to Pay Old Debts, by Massinger. The “Academy figure” of this character was Sir Giles Mompesson, a notorious usurer, banished the kingdom for his misdeeds.

Giles of Antwerp

(g soft). Giles Coignet, the painter (1530—1600).

Gill

(g soft) or Jill. A generic name for a lass, a sweetheart. (A contraction of Gillian = Juliana, Julia.)

“Jack and Jill went up the hill ...

Nursery Rhymes.

“Every Jack has got his Jill (i.e. Ilka laddie has his lassie).” — Burns.

Gill

(Harry). A farmer struck with the curse of ever shivering with cold, because he would not allow old Goody Blake to keep a few stray sticks which she had picked up to warm herself by.

“Oh! what's the matter? what's the matter?

What is't that ails young Harry Gill,

That evermore his teeth they chatter,

Chatter, chatter, chatter, still? ...

No word to any man he utters,

A—bed or up, to young or old;

But ever to himself he mutters —

Poor Harry Gill is very cold.”

Wordsworth: Goody Blake and Harry Gill.

Gills

(g hard). Wipe your gills (your mouth). The gills of fishes, like the mouth of man, are the organs of respiration.

Gillie

(g hard). A servant or attendant; the man who leads a pony about when a child is riding. A gillie—wet—foot is a barefooted Highland lad.

“These gillie—wet—foots, as they were called, were destined to beat the bushes.” — Sir Walter Scott: Waverley, chap. xiii.

Gillies' Hill

In the battle of Bannockburn (1314) King Robert Bruce ordered all the servants, drivers of carts, and camp followers to go behind a height. When the battle seemed to favour the Scotch, these servants, or gillies, desirous of sharing in the plunder, rushed from their concealment with such arms as they could lay hands on; and the English, thinking them to be a new army, fied in panic. The height in honour was ever after called The Gillies' Hill. (Sir Walter Scott: Tales of a Grandfather, x.)

Gillyflower (g soft) is not the Julyflower, but the French giroflée, from girofle (a clove), called by Chaucer “gilofre.” The common stock, the wallflower, the rocket, the clove pink, and several other plants are so called. (Greek karuophullon; Latin, caryophyllum, the clove gillyflower.)

“The fairest flowers o' the season

Are our carnations and streaked gillyflowers.” Shakespeare: Winter's Tale, iv. 2.

Gilpin

(John), of Cowper's famous ballad, is a caricature of Mr. Beyer, an eminent linendraper at the end of Paternoster Row, where it joins Cheapside. He died 1791, at the age of 98. It was Lady Austin who told the adventure to our domestic poet, to divert him from his melancholy. The marriage adventure of Commodore Trunnion in Peregrine Pickle is very similar to the wedding day adventure of John Gilpin.

“John Gilpin was a citizen

Of credit and renown;

A train hand captain eke was he

Of famous London town.”

Cowper: John Gilpin.

Some insist that the “trainband captain” was one Jonathan Gilpin, who died at Bath in 1770, leaving his daughter a legacy of £20,000.

Gilt

(g hard). To take the gilt off the gingerbread. To destroy the illusion. The reference is to gingerbread watches, men, and other gilded toys, sold at fairs. These eatables were common even in the reign of Henry

IV., but were then made of honey instead of treacle.

Gilt—edge Investments

A phrase introduced in the last quarter of the 19th century (when so many investments proved worthless), for investments in which no risks are incurred, such as debentures, preference shares, first mortgages, and shares in first—rate companies.

Giltspur Street

(West Smithfield). The route taken by the gilt—spurs, or knights, on their way to Smithfield, where tournaments were held.

Gimlet Eye

(g hard). A squint—eye; strictly speaking, “an eye that wanders obliquely,” jocosely called a “piercer.” (Welsh, cwim, a movement round; cwimlaw, to twist or move in a serpentine direction; Celtic, guimble.)

Gimmer

(g soft), or Jimmer, a jointed hinge. In Somersetshire, gimmace. We have also gemel. A gimmal is a double ring; hence gimmal—bit. (Shakespeare: Henry V., iv. 2.)

Gin Sling

A drink made of gin and water, sweetened and flavoured. “Sling" = Collins, the inventor, contracted into c'lins, and perverted into slings.

Ginevra

(g soft). The young Italian bride who hid in a trunk with a springlock. The lid fell upon her, and she was not discovered till the body had become a skeleton. (Rogers: Italy.)

“Be the cause what it might, from his offer she shrunk,

And Ginevra—like, shut herself up in a trunk.” Lowell.

Gingerbread The best used to be made at Grantham, and Grantham gingerbread was as much a locution as Everton toffy, or tuffy as we used to call it in the first half of the nineteenth century.

To get the gilt off the gingerbread. To appropriate all the fun or profit and leave the caput mortuum behind. In the first half of the nineteenth century gingerbread cakes were profusely decorated with gold—leaf or Dutch—leaf, which looked like gold.

Gingerbread

(g soft). Brummagem wares, showy but worthless. The allusion is to the gilt gingerbread toys sold at fairs.

Gingerbread Husbands

Gingerbread cakes fashioned like men and gilt, commonly sold at fairs up to the middle of the nineteenth century.

Gingerly

Cautiously, with faltering steps. The Scotch phrase, “gang that gate,” and the Anglo—Saxon gangende (going), applied to an army looking out for ambuscades, would furnish the adverb gangendelic; Swedish, gingla, to go gently.

“Gingerly, as if treading upon eggs. Cuddie began to ascend the well—known pass.” — Scott: Old Mortality, chap. xxv.

Gingham

So called from Guingamp, a town in Brittany, where it was originally manufactured (Littré). A common playful equivalent of umbrella.

Ginnunga Gap

The abyss between Niflheim (the region of fog) and Muspelheim (the region of heat). It existed before either land or sea, heaven or earth. (Scandinavian mythology.)

Giona

(g soft). A leader of the Anabaptists, once a servant of Comte d'Oberthal, but discharged from his service for theft. In the rebellion headed by the Anabaptists, Giona took the Count prisoner, but John of Leyden set him free again. Giona, with the rest of the conspirators, betrayed their prophet king as soon as the Emperor arrived with his army. They entered the banquet room to arrest him, but perished in the flaming palace. (Meyerbeer: Le Prophète, an opera. )

Giotto

Round as Giotto's O. An Italian proverb applied to a dull, stupid fellow. The Pope, wishing to obtain some art decorations, sent a messenger to obtain specimens of the chief artists of Italy. The messenger came to Giotto and delivered his message, whereupon the artist simply drew a circle with red paint. The messenger, in amazement, asked Giotto if that were all. Giotto replied, “Send it, and we shall see if his Holiness understands the hint,” A specimen of genius about equal to a brick as a specimen of an edifice.

Giovanni

(Don). A Spanish libertine. His valet, Leporello, says his master had “in Italy 700 mistresses, in Germany 800, in Turkey and France 91, in Spain 1,003.” When “the measure of his iniquity was full,” the ghost of the commandant whom he had slain came with a legion of “foul fiends,” and carried him off to a “dreadful gulf that opened to devour him.” (Mozart: Don Giovanni, Libretto by Lorenzo da Ponte. )

Gipsy

(g soft). Said to be a corruption of Egyptian, and so called because in 1418 a band of them appeared in Europe, commanded by a leader named Duke Michael of “Little Egypt.” Other appellations are:

(2) Bohemians. So called by the French, because the first that ever arrived in their country came from Bohemia in 1427, and presented themselves before the gates of Paris. They were not allowed to enter the city, but were lodged at La Chapelle, St. Denis. The French nickname for gipsies is cagoux (unsociables).

(3) Ciganos So called by the Portuguese, a corruption of Zinga'nè.

(4) Gitanos. So called by the Spaniards, a corruption of Zinga'nè.

(5) Heidens (heathens). So called by the Dutch, because they are heathens.

(6) Pharaoh—nepek (Pharaoh's people). So called in Hungary, from the notion that they came from Egypt. (7) Sinte. So called by themselves, because they assert that they came from Sind, i.e. Ind (Hindustan).

(8) Tatar. So called by the Danes and Swedes, from the notion that they came from Tartary.

(9) Tchingani or Tshingani. So called by the Turks, from a tribe still existing at the mouth of the Indus

(Tshin—calo, black Indian).

(10) Walachians. So called by the Italians, from the notion that they came from Walachia.

(11) Zigeuner (wanderers). So called by the Germans.

(12) Zincali or Zingani. Said to be so called by the Turks, because in 1517 they were led by Zinganeus to revolt from Sultan Selim; but more likely a mere variety of Tchingani (q.v..)

Their language, called “Romany,” contains about 5,000 words, the chief of which are corrupt Sanskrit. There is a legend that these people are waifs and strays on the earth, because they refused to shelter the Virgin and her child in their flight to Egypt. (Aventinus, Annales Boiorum, chap. viii.)

Gipsy

(The). Anthony de Solario, the painter and illuminator, Il Zingaro (1382—1455).

Giralda

(g soft). The giantess; a statue of victory on the top of an old Moorish tower in Seville.

Gird

To gird with the sword. To raise to a peerage. It was the Saxon method of investiture to an earldom, continued after the Conquest. Thus, Richard I. “girded with the sword” Hugh de Pudsey, the aged Bishop of Durham, making (as he said) “a young earl of an old prelate.”

Gird up the Loins

(To). To prepare for hard work or a journey. The Jews wore a girdle only when at work or on a journey. Even to the present day, Eastern people, who wear loose dresses, gird them about the loins.

“The loose tunic was an inconvenient walking dress; therefore, when persons went from home, they tied a girdle round it (2 Kings iv. 2; ix. 1; Isaiah v. 27; Jeremiah i. 17; John xxi. 7; Acts

xii. 8).” — Jahn: Archeologia Biblica (section 121).

Girder

(A). A cooper. Hoops are girders. John Girder=John, the cooper, a character in The Bride of Lammermoor, by Sir Walter Scott.

Girdle

(g hard). A good name is better than a golden girdle. A good name is better than money. It used to be customary to carry money in the girdle, and a girdle of gold meant a “purse of gold.” The French proverb,

“Bonne renommée vaut mieux que ceinture dorée, ” refers rather to the custom of wearing girdles of gold tissue, forbidden, in 1420, to women of bad character.

Children under the girdle. Not yet born.

“All children under the girdle at the time of marriage are held to be legitimate.” — Notes and Queries.

If he be angry, he knows how to turn his girdle (Much Ado about Nothing, v. 1). If he is angry, let him prepare himself to fight, if he likes. Before wrestlers, in ancient times, engaged in combat, they turned the buckle of their girdle behind them. Thus, Sir Ralph Winwood writes to Secretary Cecil:

“I said `What I spoke was not to make him angry.' He replied, `If I were angry, I might turn the buckle of my girdle behind me.”' — Dec. 17, 1802.

He has a large mouth but small girdle. Great expenses but small means. The girdle is the purse or purse—pocket. (See above.)

He has undone her girdle. Taken her for his wedded wife. The Roman bride wore a chaplet of flowers on her head, and a girdle of sheep's wool about her waist. A part of the marriage ceremony was for the bridegroom to loose this girdle. (Vaughan: Golden Grove.)

The Persian regulation—girdle. In Persia a new sort of “Procrustes Bed” is adopted, according to Kemper. One of the officers of the king is styled the “chief holder of the girdle,” and his business is to measure the ladies of the harem by a sort of regulation—girdle. If any lady has outgrown the standard, she is reduced, like a jockey, by spare diet; but, if she falls short thereof, she is fatted up, like a Strasburg goose, to regulation size.

(See Procrustes.)

To put a girdle round the earth. To travel or go round it. Puck says, “I'll put a girdle round about the earth in forty minutes.” (Midsummer Night's Dream, ii. 2.)

Girdle

(Florimel's). The prize of a grand tournament in which Sir Satyrane and several others took part. It was dropped by Florimel, picked up by Sir Satyrane, and employed by him to bind the monster sent in her pursuit; but it came again into the hands of the knight, who kept it in a golden casket. It was a “gorgeous girdle made by Vulcan for Venus, embossed with pearls and precious stones;” but its chief virtue was

“It gave the virtue of chaste love,

And wifehood true to all that it did bear;

But whosoever contrary doth prove

Might not the same about her middle wear,

But it would loose, or else asunder tear.”

Spenser: Faerie Queene, book iii. canto vii. 31.

King Arthur's Drinking Horn, and the Court Mantel in Orlando Furioso, possessed similar virtues.

Girdle

(St. Colman's) would meet only round the chaste.

“In Ireland it yet remains to be proved whether

St. Colman's girdle has not lost its virtue ” [the reference is to Charles S. Parnell]. — Nineteenth Century, Feb., 1891, p. 206.

Girdle of Venus

(See Cestus .)

Girl

This word has given rise to a host of guesses: —

Railey suggests garrula, a chatterbox.

Minshew ventures the Italian girella, a weather—cock.

Skinner goes in for the Anglo—Saxon ceorl, a churl.

Why not girdle, as young women before marriage wore a girdle [girle]; and part of a Roman marriage ceremony was for the bridegroom to loose the zone.

As for guessing, the word gull may put in a claim (1 Henry iv. 1); so may the Greek koure, a girl, with a diminutive suffix koure—la, whence gourla, gourl, gurl, girl.

(The Latin gerula means a maid that attends on a child. Chaucer spells the word gurl.)

Probably the word is a variation of darling, Anglo—Saxon, deorling.

Girondists

(g soft). French, Girondins, moderate republicans in the first French Revolution. So called from the department of Gironde, which chose for the Legislative Assembly five men who greatly distinguished themselves for their oratory, and formed a political party. They were subsequently joined by Brissot, Condorcet, and the adherents of Roland. The party is called The Gironde. (1791—93.)

“The new assembly, called the Legislative Assembly, met October 1, 1791. Its more moderate members formed the party called the Girondists.”

— C. M. Yonge: France, chap. ix. p. 168.

Girouette

(3 syl., g soft). A turncoat, a weathercock (French). The Dictionnaire des Girouettes contains the names of the most noted turncoats, with their political veerings.

Gis

(g soft) i.e. Jesus. A corruption of Jesus or J. H. S. Ophelia says “By Gis and by St. Charity.” (Hamlet, iv.

5.)

Gitanos

(See Gipsy .)

Give and Take

(policy). One of mutual forbearance and accommodation.

“[His] wife jogged along with him very comfortably with a give and take policy for many years.” — Hugh Conway.

Give it Him

(To). To scold or thrash a person. As “I gave it him right and left.” “I'll give it you when I catch you.” An elliptical phrase, dare pænam. “Give it him well.”

Give the Boys a Holiday

Anaxagoras, on his death—bed, being asked what honour should be conferred upon him, replied, “Give the boys a holiday.”

Give the Devil his Due

Though bad, I allow, yet not so bad as you make him out. Do not lay more to the charge of a person than he deserves. The French say, “Il ne faut pas faire le diable plus noir qu'il n'est. ” The Italians have the same proverb, “ Non bisognà fare il diablo piu nero che non è. “

The devil is not so black as he is painted. Every black has its white, as well as every sweet its sour.

Gizzard

Don't fret your gizzard. Don't be so anxious; don't worry yourself. The Latin stomachus means temper, etc., as well as stomach or “gizzard.” (French, gésier.)

That stuck in his gizzard. Annoyed him, was more than he could digest.

Gjallar

Heimdall's horn, which he blows to give the gods notice when any one is approaching the bridge Bifröst (q.v.). (Scandinavian mythology.)

Glacis

The sloping mass on the outer edge of the covered way in fortification. Immediately without the “ditches” of the place fortified, there is a road of communication all round the fortress (about thirty feet wide), having on its exterior edge a covered mass of earth eight feet high, sloping off gently towards the open country. The road is technically called the covered way, and the sloping mass the glacis.

Gladsheim

[Home of joy ]. The largest and most magnificent mansion of the Scandinavian Æsir. It contains twelve seats besides the throne of Alfader. The great hall of Gladsheim was called “Valhalla.”

Gladstone Bag

(A). A black leather bag of various sizes, all convenient to be hand—carried. These bags have two handles, and are made so as not to touch the ground, like the older carpet bags. Called Gladstone in compliment to W. E. Gladstone, many years leader of the Liberal party.

Glamorgan

Geoffrey of Monmouth says that Cundah' and Morgan, the sons of Gonorill and Regan, usurped the crown at the death of Cordeilla. The former resolved to reign alone, chased Morgan into Wales, and slew him at the foot of a hill, hence called Gla—Morgan or Glyn—Morgan, valley of Morgan. (See Spenser: Faërie Queene, ii. 10.)

Glasgow Arms An oak tree, a bell hanging on one of the branches, a bird at the top of the tree, and a salmon with a ring in its mouth at the base.

St. Kentigern, in the seventh century, took up his abode on the banks of a little stream which falls into the Clyde, the site of the present city of Glasgow. Upon an oak in the clearing he hung a bell to summon the savages to worship, hence the oak and the bell. Now for the other two emblems: A queen having formed an illicit attachment to a soldier, gave him a precious ring which the king had given her. The king, aware of the fact, stole upon the soldier in sleep, abstracted the ring threw it into the Clyde, and then asked the queen for it. The queen, in alarm, applied to St. Kentigern, who knew the whole affair; and the saint went to the Clyde, caught a salmon with the ring in its mouth, handed it to the queen, and was thus the means of restoring peace to the royal couple, and of reforming the repentant queen.

The queen's name was Langoureth, the king's name Rederech, and the Clyde was then called the Clud.

“The tree that never grew,

The bird that never flew,

The fish that never swam,

The bell that never rang.”

A similar legend is told of Dame Rebecca Berry, wife of Thomas Elton, of Stratford Bow, and relict of Sir John Berry (1696). Rebecca Berry is the heroine of the ballad called The Cruel Knight, and the story says that a knight passing by a cottage, heard the cries of a woman in labour, and knew by his occult science that the child was doomed to be his wife. He tried hard to elude his fate, and when the child was grown up, took her one day to the seaside, intending to drown her, but relented. At the same time he threw a ring into the sea, and commanded her never again to enter his presence till she brought him that ring. Rebecca, dressing a cod for dinner, found the ring in the fish, presented it to Sir John, and became his wife. The Berry arms show a fish, and on the dexter chief point a ring or annulet.

Glasgow Magistrate

(A). A salt herring. When George IV. visited Glasgow some wag placed a salt herring on the iron guard of the carriage of a well—known magistrate who formed one of the deputation to receive him. I remember a similar joke played on a magistrate, because he said, during a time of great scarcity, he wondered why the poor did not eat salt herrings, which he himself found very appetising.

Glass

is from the Celtic glas (bluish—green), the colour produced by the woad employed by the ancient Britons in dyeing their bodies. Pliny calls it glastrum, and Cæsar vitrum.

Glass Breaker

(A). A wine—bibber. To crack a bottle is to drink up its contents and throw away the empty bottle. A glass breaker is one who drinks what is in the glass, and flings the glass under the table. In the early part of the nineteenth century it was by no means unusual with topers to break off the stand of their wineglass, so that they might not be able to set it down, but were compelled to drink it clean off, without heel—taps.

“Troth, ye're nae glass—breaker; and neither am I. unless it be a screed wi' the neighbours, or when I'm on a ramble.” — Sir W. Scott: Gay Mannering, chap. 45.

“We never were glass—breakers in this house,

Mr. Lovel.” — Sir W. Scott: The Antiquary, chap. ix.

Glass—eye

A blind eye, not an eye made of glass, but the Danish glas—oie (wall—eye).

Glass Houses

Those who live in glass houses should not throw stones. When, on the union of the two crowns, London was inundated with Scotchmen, Buckingham was a chief instigator of the movement against them, and parties used nightly to go about breaking their windows. In retaliation, a party of Scotchmen smashed the windows of the Duke's mansion, which stood in St. Martin's Fields, and had so many windows that it went by the name of the “Glass—house.” The court favourite appealed to the king, and the British Solomon replied,

“Steenie, Steenie, those wha live in glass housen should be carefu' how they fling stanes.”

This was not an original remark of the English Solomon, but only the application of an existing proverb: “El que tiene tejados de vidro, no tire piedras al de su vezino.” (Nunez de Guzman: Proverbios.) (See also Chaucer's Troylus, ii.)

“Qui a sa maison de verre,

Sur le voisin ne jette pierre.”

Proverbes en Rimes (1664).

Glass Slipper

(of Cinderella). A curious blunder of the translator, who has mistaken vair (sable) for verre (glass). Sable was worn only by kings and princes, so the fairy gave royal slippers to her favourite. Hamlet says he shall discard his mourning and resume “his suit of sables” (iii. 2).

Glasse (Mrs. Hannah), a name immortalised by the reputed saying in a cookery book, “First catch your hare,” then cook it according to the directions given. This, like many other smart sayings, evidently grew. The word in the cookery—book is “cast” (i.e. flay). “Take your hare, and when it is cast” (or cased), do so and so. (See Case, Catch your Hare.)

“We'll make you some sport with the fox ere we case him.” — Shakespeare: All's Well, etc., iii. 6.

“Some of them knew me,

Else had they cased me like a cony.”

Beaumont and Fletcher: Love's Pilgrimage, ii. 3.

First scotch your hare (though not in Mrs. Glasse) is the East Anglian word scatch (flay), and might suggest the play of words. Mrs. Glasse is the pseudonym which Dr. John Hill appended to his Cook's Oracle.

Glassite

(A). A Sandemanian; a follower of John Glass (eighteenth century). Members of this Scotch sect are admitted by a “holy kiss,” and abstain from all animal food which has not been well drained of blood. John Glass condemned all national establishments of religion, and maintained the Congregational system. Robert Sandeman was one of his disciples.

Glastonbury

in Arthurian legend, was where king Arthur was buried. Selden, in his Illustrations of Drayton, says the tomb was “betwixt two pillars,” and he adds, “Henry II. gave command to Henry de Blois, the abbot, to make great search for the body, which was found in a wooden coffin some sixteen foote deepe; and afterwards was found a stone on whose lower side was fixt a leaden cross with the name inscribed.” The authority of Selden no doubt is very great, but it is too great a tax on our credulity to credit this statement.

Glaswegian

Belonging to Glasgow.

Glauber Salts

So called from Johann Rudolph Glauber, a German alchemist, who discovered it in 1658 in his researches after the philosopher's stone. It is the sulphate of soda.

Glaucus

(of Bœotia). A fisherman who instructed Apollo in soothsaying. He jumped into the sea, and became a marine god. Milton alludes to him in his Comus (line 895):

“[By] old soothsaying Glaucus' spell.”

Glaucus

(Another). In Latin, Glaucus alter. One who ruins himself by horses. The tale is that Glaucus, son of Sisyphus, would not allow his horses to breed, and the goddess of Love so infuriated them that they killed him.

Glaucus' Swop

(A). A one—sided bargain. Alluding to the exchange of armour between Glaucos and Diomedes. As the armour of the Lycian was of gold, and that of the Greek of brass, it was like bartering precious stones for French paste. Moses, in Goldsmith's Vicar of Wakefield, made “a Glaucus' swop” with the spectacle—seller.

Glaymore

or Claymore (2 syl.). The Scottish great sword. It used to be a large two—handed sword, but was subsequently applied to the broadsword with the basket—hilt. (Gaelic, claidhamh, a sword; more, great.)

Glazier

Is your father a glazier? Does he make windows, for you stand in my light and expect me to see through you?

Gleek A game at cards, sometimes called cleek. Thus, in Epsom Wells, Dorothy says to Mrs. Bisket, “I'll make one at cleek, that's better than any two—handed game. ” Ben Jonson, in the Alchemist, speaks of gleek and primero as “the best games for the gallantest company.”

Gleek is played by three persons. Every deuce and trois is thrown out of the pack. Twelve cards are then dealt to each player, and eight are left for stock, which is offered in rotation to the players for purchase. The trumps are called Tiddy, Tumbler, Tib, Tom, and Towser. Gleek is the German gleich (like), intimating the point on which the game turns, gleek being three cards all alike, as three aces, three kings, etc.

Gleichen

(The Count de). A German knight married to a lady of his own country. He joined a crusade, and, being wounded, was attended so diligently by a Saracen princess that he married her also.

Gleipnir

The chain made by the fairies, by which the wolf Fenrir or Fenris was securely chained. It was extremely light, and made of such things as “the roots of stones, the noise made by the footfalls of a cat, the beards of women, the spittle of birds, and such like articles.”

Glenco'e

(2 syl.). The massacre of Glencoe. The Edinburgh authorities exhorted the Jacobites to submit to William and Mary, and offered pardon to all who submitted on or before the 31st of December, 1691.

Mac—Ian, chief of the Macdonalds of Glencoe, was unable to do so before the 6th of January, and his excuse was sent to the Council at Edinburgh. The Master of Stair (Sir John Dalrymple) resolved to make an example of Mac—Ian, and obtained the king's permission “to extirpate the set of thieves.” Accordingly, on the 1st of February, 120 soldiers, led by a Captain Campbell, marched to Glencoe, told the clan they were come as friends, and lived peaceably among them for twelve days; but on the morning of the 13th, the glenmen, to the number of thirty—eight, were scandalously murdered, their huts set on fire, and their flocks and herds driven off as plunder. Campbell has written a poem, and Talfourd a play on the subject.

Glendoveer'

in Hindu mythology, is a kind of sylph, the most lovely of the good spirits. (See Southey's Curse of Kehama.)

“I am a blessèd Glendoveer, `Tis mine to speak and yours to hear.”

Rejected Addresses (Imitations of Southey).

Glendower

(Owen). A Welsh chief, one of the most active and formidable enemies of Henry IV. He was descended from Llewellyn, the last of the Welsh princes. Sir Edmund Mortimer married one of his daughters, and the husband of Mortimer's sister was Earl Percy, generally called “Hotspur,” who took Douglas prisoner at Homildon Hill. Glendower, Hotspur, Douglas, and others conspired to dethrone Henry, but the coalition was ruined in the fatal battle of Shrewsbury. Shakespeare makes the Welsh nobleman a wizard of great diversity of talent, but especially conceited of the prodigies that “announced” his birth. (Shakespeare: 1 Henry

IV. )

Glim

(See Douse the Glim .)

Globe of Glass

(Reynard's). To consult Reynard's globe of glass. To seek into futurity by magical or other devices. This globe of glass would reveal what was being done, no matter how far off, and would afford information on any subject that the person consulting it wished to know. The globe was set in a wooden frame which no worm would attack. Reynard said he had sent this invaluable treasure to her majesty the queen as a present; but it never came to hand, inasmuch as it had no existence except in the imagination of the fox. (H. von Alkmar: Reynard the Fox.)

Your gift was like the globe of glass of Master Reynard. Vox et præterea nihil. A great promise, but no performance. (See above.

Worthy to be set in the frame of Reynard's globe of glass. Worthy of being imperishable; worthy of being preserved for ever.

Gloria

A cup of coffee with brandy in it instead of milk. Sweetened to taste.

Gloria in Excelsis

The latter portion of this doxology is ascribed to Telesphorus, A.D. 139. (See Glory.)

Gloriana

(Queen Elizabeth considered as a sovereign.) Spenser says in his Faërie Queene that she kept an annual feast for twelve days, during which time adventurers appeared before her to undertake whatever task she chose to impose upon them. On one occasion twelve knights presented themselves before her, and their exploits form the scheme of Spenser's allegory. The poet intended to give a separate book to each knight, but only six and a half books remain.

Glorious John

John Dryden, the poet (1631—1701).

Glorious First of June June 1st, 1794, when Lord Howe, who commanded the Channel fleet, gained a decisive victory over the French.

Glorious Uncertainty of the Law

(The), 1756. The toast of Mr. Wilbraham at a dinner given to the judges and counsel in Serjeant's Hall. This dinner was given soon after Lord Mansfield had overruled several ancient legal decisions and had introduced many innovations in the practice.

Glory

Meaning speech or the tongue, so called by the Psalmist because speech is man's speciality. Other animals see, hear, smell, and feel quite as well and often better than man, but rational speech is man's glory, or that which distinguishes the race from other animals.

“I will sing and give praise even with my glory.” — Psalm cviii. 1.

“That my glory may sing praise to Thee, and not be silent.” — Psalm xxx. 12.

“Awake up my glory, awake psaltery and harp.” — Psalm lvii. 8.

Glory Demon

(The). War.

“Fresh troops had each year to be sent off to glut the maw of the `Glory Demon.' ” — C. Thomson: Autobiography, 32.

Glory Hand

In folk lore, a dead man's hand, supposed to possess certain magical properties.

“De hand of glory is hand cut off from a dead man as have been hanged for murther, and dried very nice in de shmoke of juniper wood.” — Sir W. Scott: The Antiquary

(Dousterswivel).

Glory be to the Father

etc. The first verse of this doxology is said to be by St. Basil. During the Arian controversy it ran thus: “Glory be to the Father, by the Son, and in the Holy Ghost.” (See Gloria.)

Glossin

(Lawyer) purchases Ellangowan estate, and is found by Counsellor Pleydell to be implicated in carrying off Henry Bertrand, the heir of the estate. Both Glossin and Dirk Hatteraick, his accomplice, are sent to prison, and in the night the lawyer contrives to enter the smuggler's cell, when a quarrel ensues, in which Hatteraick strangles him, and then hangs himself.” (Sir W. Scott: Guy Mannering.)

Gloucester

(2 syl.). The ancient Britons called the town Caer Glou (bright city). The Romans Latinised Glou or Glove in Glev—um, and added colonia (the Roman colony of Glev—um). The Saxons restored the old British word Glou, and added ceaster, to signify it had been a Roman camp. Hence the word means “Glou, the camp city.” Geoffrey of Monmouth says, when Arviragus married Genuissa, daughter of Claudius Cæsar, he induced the emperor to build a city on the spot where the nuptials were solemnised; this city was called

Caer—Clau', a contraction of Caer—Claud, corrupted into Caer—glou, converted by the Romans into

Glou—caster, and by the Saxons into Glou—ceaster or Glou—cester. “Some,” continues the same “philologist,”

“derive the name from the Duke Gloius, a son of Claudius, born in Britain on the very spot.”

Glove

In the days of chivalry it was customary for knights to wear a lady's glove in their helmets, and to defend it with their life.

“One ware on his headpiece his ladies sleve, and another bare on hys helme the glove of his dearlynge.” — Hall: Chronicle, Henry IV.

Glove A bribe. (See Glove Money .)

Hand and glove. Sworn friends; on most intimate terms; close companions, like glove and hand.

“And prate and preach about what others prove,

As if the world and they were hand and glove.” Cowper.

He bit his glove. He resolved on mortal revenge. On the “Border,” to bite the glove was considered a pledge of deadly vengeance.

“Stern Rutherford right little said,

But bit his glove and shook his head.”

Sir Walter Scott: Lay of the Last Minstrel.

Here I throw down my glove. I challenge you. In allusion to an ancient custom of a challenger throwing his glove or gauntlet at the feet of the person challenged, and bidding him to pick it up. If he did so the two fought, and the vanquisher was considered to be adjudged by God to be in the right. To take up the glove means, therefore, to accept the challenge.

“I will throw my glove to Death itself, that there's no maculation in thy heart.” — Shakespeare: Troilus and Cressida, iv. 4.

To take up the glove. To accept the challenge made by casting a glove or gauntlet on the ground. Right as my glove. The phrase, says Sir Walter Scott, comes from the custom of pledging a glove as the signal of irrefragable faith. (The Antiquary.

Glove Money

A bribe, a perquisite; so called from the ancient custom of presenting a pair of gloves to a person who undertook a cause for you. Mrs. Croaker presented Sir Thomas More, the Lord Chancellor, with a pair of gloves lined with forty pounds in “angels,” as a “token.” Sir Thomas kept the gloves, but returned the lining. (See above.)

Gloves

are not worn in the presence of royalty, because we are to stand unarmed, with the helmet off the head and gauntlets off the hands, to show we have no hostile intention. (See Salutations.)

Gloves used to be worn by the clergy to indicate that their hands are clean and not open to bribes. They are no longer officially worn by the parochial clergy.

Gloves given to a judge in a maiden assize. In an assize without a criminal, the sheriff presents the judge with a pair of white gloves. Chambers says, anciently judges were not allowed to wear gloves on the bench (Cyclopædia). To give a judge a pair of gloves, therefore, symbolised that he need not come to the bench, but might wear gloves.

You owe me a pair of gloves. A small present. The gift of a pair of gloves was at one time a perquisite of those who performed small services, such as pleading your cause, arbitrating your quarrel, or showing you some favour which could not be charged for. As the services became more important, the glove was lined with money, or made to contain some coin called glove money (q.v.). Relics of this ancient custom were common till the last quarter of a century in the presentation of gloves to those who attended weddings and funerals. There also existed at one time the claim of a pair of gloves by a lady who chose to salute a gentleman caught napping in her company. In The Fair Maid of Perth, by Sir Walter Scott, Catherine steals from her chamber on St. Valentine's morn, and, catching Henry Smith asleep, gives him a kiss. The glover says to him:

“Come into the booth with me, my son, and I will furnish thee with a fitting theme. Thou knowest the maiden who ventures to kiss a sleeping man wins of him a pair of gloves.” —

Chap. v.

In the next chapter Henry presents the gloves, and Catherine accepts them.

A round with gloves. A friendly contest; a fight with gloves.

“Will you point out how this is going to be a genteel round with gloves?” — Watson: The Web of the Spider, chap. ix.

Glubdubdrib

The land of sorcerers and magicians visited by Gulliver in his Travels. (Swift.)

Gluckist and Piccinists

A foolish rivalry excited in Paris (1774—1780) between the admirers of Glück and those of Piccini — the former a German musical composer, and the latter an Italian. Marie Antoinette was a Glückist, and consequently Young France favoured the rival claimant. In the streets, coffeehouses, private houses, and even schools, the merits of Glück and Piccinini were canvassed; and all Paris was ranged on one side or the other. This was, in fact, a contention between the relative merits of the German and Italian school of music. (See Bacbuc.)

Glum

had a sword and cloak given him by his grandfather, which brought good luck to their possessors. After this present everything prospered with him. He gave the spear to Asgrim and cloak to Gizur the White, after which everything went wrong with him. Old and blind, he retained his cunning long after he had lost his luck. (The Nials Saga.)

To look glum. To look dull or moody. (Scotch, gloum, a frown; Dutch, loom, heavy, dull; Anglo—Saxon, glom, our gloom, gloaming, etc.)

Glumdalclitch

A girl, nine years old, and only forty feet high, who had charge of Gulliver in Brobdingnag. (Swift: Gulliver's Travels.)

“Soon as Glumdalclitch missed her pleasing care,

She wept, she blubbered, and she tore her hair.” Pope.

Glutton

(The). Vitelius, the Roman emperor (15—69), reigned from January 4 to December 22, A.D. 69.

Gluttony

(See Apicius , etc.)

Gnatho

A vain, boastful parasite in the Eunuch of Terence (Greek, gnathon, jaw, meaning “tongue—doughty").

Gnomes

(1 syl.), according to the Rosicrucian system, are the elemental spirits of earth, and the guardians of mines and quarries. (Greek, gnoma knowledge, meaning the knowing ones, the wise ones.) (See Fairy, Salamanders.)

“The four elements are inhabited by spirits called sylphs, gnomes, nymphs, and salamanders. The gnomes, or demons of the earth, delight in mischief, but the sylphs, whose habitation is in air, are the best conditioned creatures imaginable.” — Pope: Pref. Letter to the Rape of the Lock.

Gnostics The knowers, opposed to believers, various sects in the first ages of Christianity, who tried to accommodate Scripture to the speculations of Pythagoras, Plato, and other ancient philosophers. They taught that knowledge, rather than mere faith, is the true key of salvation. In the Gnostic creed Christ is esteemed merely as an eon, or divine attribute personified, like Mind, Truth, Logos, Church, etc., the whole of which eons made up this divine pleroma or fulness. Paul, in several of his epistles, speaks of this “Fulness (pleroma) of God.” (Greek, Gnosticos.) (See Agnostics.)

Go

(Anglo—Saxon, gan, ic ga, I go.)

Here's a go or Here's a pretty go. Here's a mess or awkward state of affairs. It is no go. It is not workable. “Ça ira, ” in the French Revolution (it will go), is a similar phrase. (See Great Go, and Little Go.)

Go

(The). All the go. Quite the fashion; very popular; la vogue.

Go along with You

In French, Tirez de long, said to dogs, meaning scamper off, run away. Au long et au large, i.e. entirely, go off the whole length and breadth of the way from me to infinite space.

“To go along with some one,” with the lower classes, means to take a walk with someone of the opposite sex, with a view of matrimony if both parties think fit.

Go—between

(A). An interposer; one who interposes between two parties.

Go—by

To give one the go—by. To pass without notice, to leave in the lurch.

Go it Blind

Don't stop to deliberate. In the game called “Poker,” if a player chooses to “go it blind,” he doubles the ante before looking at his cards. If the other players refuse to see his blind, he wins the ante.

Go it, Warwick!

A street cry during the Peninsular War, meaning, “Go it, ye cripples!” The Warwickshire militia, stationed at Hull, were more than ordinarily licentious and disorderly.

Go it, you Cripples!

Fight on, you simpletons; scold away, you silly or quarrelsome ones. A cripple is slang for a dullard or awkward person.

Go of Gin

A quartern. In the Queen's Head, Covent Garden, spirits used to be served in quarterns, neat — water ad libitum. (Compare Stirrup Cup.)

Go on all Fours

Perfect in all points. We say of a pun or riddle, “It does not go on all fours,” it will not hold good in every way. Lord Macaulay says, “It is not easy to make a simile go on all fours.” Sir Edward Coke says, “Nullum simile quatuor pedibus currit. ” The metaphor is taken from a horse, which is lame if only one of its legs is injured. All four must be sound in order that it may go.

Go Out

(To). To rise in rebellion; the Irish say, “To be up.” To go out with the forces of Charles Edward. To be out with Roger More and Sir Phelim O'Neil, in 1641.

“I thocht my best chance for payment was e'en to gae out myself.” — Sir W. Scott: Waverley,

39.

Go through Fire and Water to serve you

Do anything even at personal cost and inconvenience. The reference is to the ancient ordeals by fire and water. Those condemned to these ordeals might employ a substitute.

Go to!

A curtailed oath. “Go to the devil!” or some such phrase.

“Cassius: I [am] able than yourself

To make conditions.

Brutus: Go to! You are not, Cassius.' Shakespeare: Julius Cæsar, iv. 3.

GO TO BANFF, and bottle skate.

GO TO BATH, and get your head shaved.

GO TO BUNGAY, and get your breeches mended. GO TO COVENTRY. Make yourself scarce.

GO TO HEXHAM. A kind of Alsatia or sanctuary in the reign of Henry VIII. GO TO JERICHO. Out of the way. (See Jericho.)

And many other similar phrases.

Go to the Wall

(To). To be pushed on one side, laid on the shelf, passed by. Business men, and those in a hurry, leave the wall—side of a pavement to women, children, and loungers.

Go without Saying

(To). Cela va sans dire. To be a self—evident fact; well understood or indisputable.

Goat

Usually placed under seats in church stalls, etc., as a mark of dishonour and abhorrence, especially to ecclesiastics who are bound by the law of continence.

The seven little goats. So the Pleiades are vulgarly called in Spain.

Goat and Compasses

A public—house sign in the Commonwealth; a corruption of “God en—compasses [us].” Some say it is the carpenters' arms — three goats and a chevron. The chevron being mistaken for a pair of compasses.

Goats

(Anglo—Saxon, gat.)

The three goats. A public—house sign at Lincoln, is a corruption of the Three Gowts, that is, drains or sluices, which at one time conducted the waters of a large lake into the river Witham. The name of the inn is now the Black Goats.

Gobbler

(A). A turkey—cock is so called from its cry.

Gobbo

(Launcelot). A clown in Shakespeare's Merchant of Venice.

Gobelin Tapestry

So called from Giles Gobelin, a French dyer in the reign of Francois I., who discovered the Gobelin scarlet. His house in the suburbs of St. Marcel, in Paris, is still called the Gobelins.

Goblin

A familiar demon. According to popular belief goblins dwelt in private houses and chinks of trees. As a specimen of forced etymology, it may be mentioned that Elf and Goblin have been derived from Guelph and Ghibelline. (French, gobelin, a lubber—fiend; Armoric gobylin; German kobold, the demon of mines; Greek, kobalos; Russian, colfy; Welsh coblyn, a “knocker;" whence the woodpecker is called in Welsh “coblyn y coed. “) (See Fairy.)

Goblin Cave

In Celtic called “Coir nan Uriskin ” (cove of the satyrs), in Benvenue, Scotland.

“After landing on the skirts of Benvenue, we reach the cave or cove of the goblins by a steep and narrow defile of one hundred yards in length. It is a deep circular amphitheatre of at least six hundred yards' extent in its upper diameter, gradually narrowing towards the base, hemmed in all round by steep and towering rocks, and rendered impenetrable to the rays of the sun by a close covert of luxuriant trees. On the south and west it is bounded by the

precipitous shoulder of Benvenue, to the height of at least 500 feet; towards the east the rock appears at some former period to have tumbled down, strewing the white course of its fall with immense fragments, which now serve only to give shelter to foxes, wild cats, and badgers.” — Dr. Graham.

Goblins

In Cardiganshire the miners attribute those strange noises heard in mines to spirits called “Knockers” (goblins). (See above.)

God

Gothic, goth (god); German, gott. (See Alla, Adonist, Elohistic, etc.) It was Hiero, Tyrant of Syracuse, who asked Simonides the poet, “What is God?” Simonides asked to have a day to consider the question. Being asked the same question the next day he desired two more days for reflection. Every time he appeared before Hiero he doubled the length of time for the consideration of his answer. Hiero, greatly astonished, asked the philosopher why he did so, and Simonides made answer, “The longer I think on the subject, the farther I seem from making it out.”

It was Voltaire who said, “Si Dieu n'existait pas, il faudrait l'inventer.“

God and the saints. “Il vaux mieux s'adresser à Dieu qu'à ses saints.” “Il vaut mieux se tenir au tronc qu'aux branches. ” Better go to the master than to his steward or foreman.

God bless the Duke of Argyle. It is said that the Duke of Argyle erected a row of posts to mark his property, and these posts were used by the cattle to rub against. (Hotten: Slang Dictionary.)

God helps those who help themselves. In French, “Aide—toi, le ciel t'aidera. ” “A toile ourdie Dieu donne le fil” (You make the warp and God will make the woof).

God made the country, and man made the town. Cowper in The Task (The Sofa). Varro says in his De Re Rustica, “Divina Natura agros dedit; Ars humana ædificavit urbes.“

“God save the king. ” It is said by some that both the words and music of this anthem were composed by Dr. John Bull (1563—1622), organist at Antwerp cathedral, where the original MS. is still preserved. Others attribute them to Henry Carey, author of Sally in our Alley. The words, “Send him victorious,” etc., look like a Jacobin song, and Sir John Sinclair tells us he saw that verse cut in an old glass tankard, the property of P. Murray Threipland, of Fingask Castle, whose predecessors were staunch Jacobites.

No doubt the words of the anthem have often been altered. The air and words were probably first suggested to John Bull by the Domine Salvum of the Catholic Church. In 1605 the lines, “Frustrate their knavish tricks,” etc., were added in reference to Gunpowder Plot. In 1715 some Jacobin added the words, “Send him [the Pretender] victorious,” etc. And in 1740 Henry Carey reset both words and music for the Mercers' Company on the birthday of George II.

God sides with the strongest. Julius Civiles. Napoleon I. said, “Le bon Dieu est toujours du côté des gros bataillons. ” God helps those that help themselves. The fable of Hercules and the Carter.

God tempers the wind to the shorn lamb. Sterne (Maria, in the Sentimental Journey). In French, “A brebis tondue Dieu lui mesure le vent; ” “Dieu mesure le froid à la brebis tondue. ” “Dieu donne le froid selon la robbe.“ Sheep are shorn when the cold north—east winds have given way to milder weather.

Full of the god — inspired, mænadic. (Latin, Dei plenus.)

Gods

BRITONS. The gods of the ancient Britons. Taramis (the father of the gods and master of thunder), Teutates (patron of commerce and inventor of letters), Esus (god of war), Belinus (= Apollo), Ardena (goddess of forests), Belisarna (the queen of heaven and the moon.)

CARTHAGINIAN GODS. Urania and Moloch. The former was implored when rain was required.

“Ista ipsa virgo [Urania] cœlestis pluviarum pollicitatrix.” — Tertullian.

Moloch was the Latin Saturn, to whom human sacrifices were offered. Hence Saturn was said to devour his own children.

CHALDEANS. The seven gods of the Chaldeans. The gods of the seven planets called in the Latin language Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, Apollo [i.e. the Sun], Mercury, Venus, and Diana [i.e. the Moon].

EGYPTIAN GODS. The two chief deities were Osiris and Isis (supposed to be sun and moon). Of inferior gods, storks, apes, cats, the hawk, and some 20,000 other things had their temples, or at least received religious honours. Thebes worshipped a ram, Memphis the ox [Apis], Bubastis a cat, Momemphis a cow, the Mendesians a he—goat, the Hermopolitans a fish called “Latus,” the Paprimas the hippopotamus, the Lycopolitans the wolf. The ibis was deified because it fed on serpents, the crocodile out of terror, the ichneumon because it fed on crocodiles' eggs.

ETRUSCANS. Their nine gods. Juno, Minerva, and Tinia (the three chief); to which add Vulcan, Mars, Saturn, Hercules, Summanus, and Vedius. (See Aesir.)

“Lars Porsena of Clusium,

By the nine gods he swore

That the great house of Tarquin

Should suffer wrong no more,

By the nine gods he swore it,

And named a trysting day.

Macaulay: Horatisu, Stanza 1.

GAUL. The gods of the Gauls were Esus and Teutates (called in Latin Mars and Mercury). Lucan adds a third named Taranes (Jupiter). Caesar says they worshipped Mercury, Apollo, Mars, Jupiter, and Minerva. The last was the inventor of all the arts, and presided over roads and commerce.

GREEK AND ROMAN GODS were divided into Dii Majores and Dii Minores. The Dii Majores were twelve in number, thus summed by Ennius —

Juno, Vesta, Minerva, Ceres, Diana, Venus, Mars, Mercurius, Joyi, Neptunus, Vulcanus, Apollo. Their blood was ichor, their food was ambrosia, their drink nectar. They married and had children, lived on Olympus in Thessaly, in brazen houses built by Vulcan, and wore golden shoes which enabled them to tread on air or water.

The twelve great deities, according to Ennius were (six male and six female):

Juno was the wife of Jupiter, Hera of Zeus; Venus was the wife of Vulcan, Aphrodite of Hephaistos.

Four other deities are often referred to:

Of these, Proserpine (Latin) and Persephone (Greek) was the wife of Pluto, Cybele was the wife of Saturn, and Rhea of Kronos.

In Hesiod's time the number of gods was thirty thousand, and that none might be omitted the Greeks observed a feast called qeozenia or Feast of the Unknown Gods. We have an All Saints' day.

Tris gar murisi eisiu epi cqoni pouluboteirh Aqanatz, Zhuos, fulakes meropwu auqrwpwu. Hesiod i. 250

“Some thirty thousand gods on earth we find

Subjects of Zeus, and guardians of mankind.”

PERSIAN GODS. The chief god was Mithra. Inferior to him were the two gods Oromasdes and Tremanius. The former was supposed to be the author of all the evils of the earth.

SAXON GODS. Odin or Woden (the father of the gods), to whom Wednes—day is consecrated; Frea (the mother of the gods), to whom Fri—day is consecrated; Hertha (the earth); Tuesco, to whom Tues—day is consecrated; Thor, to whom Thurs—day is consecrated.

SCANDINAVIAN GODS. The supreme gods of the Scandinavians were the Mysterious Three, called HAR (the mighty), the LIKE MIGHTY, and the THIRD PERSON, who sat on three thrones above the Rainbow. Then came the Æsir, of which Odin was the chief, who lived in Asgard, on the heavenly hills, between the Earth and the Rainbow. Next came the Vanir', or genii of water, air, and clouds, of which Niord was chief.

GODS AND GODDESSES. (See Deities, Fairies.)

Gods

Among the gods. In the uppermost gallery of a theatre, which is near the ceiling, generally painted to resemble the sky. The French call this celestial region paradis.

Dead gods. The sepulchre of Jupiter is in Candia. Esculapius was killed with an arrow. The ashes of Venus are shown in Paphos. Hercules was burnt to death. (Ignatius.)

Triple gods. (See Trinity.)

God's Acre

A churchyard or cemetery.

“I like that ancient Saxon phrase, which calls

The burial ground God's Acre.” — Longfellow.

Gods' Secretaries

(The). The three Parcæ. One dictates the decrees of the gods; another writes them down; and the third sees that they are carried out. (Martianus Capella. 5th century.)

God—child

One for whom a person stands sponsor in baptism. A godson or a goddaughter.

Goddess Mothers

(The). What the French call “bonnes dames ” or “les dames blanches, ” the prototype of the fays; generally represented as nursing infants on their laps. Some of these statues made by the Gauls or Gallo—Romans are called “Black Virgins.”

Godfather

To stand godfather. To pay the reckoning, godfathers being generally chosen for the sake of the present they are expected to make the child at the christening or in their wills.

Godfathers Jurymen, who are the sponsors of the criminal.

“In christening time thou shalt have two godfathers. Had I been judge, thou shouldst have had ten more to bring thee to the gallows, not to the font.” — Shakespeare: Merchant of Venice, iv.

1.

Godfrey

The Agamemnon of Tasso's Jerusalem Delivered, chosen by God as chief of the Crusaders. He is represented as calm, circumspect, and prudent; a despiser of “worldly empire, wealth, and fame.”

Godfrey's Cordial

A patent medicine given to children troubled with colic. Gray says it was used by the lower orders to “prevent the crying of children in pain” when in want of proper nourishment. It consists of sassafras, opium in some form, brandy or rectified spirit, caraway seed, and treacle. There are seven or eight different preparations. Named after Thomas Godfrey of Hunsdon, in Hertfordshire, in the first quarter of the eighteenth century.

Godiva

(Lady). Patroness of Coventry. In 1040, Leofric, Earl of Mercia and Lord of Coventry, imposed certain exactions on his tenants, which his lady besought him to remove. To escape her importunity, he said he would do so if she would ride naked through the town. Lady Godiva took him at his word, and the Earl faithfully kept his promise.

The legend asserts that every inhabitant of Coventry kept indoors at the time, but a certain tailor peeped through his window to see the lady pass. Some say he was struck blind, others that his eyes were put out by the indignant townsfolk, and some that he was put to death. Be this as it may, he has ever since been called “Peeping Tom of Coventry.” Tennyson has a poem on the subject.

The privilege of cutting wood in the Herduoles, by the parishioners of St. Briavel's Castle, in Gloucestershire, is said to have been granted by the Earl of Hereford (lord of Dean Forest) on precisely the same terms as those accepted by Lady Godiva.

“Peeping Tom” is an interpolation not anterior to the reign of Charles II., if we may place any faith in the figure in Smithfield Street, which represents him in a flowing wig and Stuart cravat.

Godless Florin

(The). Also called “The Graceless Florin.” In 1849 were issued florins in Great Britain, with no legend except “Victoria Regina.” Both F.D. (Defender of the Faith) and D.G. (by God's Grace) were omitted for want of room. From the omission of “Fidei Defensor" they were called Godless florins, and from the omission of “Dei Gratia” they were called Graceless florins.

These florins (2s.) were issued by Sheil, Master of the Mint, and as he was a Catholic, so great an outcry was made against them that they were called in the same year.

Godliness

Cleanliness next to godliness, “as Matthew Henry says.” Whether Matthew Henry used the proverb as well known, or invented it, deponent sayeth not.

Godmer

A British giant, son of Albion, slain by Canutus, one of the companions of Brute.

“Those three monstrous stones ...

Which that huge son of hideous Albion,

Great Godmer, threw in fierce contentiön

At bold Canutus: but of him was slain.”

Spenser: Faërie Queene, ii. 10.

Goel

The avenger of blood, so called by the Jews.

Goemot

or Goëm'agot. The giant who dominated over the western horn of England, slain by Corineus, one of the companions of Brute. (Geoffrey: Chronicles, i. 16.) (See Corineus.)

Gog and Magog

The Emperor Diocletian had thirty—three infamous daughters, who murdered their husbands; and, being set adrift in a ship, reached Albion, where they fell in with a number of demons. The

offspring of this unnatural alliance was a race of giants, afterwards extirpated by Brute and his companions, refugees from Troy. Gog and Magog, the last two of the giant race, were brought in chains to London, then called Troy—novant, and, being chained to the palace of Brute, which stood on the site of our Guildhall, did duty as porters. We cannot pledge ourselves to the truth of old Caxton's narrative; but we are quite certain that Gog and Magog had their effigies at Guildhall in the reign of Henry V. The old giants were destroyed in the Great Fire, and the present ones, fourteen feet high, were carved in 1708 by Richard Saunders.

Children used to be told (as a very mild joke) that when these giants hear St. Paul's clock strike twelve, they descend from their pedestals and go into the Hall for dinner.

Goggles

A corruption of ogles, eyeshades. (Danish, oog, an eye; Spanish, ojo; or from the Welsh, gogelu, to shelter.)

Gogmagog Hill

(The). The higher of two hills, some three miles south—east of Cambridge. The legend is that Gogmagog was a huge giant who fell in love with the nymph Granta, but the saucy lady would have nothing to say to the big bulk, afterwards metamorphosed into the hill which bears his name. (Drayton: Polyolbion, xxi.)

Gojam

A province of Abyssinia (Africa). Captain Speke traced it to Lake Victoria Nyanza, near the Mountains of the Moon (1861).

“The swelling Nile.

From his two springs in Gojam's sunny realm, Pure—welling out.” Thomson: Summer.

Golconda

in Hindustan, famous for its diamond mines.

Gold

By the ancient alchemists, gold represented the sun, and silver the moon. In heraldry, gold is expressed by dots.

All he touches turns to gold. It is said of Midas that whatever he touched turned to gold. (See Rainbow.)

“In manu illius plumbum aurum flebat.” — Petronius.

Gold

All that glitters is not gold. (Shakespeare: Merchant of Venice, ii. 7.)

“All thing which that schineth as the gold is nought gold.”

Chaucer: Canterbury Tales, 12,890.

“Non teneas aurum totum quod splendet ut aurum

Nec pulchrum pomum quodlibet esse bonum.” Alanus de Insulis: Parabolæ.

He has got the gold of Tolosa. His ill gains will never prosper. Cæpio, the Roman consul, in his march to Gallia Narbonensis, stole from Tolosa (Toulouse) the gold and silver consecrated by the Cimbrian Druids to their gods. When he encountered the Cimbrians both he and Mallius, his brother—consul, were defeated, and 112,000 of their men were left upon the field (B.C. 106).

The gold of Nibelungen. Brought ill—luck to every one who possessed it. (Icelandic Edda.) (See Fatal Gifts.) Mannheim gold. A sort of pinchbeck, made of copper and zinc, invented at Mannheim, in Germany. Mosaic gold is “aurum musivum, ” a bi—sulphuret of tin used by the ancients in tesselating. (French, mosaique.)

Gold Purse of Spain

Andalusia is so called because it is the city from which Spain derives its chief wealth.

Golden The Golden (“Auratus"). So Jean Dorat, one of the Pleiad poets of France, was called by a pun on his name. This pun may perhaps pass muster; not so the preposterous title given to him of “The French Pindar.”

(1507—1588.)

Golden—tongued (Greek, Chrysologos). So St. Peter, Bishop of Ravenna, was called. (433—450.) The golden section of a line. Its division into two such parts that the rectangle contained by the smaller segment and the whole line equals the square on the larger segment. (Euclid, ii. 11.)

Golden Age

The best age; as the golden age of innocence, the golden age of literature. Chronologers divide the time between Creation and the birth of Christ into ages; Hesiod describes five, and Lord Byron adds a sixth, “The Age of Bronze.” (See Age, Augustan.)

i. The Golden Age of Ancient Nations:

(1) NEW ASSYRIAN EMPIRE. From the reign of Esar—haddon or Assur Adon (Assyria's prince), third son of Sennacherib, to the end of Sarac's reign (B.C. 691—606).

(2) CHALDÆO — BABYLONIAN EMPIRE. From the reign of Nabopolassar or Nebo—pul—Assur (Nebo the great Assyrian) to that of Belshazzar or Bel—shah—Assur (Bel king—of Assyria) (B.C. 606—538).

(3) CHINA. The Tang dynasty (626—684), and especially the reign of Tae—tsong (618—626).

(4) EGYPT. The reigns of Sethos I. and Rameses II. (B.C. 1336—1224).

(5) MEDIA. The reign of Cyaxares or Kai—ax—Arës (the—king son—of “Mars”) (B.C. 634—594).

(6) PERSIA. The reigns of Khosru I., and II. (531—628).

ii. The Golden Age of Modern Nations.

(1) ENGLAND. The reign of Elizabeth (1558—1603).

(2) FRANCE. Part of the reigns of Louis XIV. and XV. (1640—1740).

(3) GERMANY. The reign of Charles V. (1519—1558).

(4) PORTUGAL. From John I. to the close of Sebastian's reign (1383—1578). In 1580 the crown was seized by Felipe II. of Spain.

(5) PRUSSIA. The reign of Frederick the Great (1740—1780).

(6) RUSSIA. The reign of Czar Peter the Great (1672—1725).

(7) SPAIN. The reign of Ferdinand and Isabella, when the crowns of Castile and Aragon were united

(1474—1516)

(8) SWEDEN. From Gustavus Vasa to the close of the reign of Gustavus Adolphus (1523—1632).

Golden Apple

“What female heart can gold despise? ” (Gray) In allusion to the fable of Atalanta, the swiftest of all mortals. She vowed to marry only that man who could outstrip her in a race. Milanion threw down three golden apples, and Atalanta, stopping to pick them up, lost the race.

Golden Ass

The romance of Apuleius, written in the second century, and called the golden because of its excellency. It contains the adventures of Lucian, a young man who, being accidentally metamorphosed into an ass while sojourning in Thessaly, fell into the hands of robbers, eunuchs, magistrates, and so on, by whom he was ill—treated; but ultimately he recovered his human form. Boccaccio has borrowed largely from this admirable romance; and the incidents of the robbers' cave in Gil Blas are taken from it.

Golden Ball

(The). Ball Hughes, one of the dandies in the days of the Regency. He paid some fabulous prices for his dressing cases (flourished 1820—1830). Ball married a Spanish dancer.

He shirked a duel and this probably popularised the pun Golden Ball, Leaden Ball, Hughes Ball.

The three golden balls. (See Balls.)

Golden Bay

The Bay of Kieselarke is so called because the sands shine like gold or fire. (Hans Struys, 17th cent.)

Golden Bonds

Aurelian allowed the captive queen Zenobia to have a slave to hold up her golden fetters.

Golden Bowl is Broken

(The). Death has supervened.

“Or ever the silver cord be loosed, or the golden bowl be broken, or the pitcher be broken at the fountain, or the wheel broken at the cistern. Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was; and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it.” — Ecclesiastes xii. 6, 7.

“Remember thy Creator”:

before the silver cord of health is loosed by sickness; before the golden bowl of manly strength has been broken up; before the pitcher or body, which contains the spirit, has been broken up; before the wheel of life has run its course,

and the spirit has returned to God, who gave it.

Golden Bull

An edict by the Emperor Charles IV., issued at the Diet of Nuremberg in 1356, for the purpose of fixing how the German emperors were to be elected. (See Bull.)

Golden Calf

We all worship the golden calf, i.e. money. The reference is to the golden calf made by Aaron when Moses was absent on Mount Sinai. (Exod. xxxii.) According to a common local tradition, Aaron's golden calf is buried in Rook's Hill, Lavant, near Chichester.

Golden Cave

Contained a cistern guarded by two giants and two centaurs; the waters of the cistern were good for quenching the fire of the cave; and when this fire was quenched the inhabitants of Scobellum would return to their native forms. (The Seven Champions, iii. 10.)

Golden Chain

“Faith is the golden chain to link the penitent sinner unto God” (Jeremy Taylor). The allusion is to a passage in Homer's Iliad (i. 19—30), where Zeus says, If a golden chain were let down from heaven, and all the gods and goddesses pulled at one end, they would not be able to pull him down to earth; whereas he could lift with ease all the deities and all created things besides with his single might.

Golden Fleece Ino persuaded her husband, Athamas, that his son Phryxos was the cause of a famine which desolated the land, and the old dotard ordered him to be sacrificed to the angry gods. Phryxos being apprised of this order, made his escape over sea on a ram which had a golden fleece. When he arrived at Colchis, he sacrificed the ram to Zeus, and gave the fleece to King Æe'tes, who hung it on a sacred oak. It was afterwards stolen by Jason in his celebrated Argonautic expedition. (See Argo.)

“This rising Greece with indignation viewed,

And youthful Jason an attempt conceived

Lofty and bold; along Peneus' banks,

Around Olympus' brows, the Muses' haunts, He roused the brave to re—demand the fleece.” Dyer: The Fleece, ii.

Golden fleece of the north. The fur and peltry of Siberia is so called. Australia has been called “The Land of the Golden Fleece,” because of the quantity of wool produced there.

Golden Fleece

An order of knighthood by this title was instituted by Philip III., Duke of Burgundy, in 1429. The selection of the fleece as a badge is perhaps best explained by the fact that the manufacture of wool had long been the staple industry of the Low Countries, then a part of the Burgundian possessions.

Golden Fountain

The property of a wealthy Jew of Jerusalem. “In twenty—four hours it would convert any metal into refined gold; stony flints into pure silver; and any kind of earth into excellent metal.” (The Seven Champions of Christendom, ii. 4.)

Golden Girdle

Louis VIII. made an edict that no courtesan should be allowed to wear a golden girdle, under very severe penalty. Hence the proverb, Bonne renommé vault mieux que ceinture dorée. (See Girdle.)

Golden Horn

The inlet of the Bosphorus on which Constantinople is situated. So called from its curved shape and great beauty.

Golden House

This was a palace erected by Nero in Rome. It was roofed with golden tiles, and the inside walls, which were profusely gilt, were embellished with mother—of—pearl and precious stones; the ceilings were inlaid with ivory and gold. The banquet—hall had a rotatory motion, and its vaulted ceiling showered flowers and perfumes on the guests. The Farnese popes and princes used the materials of Nero's house for their palaces and villas.

Golden Legend

A collection of hagiology (lives of saints) made by Jaques de Voragine in the thirteenth century; valuable for the picture it gives of mediæval manners, customs, and thought. Jortin says that the young students of religious houses, for the exercise of their talents, were set to accommodate the narratives of heathen writers to Christian saints. It was a collection of these “lives” that Voragine made, and thought deserving to be called “Legends worth their Weight in Gold.” Longfellow has a dramatic poem entitled The Golden Legend.

Golden Mean

Keep the golden mean. The wise saw of Cleobulos, King of Rhodes (B.C. 630—559).

“Distant alike from each, to neither lean,

But ever keep the happy Golden Mean.”

Rowe: The Golden Verses.

Golden—mouthed

Chrysostom; so called for his great eloquence (A.D. 347—407).

Golden Ointment Eye salve. In allusion to the ancient practice of rubbing “stynas of the eye” with a gold ring to cure them.

“I have a sty here, Chilax,

I have no gold to cure it.”

Beaumont and Fletcher: Mad Lovers.

Golden Opinions

“I have bought golden opinions of all sorts of people.” (Shakespeare: Macbeth, i. 7.)

Golden Palace

(See Golden House .)

Golden Rose

A cluster of roses and rosebuds growing on one thorny stem, all of the purest gold, chiselled with exquisite workmanship. In its cup, among its petals, the Pope, at every benediction he pronounces upon it, inserts a few particles of amber and musk. It is blessed on the fourth Sunday in Lent, and bestowed during the ecclesiastical year on the royal lady whose zeal for the Church has most shown itself by pious deeds or pious intentions. The prince who has best deserved of the Holy See has the blessed sword and cap (lo stocco e il beretto) sent him. If no one merits the gift it is laïd up in the Vatican. In the spring of 1868 the Pope gave the golden rose to Isabella of Spain, in reward of “her faith, justice, and charity,” and to “foretoken the protection of God to his well—beloved daughter, whose high virtues make her a shining light amongst women.” The Empress Eugénie of France also received it.

Golden Rule

In morals — Do unto others as you would be done by. Or Matt. vii. 12. In arithmetic — The Rule of Three.

Golden Shoe

(A). A pot of money. “The want of a golden shoe” is the want of ready cash. It seems to be a superlative of a “silver slipper,” or good luck generally, as he “walks in silver slippers.”

Golden Shower

or Shower of gold. A bribe, money. The allusion is to the classic tale of Jupiter and Danae. Acrisios, King of Argos, being told that his daughter's son would put him to death, resolved that Danae should never marry, and accordingly locked her up in a brazen tower. Jupiter, who was in love with the princess, foiled the king by changing himself into a shower of gold, under which guise he readily found access to the fair prisoner.

Golden Slipper

(The), in Negro melodies, like “golden streets,” etc., symbolises the joys of the land of the leal; and to wear the golden slipper means to enter into the joys of Paradise.

The golden shoes or slippers of Paradise, according to Scandinavian mythology, enable the wearer to walk on air or water.

Golden State

California; so called from its gold “diggins.”

Golden Stream

Joannes Damascenus, author of Dogmatic Theology (died 756).

Golden Thigh

Pythagoras is said to have had a golden thigh, which he showed to Abaris, the Hyperborean priest, and exhibited in the Olympic games. Pelops, we are told, had an ivory shoulder. Nuad had a silver hand (see Silver Hand), but this was artificial.

Golden Tooth

A Silesian child, in 1593, we are told, in his second set of teeth, cut “one great tooth of pure gold;” but Libavius, chemist of Coburg, recommended that the tooth should be seen by a goldsmith; and the goldsmith pronounced it to be “an ordinary tooth cleverly covered with gold leaf.”

Golden Town (The). So Mainz or Mayence was called in Carlovingian times.

Golden Valley

(The). The eastern portion of Limerick is so called, from its great natural fertility.

Golden Verses

So called because they are “good as gold.” They are by some attributed to Epicarmos, and by others to Empedocles, but always go under the name of Pythagoras, and seem quite in accordance with the excellent precepts of that philosopher. They are as follows: —

Ne'er suffer sleep thine eyes to close

Before thy mind hath run

O'er every act, and thought, and word,

From dawn to set of sun;

For wrong take shame, but grateful feel

If just thy course hath been;

Such effort day by day renewed

Will ward thy soul from sin. E. C. B.

Goldy

The pet name given by Dr. Johnson to Oliver Goldsmith. Garrick said of him, “He wrote like an angel and talked like poor Poll.” (Born Nov. 29, 1728; died April 4, 1774.)

Golgotha

signifies a skull, and corresponds to the French word chaumont. Probably it designated a bare hill or rising ground, having some fanciful resemblance to the form of a bald skull.

“Golgotha seems not entirely unconnected with the hill of Gareb, and the locality of Goath, mentioned in Jeremiah xxxi. 39, on the north—west of the city. I am inclined to fix the place where Jesus was crucified ... on the mounds which command the valley of Hinnom, above Birket—Mamila.” — Renan: Life of Jesus, chap. xxv.

Golgotha, at the University church, Cambridge, was the gallery in which the “heads of the houses” sat; so called because it was the place of skulls or heads. It has been more wittily than truly said that Golgotha was the place of empty skulls.

Goliath

The Philistine giant, slain by the stripling David with a small stone hurled from a sling. (1 Sam. xvii. 23—54.). (See Giants.)

Golosh'

It is said that Henry VI. wore half—boots laced at the side, and about the same time was introduced the shoe or clog called the “galage” or “gologe,” meaning simply a covering; to which is attributed the origin of our word golosh. This cannot be correct, as Chaucer, who died twenty years before Henry VI. was born, uses the word. The word comes to us from the Spanish galocha (wooden shoes); German, galosche.

“Ne wereë worthy to unbocle his galoche.” Chaucer: Squire's Tale.

Gomarists Opponents of Arminius. So called from Francis Gomar, their leader (1563—1641).

Gombeen Man

(The). A tallyman; a village usurer; a money—lender. The word is of Irish extraction.

“They suppose that the tenants can have no other supply of capital than from the gombeen man.” — Egmont Hake: Free Trade in Capital, p. 375.

Gombo

Pigeon French, or French as it is spoken by the coloured population of Louisiana, the French West Indies, Bourbon, and Mauritius. (Connected with jumbo.)

“Creole is almost pure French, not much more mispronounced than in some parts of France; but Gombo is a mere phonetic burlesque of French, interlarded with African words, and other words which are neither African nor French, but probably belong to the aboriginal language of the various countries to which the slaves were brought from Africa.” — The Nineteenth Century. October, 1891, p. 576.

Gondola

A Venetian boat.

“Venice, in her purple prime ... when the famous law was passed making all gondolas black, that the nobles should not squander fortunes upon them.” — Curtis: Potiphar Papers, i. p. 31.

Gone 'Coon

(A). (See Coon.)

Gone to the Devil

(See under Devil .)

Gone Up

Put out of the way, hanged, or otherwise got rid of. In Denver (America) unruly citizens are summarily hung on a cotton tree, and when any question is asked about them the answer is briefly given, “Gone up" — i.e. gone up the cotton tree, or suspended from one of its branches. (See New America, by W. Hepworth Dixon, i. 11.)

Goneril

One of Lear's three daughters. Having received her moiety of Lear's kingdom, the unnatural daughter first abridged the old man's retinue, then gave him to understand that his company was troublesome.

(Shakespeare: King Lear.)

Gonfalon

or Gonfanon. An ensign or standard. A gonfalonier is a magistrate that has a gonfalon. (Italian, gonfalone; French, gonfalon; Saxon, guth—fana, war—flag.) Chaucer uses the word gonfanon; Milton prefers gonfalon. Thus he says: —

“Ten thousand thousand ensigns high advanced,

Standards and gonfalons, 'twixt van and rear Stream in the air, and for distinction serve

Of hierarchies [3 syl.], of orders, and degrees.” Paradise Lost, v. 589.

Gonfanon

The consecrated banner of the Normans. When William invaded England, his gonfanon was presented to him by the Pope. It was made of purple silk, divided at the end like the banner attached to the “Cross of the Resurrection.” When Harold was wounded in the eye, he was borne to the foot of this sacred standard, and the English rallied round him; but his death gave victory to the invaders. The high altar of Battle Abbey marked the spot where the gonfanon stood, but the only traces now left are a few stones, recently uncovered, to show the site of this memorable place.

Gonin C'est un Maitre Gonin. He is a sly dog. Maitre Gonin was a famous clown in the sixteenth century. “Un tour de Maitre Gonin ” means a cunning or scurvy trick. (See Aliboron.)

Gonnella's Horse

Gonnella, the domestic jester of the Duke of Ferrara, rode on a horse all skin and bone. The jests of Gonnella are in print.

“His horse was as lean as Gonnella's, which (as the Duke said) `Osso atque pellis totus erat' (Plautus)” — Cervantes: Don Quixote.

Gonsalez

[Gon—zalley ]. Fernan Gonsalez was a Spanish hero of the tenth century, whose life was twice saved by his wife Sancha, daughter of Garcias, King of Navarre. The adventures of Gonsalez have given birth to a host of ballads.

Gonville College

(Cambridge). The same as Caius College, founded in 1348 by Edmond Gonville, son of Sir Nicholas Gonville, rector of Terrington, Norfolk. (See Caius College.)

Good

The Good.

Alfonso VIII. (or IX.) of Leon, “The Noble and Good.” (1158—1214.) Douglas (The good Sir James), Bruce's friend, died 1330.

Jean II. of France, le Bon. (1319, 1350—1364.)

Jean III., Duc de Bourgogne. (1286, 1312—1341.) Jean of Brittany, “The Good and Wise.” (1287, 1389—1442.) Philippe III., Duc de Bourgogne, (1396, 1419—1467.)

Réné, called The Good King Réné, titular King of Naples. (1439—1452.) Richard II., Duc de Normandie (996—1026.)

Richard de Beauchamp, twelfth Earl of Warwick, Regent of France. (Died 1439.)

Good—bye

A contraction of God be with you. Similar to the French adieu, which is à Dieu (I commend you to God).

Some object to the substitution of “God” in this phrase, reminding us of our common phrases good day, good night, good morning, good evening; “Good be with ye” would mean may you fare well, or good abide [with you].

Good—Cheap

The French bon marché, a good bargain. “Cheap” here means market or bargain. (Anglo—Saxon, ceap.)

Good Duke Humphrey

Humphrey Plantagenet, Duke of Gloucester, youngest son of Henry IV., said to have been murdered by Suffolk and Cardinal Beaufort. (Shakespeare: 2 Henry VI., iii. 2.)

Called “Good,” not for his philanthropy, but from his devotion to the Church. He was an out—and—out Catholic.

Good Folk

(Scotch guid folk) are like the Shetland land—Trows, who inhabit the interior of green hills. (See Trows.)

Good Form, Bad Form

Comme il faut, bon ton; mauvais ton, comme il ne faut pas. Form means fashion, like the Latin forma.

Good Friday

The anniversary of the Crucifixion. “Good” means holy. Probably good = God, as in the phrase “Good—bye” (q.v.).

Born on Good Friday. According to ancient superstition, those born on Christmas Day or Good Friday have the power of seeing and commanding spirits.

Good Graces (To get into one's). To be in favour with.

“Having continued to get into the good graces of the buxom widow.” — Dickens: Pickwick, chap. xiv.

Good Hater

(A). I love a good hater. I like a man to be with me or against me, either to be hot or cold. Dr. Johnson called Bathurst the physician a “good hater,” because he hated a fool, and he hated a rogue, and he hated a Whig; “he,” said the Doctor, “was a very good hater.”

Good Lady

(The). The mistress of the house. “Your good lady,” your wife. (See Goodman.) “My good woman” is a deprecatory address to an inferior; but “Is your good woman at home?” is quite respectful, meaning your wife (of the lower grade of society).

Good Neighbours

So the Scotch call the Norse drows.

Good Regent

James Stewart, Earl of Murray, appointed Regent of Scotland after the imprisonment of Queen Mary.

Good Samaritan

One who succours the distressed. The character is from our Lord's Parable of the man who fell among thieves (St. Luke x. 30—37).

Good Time

There is a good time coming. This has been for a long, long time a familiar saying in Scotland, and is introduced by Sir Walter Scott in his Rob Roy. Charles Mackay has written a song so called, set to music by Henry Russell.

Good Turn

(To do a). To do a kindness to any one.

Good and All

(For). Not tentatively, not in pretence, nor yet temporally, but bonâ fide, really, and altogether. (See All.)

“The good woman never died after this, till she came to die for good and all.” — L'Estrange: Fables.

Good as Gold

Thoroughly good.

Good for Anything

Ripe for any sort of work.

“After a man has had a year or two at this sort of work, he is good ... for anything.” — Boldrewood: Robbery under Arms, chap. xi.

Not good for anything. Utterly worthless; used up or worn down.

Good Wine needs no Bush

It was customary to hang out ivy, boughs of trees, flowers, etc., at public houses to notify to travellers that “good cheer” might be had within.

“Some ale—houses upon the road I saw,

And some with bushes showing they wine did draw.” Poor Robin's Perambulations (1678).

Goods

I carry all my goods with me (Omnia mea mecum porto). Said by Bias, one of the seven sages, when Priene was besieged and the inhabitants were preparing for flight.

Goodfellow

(Robin). Sometimes called Puck, son of Oberon, a domestic spirit, the constant attendant on the English fairy—court; full of tricks and fond of practical jokes.

“That shrewd and knavish sprite

Called Robin Goodfellow.”

Shakespeare: Midsummer Night's Dream, ii. 1.

Goodluck's Close

(Norfolk). A corruption of Guthlac's Close, so called from a chapel founded by Allen, son of Godfrey de Swaffham, in the reign of Henry II., and dedicated to St. Guthlac.

Goodman A husband or master is the Saxon guma or goma (a man), which in the inflected cases becomes guman or goman. In St. Matt. xxiv. 43, “If the goodman of the house had known in what watch the thief would come, he would have watched.” Gomman and gommer, for the master and mistress of a house, are by no means uncommon.

The phrase is also used of the devil.

“There's nae luck about the house

When our gudeman's awa.” Mickle.

Goodman

or St. Gutman. Patron saint of tailors, being himself of the same craft.

Goodman of Ballengeich

The assumed name of James V. of Scotland when he made his disguised visits through the country districts around Edinburgh and Stirling, after the fashion of Haroun—al—Raschid, Louis

XI., etc.

Goodman's Croft

A strip of ground or corner of a field formerly left untilled, in Scotland, in the belief that unless some such place were left, the spirit of evil would damage the crop.

“Scotchmen still living remember the corner of a field being left for the goodman's croft.” — Tylor: Primitive Culture, ii. 370.

Goodman's Fields

Whitechapel. Fields belonging to a farmer named Goodman.

“At the which farm I myself in my youth have fetched many a halfpenny—worth of milk, and never had less than three ale—pints for a halfpenny in summer, nor less than one ale—pint in winter, always hot from the kine ... and strained. One Trolop, and afterwards Goodman, were the farmers there, and had thirty or forty kine to the pail.” — Stow.

Goodwin Sands

consisted at one time of about 4,000 acres of low land fenced from the sea by a wall, belonging to Earl Goodwin or Godwin. William the Conqueror bestowed them on the abbey of St. Augustine, at Canterbury, and the abbot allowed the sea—wall to fall into a dilapidated state, so that the sea broke through in 1100 and inundated the whole. (See Tenterden Steeple.)

Goodwood Races

So called from the park in which they are held. They begin the last Tuesday of July, and last four days; but the principal one is Thursday, called the “Cup Day.” These races, being held in a private park, are very select, and admirably conducted. Goodwood Park, the property of the Duke of Richmond, was purchased by Charles, the first Duke, of the Compton family, then resident in East Lavant, a village two miles north of Chichester.

Goody

A depreciative, meaning weakly moral and religious. In French, bon homme is used in a similar way.

“No doubt, if a Caesar or a Napoleon comes before some man of weak will ... especially if he be a goody man, [he] will quail.” — J. Cook: Conscience, lecture iv. p. 49.

Goody

is good—wife, Chaucer's good—lefe; as, Goody Dobson. Good—woman means the mistress of the house, contracted sometimes into gommer, as goodman is into gomman. (See Goodman.)

Goody Blake

A poor old woman who was detected by Harry Gill, the farmer, picking up sticks for a wee—bit fire to warm herself by. The farmer compelled her to leave them on the field, and Goody Blake invoked on him the curse that he might never more be warm. From that moment neither blazing fire nor accumulated clothing ever made Harry Gill warm again. Do what he would, “his teeth went chatter, chatter, still.”

(Wordsworth: Goody Blake and Harry Gill.)

Goody Two—Shoes

This tale first appeared in 1765. It was written for Newbery, as it is said, by Oliver Goldsmith.

Goody—goody

Very religious or moral, but with no strength of mind or independence of spirit.

Goose

A tailor's smoothing—iron; so called because its handle resembles the neck of a goose.

“Come in; tailor; here you may roast your goose.” — Shakespeare: Macbeth, ii. 3.

Ferrara geese. Celebrated for the size of their livers. The French pâte de foie gras, for which Strasbourg is so noted, is not a French invention, but a mere imitation of a well—known dish of classic times.

“I wish, gentlemen, it was one of the geese of Ferrara, so much celebrated among the ancients for the magnitude of their livers, one of which is said to have weighed upwards of two pounds. With this food, exquisite as it was, did Heliogabalus regale his hounds.” — Smollett: Peregrine Pickle.

Wayz Goose. (See Wayz.)

I'll cook your goose for you. I'll pay you out. Eric, King of Sweden, coming to a certain town with very few soldiers, the enemy, in mockery, hung out a goose for him to shoot at. Finding, however, that the king meant business, and that it would be no laughing matter for them, they sent heralds to ask him what he wanted. “To cook your goose for you,” he facetiously replied.

He killed the goose to get the eggs. He grasped at what was more than his due, and lost an excellent customer. The Greek fable says a countryman had a goose that laid golden eggs; thinking to make himself rich, he killed the goose to get the whole stock of eggs at once but lost everything.

He steals a goose, and gives the giblets in alms. He amasses wealth by over—reaching, and salves his conscience by giving small sums in charity.

The older the goose the harder to pluck. Old men are unwilling to part with their money. The reference is to the custom of plucking live geese for the sake of their quills. Steel pens have put an end to this barbarous custom.

To get the goose. To get hissed on the stage. (Theatrical.) What a goose you are. In the Egyptian hieroglyphics the emblem of a vain silly fellow is a goose.

Goose and Gridiron

A public—house sign, properly the coat of arms of the Company of Musicians — viz. a swan with expanded wings, within a double tressure [the gridiron], counter, flory, argent. Perverted into a goose striking the bars of a gridiron with its foot, and called “The Swan and Harp,” or “Goose and Gridiron.” This famous lodge of the Freemasons, of which Wren was Master (in London House Yard), was doomed in 1894.

Goose at Michaelmas

One legend says that St. Martin was tormented by a goose which he killed and ate. As he died from the repast, good Christians have ever since sacrificed the goose on the day of the saint.

The popular tradition is that Queen Elizabeth, on her way to Tilbury Fort (September 29th, 1588), dined at the ancient seat of Sir Neville Umfreyville, where, among other things, two fine geese were provided for dinner. The queen, having eaten heartily, called for a bumper of Burgundy; and gave as a toast, “Destruction to the Spanish Armada!” Scarcely had she spoken when a messenger announced the destruction of the fleet by a storm. The queen demanded a second bumper, and said, “Henceforth shall a goose commemorate this great victory.” This tale is marred by the awkward circumstance that the thanksgiving sermon for the victory was preached at St. Paul's on the 20th August, and the fleet was dispersed by the winds in July. Gascoigne, who died 1577, refers to the custom of goose—eating at Michaelmas as common.

“At Christmas a capon, at Michaelmas a goose,

And somewhat else at New Yere's tide, for feare the lease flies loose.”

At Michaelmas time stubble—geese are in perfection, and tenants formerly presented their landlords with one to keep in their good graces.

Although geese were served at table in Michaelmas time, before the destruction of the Armada, still they commemorate that event. So there were doubtless rainbows before the Flood, yet God made the rainbow the token of His promise not to send another Flood upon the world.

Gooseberry

Fox Talbot says this is St. John's berry, being ripe about St. John's Day. [This must be John the Baptist, at the end of August, not John the Evangelist, at the beginning of May.] Hence, he says, it is called in Holland Jansbeeren. Jans'—beeren, he continues, has been corrupted into Gansbeeren, and Gans is the German for goose. This is very ingenious, but gorse (furze) offers a simpler derivation. Gorse—berry (the prickly berry) would be like the German stachel—beere (the “prickly berry"), and kraus — beere (the rough gooseberry), from krauen (to scratch). Krausbeere, Gorse—berry, Gooseberry. In Scotland it is called grosser. (See Bear's Garlick.)

To play gooseberry is to go with two lovers for appearance' sake. The person “who plays propriety” is expected to hear, see, and say nothing. (See Gooseberry Picker.)

He played up old gooseberry with me. He took great liberties with my property, and greatly abused it; in fact, he made gooseberry fool of it. (See below.

Gooseberry Fool

A corruption of gooseberry foulé, milled, mashed, pressed. The French have foulé de pommes; foulé de raisins; foulé de groseilles, our “gooseberry fool.”

Gooseberry fool is a compound made of gooseberries scalded and pounded with cream.

Gooseberry Picker

(A). One who has all the toil and trouble of picking a troublesome fruit for the delectation of others. (See Tapisserie.)

Goosebridge

Go to Goosebridge. “Rule a wife and have a wife.” Bocaccio (ix. 9) tells us that a man who had married a shrew asked Solomon what he should do to make her more submissive; and the wise king answered, “Go to Goosebridge.” Returning home, deeply perplexed, he came to a bridge where a muleteer was trying to induce a mule to pass over it. The mule resisted, but the stronger will of the muleteer at length prevailed. The man asked the name of the bridge, and was told it was “Goosebridge.” Petruchio tamed Katharine by the power of a stronger will.

Goose Dubbs

of Glasgow. A sort of Seven Dials, or Scottish Alsatia. The Scotch use dubbs for a filthy puddle. (Welsh, dwb, mortar; Irish, doib, plaster.)

“The Guse—dubs o' Glasgow: O sirs, what a huddle o' houses, ... the green middens o' baith liquid and solid matter, soomin' wi' dead cats and auld shoon.” — Noctes Ambrosianae.

Goose Gibbie

A half—witted lad, who first “kept the turkeys, and was afterwards advanced to the more important office of minding the cows.” (Sir Walter Scott: Old Mortality.)

Gopher—wood

of which the ark was made.

It was acacia, says the Religious Tract Society. It was boxwood, says the Arabian commentators. It was bulrushes, daubed over with slime, says Dawson.

It was cedar, says the Targum of Onkelos.

It was cypress, says Fuller, and is not unlike gopher. It was ebony—wood, says Bockart.

It was deal or fir—wood, say some.

It was juniper—wood, says Castellus.

It was pine, say Asenarius, Munster, Persie, Taylor, etc. It was wicker—wood, says Geddes.

Gordian Knot

A great difficulty. Gordius, a peasant, being chosen king of Phrygia, dedicated his waggon to Jupiter, and fastened the yoke to a beam with a rope of bark so ingeniously that no one could untie it. Alexander was told that “whoever undid the knot would reign over the whole East.” “Well then,” said the conqueror, “it is thus I perform the task,” and, so saying, he cut the knot in twain with his sword.

To cut the knot is to evade a difficulty, or get out of it in a summary manner.

“Such praise the Macedonian got.

For having rudely cut the Gordian knot.”

Waller: To the King.

“Turn him to any cause of policy,

The Gordian knot of it he will unloose,

Familiar as his garter.”

Shakespeare: Henry V. i. 1.

Gordon Riots

Riots in 1780, headed by Lord George Gordon, to compel the House of Commons to repeal the bill passed in 1778 for the relief of Roman Catholics. Gordon was undoubtedly of unsound mind, and he died in 1793, a proselyte to Judaism. Dickens has given a very vivid description of the Gordon riots in Barnaby Rudge.

Gorgibus

An honest, simple—minded burgess, brought into all sorts of troubles by the love of finery and the gingerbread gentility of his niece and his daughter. (Molière Les Précieuses Ridicules.)

Gorgon

Anything unusually hideous. There were three Gorgons, with serpents on their heads instead of hair; Medusa was the chief of the three, and the only one that was mortal; but so hideous was her face that whoever set eyes on it was instantly turned into stone. She was slain by Perseus, and her head placed on the shield of Minerva.

“Lest Gorgon rising from the infernal lakes

With horrors armed, and curls of hissing snakes, Should fix me, stiffened at the monstrous sight, A stony image in eternal night.”

Odyssey, xi.

“What was that snaky—headed Gorgon shield

That wise Minerva wore unconquered virgin, Where with she freezed her foes to congealed stone?

But rigid looks of chaste austerity,

And noble grace, that dashed brute violence With sudden adoration and blank awe.”

Milton: Comus, 458—463.

Gorham Controversy This arose out of the refusal of the bishop of Exeter to institute the Rev. Cornelius Gorham to the vicarage of Brampford Speke, “because he held unsound views on the doctrine of baptism.” Mr. Gorham maintained that “spiritual regeneration is not conferred on children by baptism.” After two years' controversy, the Privy Council decided in favour of Mr. Gorham. (1851).

Gorlois

Duke of Cornwall, husband of Igerna, who was the mother of King Arthur by an adulterous connection with Uther, pendragon of the Britons.

Gosling

A term applied to a silly fellow, a simpleton.

“Surprised at all they meet, the gosling pair,

With awkward gait, stretched neck, and silly stare,

Discover huge cathedrals.”

Cowper: Progress of Error, 379—81.

Goslings

The catkins of nut—trees, pines, etc. Halliwell says they are so called from their yellow colour and fluffy texture.

Gospel

A panacea; a scheme to bring about some promised reform; a beau ideal. Of course the theological word is the Anglo—Saxon godspell, i.e. God and spel (a story), a translation of the Greek evangelion, the good story.

“Mr. Carnegie's gospel is the very thing for the transition period from social heathendom to social Christianity.” — Nineteenth Century (March, 1891, p. 380).

Gospel according to ...

The chief teaching of [so—and—so]. “The Gospel according to Mammon” is the making and collecting of money. “The Gospel according to Sir Pertinax Mac Sycophant,” is bowing and cringing to those who are in a position to lend you a helping hand.

The). Sometimes called “The Acts of Pilate” (Acta Pilati), was the main source of the “Mysteries" and “Miracle Plays” of the Middle Ages; and although now deemed apocryphal seems for many ages to have been accepted as genuine.

Gospel of Wealth

(The). The hypothesis that wealth is the great end and aim of man, the one thing needful.

“The Gospel of Wealth advocates leaving free the operation of laws of accumulation.” — Carnegie: Advantages of Poverty.

Gospellers

Followers of Wycliffe, called the “Gospel Doctor;” any one who believes that the New Testament has in part, at least, superseded the Old.

Hot Gospellers. A nickname applied to the Puritans after the Restoration.

Gossamer

According to legend, this delicate thread is the ravelling of the Virgin Mary's winding—sheet, which fell to earth on her ascension to heaven. It is said to be God's seam, i.e. God's thread. Philologically it is the Latin gossipin—us, cotton.

Gossip

A tattler; a sponsor at baptism, a corruption of gossib, which is Godsib, a kinsman in the Lord. (Sib, gesib, Anglo—Saxon, kinsman, whence Sibman, he is our sib, still used.)

“Tis not a maid, for she hath had gossips [sponsors for her child]: yet `tis a maid, for she is her master's servant, and serves for wages.” — Shakespeare: Two Gentlemen of Verona, iii.1.

Gossip. A father confessor, of a good, easy, jovial frame.

“Here, andrew, carry this to my gossip, jolly father Boniface, the monk of St. Martin's” — Sir Walter Scott: Quentin Durward.

Gossypia

The cotton—plant personified.

“The nymph Gossypia heads the velvet sod,

And warms with rosy smiles the watery god.” Darwin: Loves of the Plants, canto ii.

Got the Mitten

Jilted; got his dismissal. The word is from the Latin mitto, to dismiss.

“There is a young lady I have set my heart on; though whether she is agoin' to give me hern, or give me the mitten, I ain't quite satisfied.” — SamSlick: Human Nature, p.90.

Gotch

A large stone jug with a handle (Norfolk). Fetch the gotch, mor — i.e. fetch the great water—jug, lassie.

“A gotch of milk I've been to fill.”

Bloomfield: Richard and Kate.

Goth

Icelandic, got (a horseman); whence Woden — i.e. Gothen.

“The Goths were divided by the Dnieper into East Goths (Ostrogoths), and West Goths (Visigoths), and were the most cultured of the German peoples.” — Baring—Gould: Story of Germany, p.37.

Last of the Goths. Roderick, the thirty—fourth of the Visigothic line of kings (414—711). (See Roderick.)

Gotham

Wise Men of Gotham — fools. Many tales of folly have been fathered on the Gothamites, one of which is their joining hands round a thornbush to shut in a cuckoo. The “bush” is still shown to visitors. It is said that King John intended to make a progress through this town with the view of purchasing a castle and grounds. The townsmen had no desire to be saddled with this expense, and therefore when the royal messengers appeared, wherever they went they saw the people occupied in some idiotic pursuit. The king being told of it, abandoned his intention, and the “wise men” of the village cunningly remarked, “We ween there are more fools pass through Gotham than remain in it.” Andrew Boyde, a native of Gotham, wrote The Merrie Tales of the Wise Men of Gotham, founded on a commission signed by Henry VIII. to the magistrates of that town to prevent poaching. N.B. All nations have fixed upon some locality as their limbus of fools; thus we have Phrygia as the fools home of Asia Minor, Abdera of the Thracians, Boeotia of the Greeks, Nazareth of the ancient Jews, Swabia of the modern Germans and so on. (See Coggeshall.)

Gothamites

(3 syl.). American cockneys. New York is called satirically Gotham.

“Such things as would strike ... a stranger in our beloved Gotham, and places to which our regular Gothamites (American cockneys) are wont to repair.” — Fraser's Magazine: Sketches of American Society.

Gothic Architecture

has nothing to do with the Goths, but is a term of contempt bestowed by the architects of the Renaissance period on mediæval architecture, which they termed Gothic or clumsy, fit for barbarians.

“St. Louis ... built the Ste. Chapelle of Paris, ... the most precious piece of Gothic in Northern Europe.” — Ruskin: Fors Clavigera, vol. i.

Napoleon III. magnificently restored and laid open this exquisite church.

Gouk

or Gowk. In the Teutonic the word gauch means fool; whence the Anglo—Saxon geac, a cuckoo, and the Scotch goke or gouk.

Hunting the gowk [fool], is making one an April fool. (See April.) A gowk storm is a term applied to a storm consisting of several days of tempestuous weather, believed by the peasantry to take place periodically about the beginning of April, at the time that the gowk or cuckoo visits this country.

“That being done, he hoped that this was but a gowk—storm.”— Sir G. Mackenzie: Memoirs, p.

70.

Gourd

Used in the Middle Ages for corks (Orlando Furioso, x. 106); used also for a cup or bottle. (French, gourde; Latin, cucurbita.)

Jonah's gourd [kikiven], the Palma Christi, called in Egypt kiki. Niebuhr speaks of a specimen which he

himself saw near a rivulet, which in October “rose eight feet in five months' time.” And Volney says, “Wherever plants have water the rapidity of their growth is prodigious. In Cairo,” he adds, “there is a species of gourd which in twenty—four hours will send out shoots four inches long.” (Travels, vol. i. p. 71.)

Gourds

Dice with a secret cavity. Those loaded with lead were called Fulhams (q.v.).

“Gourds and fullam holds,

And high and low beguile the rich and poor.” Shakespeare: Merry Wives of Windsor, i. 3.

Gourmand

and Gourmet (French). The gourmand is one whose chief pleasure is eating; but a gourmet is a connoisseur of food and wines. In England the difference is this: a gourmand regards quantity more than quality, a gourmet quality more than quantity. (Welsh, gor, excess; gorm, a fulness; gourmod, too much; gormant; etc.) (See Apicius.)

“In former times [in France] gourmand meant a judge of eating, and gourmet a judge of wine

... Gourmet is now universally understood to refer to eating, and not to drinking.” — Hamerton: French and English, part v. chap. iv. p.249.

Gourmand's Prayer

(The). “O Philoxenos, Philoxenos, why were you not Prometheus?” Prometheus was the mythological creator of man, and Philoxenos was a great epicure, whose great and constant wish was to have the neck of a crane, that he might enjoy the taste of his food longer before it was swallowed into his stomach. (Aristotle: Ethics, iii. 10.)

Gourre

(1 syl.). A debauched woman. The citizens of Paris bestowed the name on Isabella of Bavaria.

“We have here ... a man ... who to his second wife espoused La grande Gourre.” — Rabelais: Pantagruel, iii. 21.

Gout

from the French goutte, a drop, because it was once thought to proceed from a “drop of acrid matter in the joints.”

Goutte de Sang

The Adonis flower or pheasant's eye, said to be stained by the blood of Adonis, who was gored by a boar.

“O fleur, si chère à Cytheree

Ta corolle fut, en naissant,

Du sang d'Adonis colorèe.”

Goven

St. Goven's Bell. (See Inchcape .)

Government Men

Convicts.

“[He] had always been a hard—working man ... good at most things, and, like a lot more of the Government men, as the convicts were called, ... had saved some money.” — Boldrewood: Robbery under Arms, chap. i.

Gowan

A daisy; a perennial plant or flower.

The ewe—gowan is the common daisy, apparently denominated from the ewe, as being frequently in pastures fed on by sheep.

“Some bit waefu' love story, enough to make the pinks anthe ewe—gowans blush to the very lip.” — Brownie of Bodsbeck, i. 215.

Gower

called by Chaucer “The moral Gower.”

“O moral Gower, this book I direct

To thee, and to the philosophical Strood,

To vouchsauf there need is to correct

Of your benignities and zealës good.”

Chaucer.

Gowk

(See Gouk .)

Gowk—thrapple

(Maister). A pulpitdrumming “chosen vessel” in Scott's Waverley.

Gowlee

(Indian). A “cow—herd.” One of the Hindu castes is so called.

Gown

Gown and town row. A scrimmage between the students of different colleges, on one side, and the townsmen, on the other. These feuds go back to the reign of King John, when 3,000 students left Oxford for Reading, owing to a quarrel with the men of the town. What little now remains of this “ancient tenure” is confined, as far as the town is concerned, to the bargees and their “tails.”

Gownsman

A student at one of the universities; so called because he wears an academical gown.

Graal

(See Grail .)

Grab

To clutch or seize. I grabbed it; he grabbed him, i.e. the bailiff caught him. (Swedish, grabba, to grasp; Danish, griber; our grip, gripe, grope, grupple.)

A land grabber. A very common expression in Ireland during the last two decades of the nineteenth century, to signify one who takes the farm or land of an evicted tenant.

Grace

The sister Graces. The Romans said there were three sister Graces, bosom friends of the Muses. They are represented as embracing each other, to show that where one is the other is welcome. Their names are Agloea, Thalia, and Euphrosyne.

Grace's Card

or Grace—card. The six of hearts is so called in Kilkenny. At the Revolution in 1688, one of the family of Grace, of Courtstown, in Ireland, equipped at his own expense a regiment of foot and troop of horse, in the service of King James. William of Orange promised him high honours if he would join the new party, but the indignant baron wrote on a card, “Tell your master I despise his offer.” The card was the six of héarts, and hence the name.

It was a common practice till quite modern times to utilise playing—cards for directions, orders, and addresses.

Grace Cup

or Loving Cup. The larger tankard passed round the table after grace. It is still seen at the Lord Mayor's feasts, at college, and occasionally in private banquets.

The proper way of drinking the cup observed at the Lord Mayor's banquet or City companies' is to have a silver bowl with two handles and a napkin. Two persons stand up, one to drink and the other to defend the drinker. Having taken his draught, he wipes the cup with the napkin, and passes it to his “defender,” when the next person rises to defend the new drinker. And so on to the end.

Grace Darling daughter of William Darling, lighthouse—keeper on Longstone, one of the Farne Islands. On the morning of the 7th September, 1838, Grace and her father saved nine of the crew of the Forfarshire steamer, wrecked among the Farne Isles, opposite Bamborough Castle (1815—1842). Wordsworth has a poem on the subject.

The Grace Darling of America. Ida Lewis (afterwards Mrs. W. H. Wilson, of Black Rock, Connecticut). Her father kept the Limerock lighthouse in Newport harbour. At the age of eighteen she saved four young men whose boat had upset in the harbour. A little later she saved the life of a drunken sailor whose boat had sunk. In 1867 she rescued three men; and in 1868 a small boy who had clung to the mast of a sailboat from midnight till morning. In 1869 she and her brother Hosea rescued two sailors whose boat had capsized in a squall. Soon after this she married, and her career at the lighthouse ended.

Grace Days

or Days of Grace. The three days over and above the time stated in a commercial bill. Thus, if a bill is drawn on the 20th June, and is payable in one month, it ought to be due on the 20th of July, but three days of grace are to be added, bringing the date to the 23rd of July.

Gracechurch

(London) is Græs—church, or Grass—church, the church built on the site of the old grass—market. Grass at one time included all sorts of herbs.

Graceless Florin

The first issue of the English florins, so called because the letters D.G. (“by God's grace") were omitted for want of room. It happened that Richard Lalor Sheil, the master of the Mint, was a Catholic, and a scandal was raised that the omission was made on religious grounds. The florins were called in and re—cast. (See Godless Florin.)

Mr. Sheil was appointed by the Whig ministry Master of the Mint in 1846; he issued the florin in 1849; was removed in 1850, and died at Florence in 1851, aged nearly 57.

Graciosa

A princes beloved by Percinet, who thwarts the malicious schemes of Grognon, her stepmother. (`A fairy tale.)

Gracioso

The interlocutor in the Spanish drame romantique. He thrusts himself forward on all occasions, ever and anon directing his gibes to the audience.

Gradasso

A bully; so called from Gradasso, King of Sericana, called by Ariosto “the bravest of the Pagan knights.” He went against Charlemagne with 100,000 vassals in his train, all “discrowned kings,” who never addressed him but on their knees. (Orlando Furioso and Orlando Innamorato.)

Gradely

A north of England term meaning thoroughly; regularly; as Behave yourself gradely. A gradely fine day.

“Sammy ll fettle him graidely.” — Mrs. H. Burnett: That Lass o'Lowrie's, chap. ii.

Gradgrind

(Thomas). A man who measures everything with rule and compass, allows nothing for the weakness of human nature, and deals with men and women as a mathematician with his figures. He shows that summum ius is suprema injuria. (Dickens: Hard Times.)

“The gradgrinds under value and disparage it.” — Church Review.

Græmes

(The). A class of free—booters, who inhabited the debatable land, and were transported to Ireland at the beginning of the seventeenth century.

Graham A charlatan who gave indecent and blasphemous addresses in the “Great Apollo Room,” Adelphi. He sometimes made mesmerism a medium of pandering to the prurient taste of his audience.

Grahame's Dyke

The Roman wall between the friths of the Clyde and Forth, so called from the first person who leaped over it after the Romans left Britain.

“This wall defended the Britons for a time, but the Scots and Picts assembled themselves in great numbers, and climbed over it... A man named Grahame is said to have been the first soldier who got over, and the common people still call the remains of the wall`Grahame's Dike.' “ — Sir Walter Scott: Tales of a Grandfather.

Grail

(The Holy). In French, San Graal. This must not be confounded with the san—greal or sang—real, for the two are totally distinct. The “Grail” is either the paten or dish which held the paschal lamb eaten by Christ and His apostles at the last supper, or the cup which He said contained the blood of the New Testament. Joseph of Arimathæa, according to legend, preserved this cup, and received into it some of the blood of Jesus at the crucifixion. He brought it to England, but it disappeared. The quest of the Holy Grail is the fertile source of the adventures of the Knights of the Round Table. In some of the tales it is evidently the cup, in others it is the paten or dish (French, grasal, the sacramental cup). Sir Galahad discovered it and died; but each of the 150 knights of King Arthur caught sight of it; but, unless pure of heart and holy in conduct, the grail, though seen, suddenly disappeared. (See Greal and Galahad.)

Grain

A knave in grain. A knave, though a rich man, or magnate. Grain means scarlet (Latin, granum, the coccus, or scarlet dye).

“A military vest of purple flowed

Livelier than Melibean [Thessalian], or the grain

Of Sarra [Tyre] worn by kings and heroes old In time of truce.”

Paradise Lost, xi. 241—244.

Rogue in grain. A punning application of the above phrase to millers. To go against the grain. Against one's inclination. The allusion is to wood, which cannot be easily planed the wrong way of the grain.

With a grain of salt. Latin, “Cum grano salis, ” with great reservation. The French phrase has another meaning — thus, “It le mangcrait avec un grain de sel ” means, he could double up such a little

whipper—snapper as easily as one could swallow a grain of salt. In the Latin phrase cum does not mean “with” on “together with,” but it adverbialises the noun, as cum fide, faithfully, cum silentio, silently, cum lætitia, joyfully, cum grano, minutely (“cum grano salis, ” in the minute manner that one takes salt).

Gramercy

Thank you much (the French grand merci). Thus Shakespeare, “Be it so, Titus, and gramercy too” (Titus Andronicus, i. 2). Again, “Gramercies, Tranio, well dost thou advise” (Taming of the Shrew, i. 1). When Gobbo says to Bassanio, “God bless your worship!” he replies, “Gramercy. Wouldst thou aught with me?”

(Merchant of Venice, ii. 2.)

Grammar

Zenodotos invented the terms singular, plural, and dual. The scholars of Alexandria and of the rival academy of Pergamos were the first to distinguish language into parts of speech, and to give technical terms to the various functions of words.

The first Greek grammar was by Dionysios Thrax, and it is still extant. He was a pupil of Aristarchos. Julius Cæsar was the inventor of the term ablative case.

English grammar is the most philosophical ever devised; and if the first and third personal pronouns, the

relative pronoun, the 3rd person singular of the present indicative of verbs, and the verb “to be” could be reformed, it would be as near perfection as possible.

It was Kaiser Sigismund who stumbled into a wrong gender, and when told of it replied, “Ego sum Imperator Romanorum, ct supra grammaticam ' (1520, 1548—1572).

Grammarians

Prince of Grammarians. Apollonios of Alexandria, called by Priscian Grammaticorum princeps (second—century B.C.).

Grammont

The Count de Grammont's short memory. When the Count left England he was followed by the brothers of La Belle Hamilton, who, with drawn swords, asked him if he had not forgotten something. “True, true,” said the Count; “I promised to marry your sister,” and instantly went back to repair the lapse by making the young lady Countess of Grammont.

Granary of Europe

So Sicily used to be called.

Granby

The Marquis of Granby. A public—house sign in honour of John Manners, Marquis of Granby, a popular English general (1721—1770).

The Times says the old marquis owes his sign—board notoriety “partly to his personal bravery and partly to the baldness of his head. He still presides over eighteen public—houses in London alone.”

Old Weller, in Pickwick, married the hostess of the “Marquis of Granby” at Dorking.

Grand

(French).

Le Grand Corneille. Corneille, the French dramatist (1606—1684). Le Grand Dauphin. Louis, son of Louis XIV. (1661—1711).

La Grande Mademoiselle. The Duchesse de Montpensier, daughter of Gaston, Duc d'Orléns, and cousin of Louis XIV.

Le Grand Monarque. Louis XIV., also called “The Baboon” (1638, 1643—1715). Le Grand Pan. Voltaire (1696—1778).

Monsieur le Grand. The Grand Equerry of France in the reign of Louis XIV., etc.

Grandee

In Spain, a nobleman of the highest rank, who has the privilege of remaining covered in the king's presence.

Grand Alliance

Signed May 12th, 1689, between England, Germany, and the States General, subsequently also by Spain and Savoy, to prevent the union of France and Spain.

Grand Lama

The object of worship in Thibet and Mongolia. The worship in Thibet and Mongolia. The word lama in the Tangutanese dialect means “mother of souls.” It is the representative of the Shigemooni, the highest god.

Grande Passion

(The). Love.

“This is scarcely sufficient ... to supply the element ... so indispensable to the existence of a grande passion.” — Nineteenth Century (February, 1892, p. 210).

Grandison

(Sir Charles). The union of a Christian and a gentleman. Richardson's novel so called. Sir Walter Scott calls Sir Charles “the faultless monster that the world ne'er saw.” Robert Nelson, reputed author of the Whole Duty of Man, was the prototype.

Grandison Cromwell Lafayette

Grandison Cromwell was the witty nickname given by Mirabeau to Lafayette, meaning thereby that he had all the ambition of a Cromwell in his heart, but wanted to appear

before men as a Sir Charles Grandison.

Grandmother

My grandmother's review, the British Review. Lord Byron said, in a sort of jest, “I bribed my grandmother's review. “ The editor of the British called him to account, and this gave the poet a fine opportunity of pointing the battery of his satire against the periodical. (Don Juan.)

Grane

(1 syl.). To strangle, throttle (Anglo—Saxon, gryn).

Grange

Properly the granum (granary) or farm of a monastery, where the corn was kept in store. In Lincolnshire and other northern counties any lone farm is so called.

Mariana, of the Moated Grange, is the title of a poem by Tennyson, suggested by the character of Mariana in Shakespeare's Measure for Measure.

Houses attached to monasteries where rent was paid in grain were also called granges.

“Till thou return, the Court I will exchange

For some poor cottage, or some country grange.” Drayton: Lady Geraldine to Earl of Surrey.

Grangerise

Having obtained a copy of the poet's works, he proceeded at once to Grangerise them. Grangerisation is the addition of all sorts of things directly and indirectly bearing on the book in question, illustrating it, connected with it or its author, or even the author's family and correspondents. It includes autograph letters, caricatures, prints, broadsheets, biographical sketches, anecdotes, scandals, press notices, parallel passages, and any other sort of matter which can be got together as an olla podrida for the matter in hand. The word is from the Rev. J. Granger (1710—1776). Pronounce Grain—jer—ise. (See Bowdlerise.) There are also Grangerist, Grangerism, Grangerisation, etc.

Grangousier

(4 syl.). King of Utopia, who married, in “the vigour of his old age,” Gargamelle, daughter of the king of the Parpaillons, and became the father of Gargantua, the giant. He is described as a man in his dotage, whose delight was to draw scratches on the hearth with a burnt stick while watching the broiling of his chestnuts. When told of the invasion of Picrochole, King of Lerné, he exclaimed, “Alas! alas do I dream? Can it be true?” and began calling on all the saints of the calendar. He then sent to expostulate with Picrochole, and, seeing this would not do, tried what bribes by way of reparation would effect. In the meantime he sent to Paris for his son, who soon came to his rescue, utterly defeated Picrochole, and put his army to full rout. Some say he is meant for Louis XII., but this is most improbable, not only because there is very little resemblance between the two, but because he was king of Utopia, some considerable distance from Paris. Motteux thinks the academy figure of this old Priam was John d'Albret, King of Navarre. He certainly was no true Catholic, for he says in chap. xlv. they called him a heretic for declaiming against the saints. (Rabelais: Gargantua, i.

3.)

Grani

(2 syl.). Siegfried's horse, whose swiftness exceeded that of the winds. (See Horse.)

Granite City (The). Aberdeen.

Granite Redoubt

(The). The grenadiers of the Consular Guard were so called at the battle of Marengo in 1800, because when the French had given way they formed into a square, stood like flints against the Austrians, and stopped all further advance.

Granite State

(The). New Hampshire is so called, because the mountain parts are chiefly granite.

Grantorto

A giant who withheld the inheritance of Irena (Ireland). He is meant for the genius of the Irish rebellion of 1580, slain by Sir Artegal. (Spenser: Faërie Queene, v.) (See Giants.)

Grapes

The grapes are sour. You disparage it because it is beyond your reach. The allusion is to the well—known fable of the fox, which tried in vain to get at some grapes, but when he found they were beyond his reach went away saying, “I see they are sour.”

Wild grapes. What has been translated “wild grapes” (Isaiah v. 2—4) the Arabs call “wolf—grapes.” It is the fruit of the deadly nightshade, which is black and shining. This plant is very common in the vineyards of Palestine.

Grass

Gone to grass. Dead. The allusion is to the grass which grows over the dead. Also, “Gone to rusticate,” the allusion being to a horse which is sent to grass when unfit for work.

Not to let the grass grow under one's feet. To be very active and energetic.

“Captain Cuttle held on at a great pace, and allowed no grass to grow under his feet.” — Dickens: Dombey and Son.

To give grass. To confess yourself vanquished.

To be knocked down in a pugilistic encounter is to “go to grass;” to have the sack is also to go to grass, as a cow which is no longer fit for milking is sent to pasture.

A grass—hand is a compositor who fills a temporary vacancy.

Grass Widow

was anciently an unmarried woman who has had a child, but now the word is used for a wife temporarily parted from her husband. The word means a grace widow, a widow by courtesy. (In French, veuve de grace; in Latin, viduca de gratia; a woman divorced or separated from her husband by a dispensation of the Pope, and not by death; hence, a woman temporally separated from her husband.)

“Grace—widow (`grass—widow') is a term for one who becomes a widow by grace or favour, not of necessity, as by death. The term originated in the earlier ages of European civilisation, when divorces were granted [only] by authority of the Catholic Church.” — Indianopolis News (1876).

The subjoined explanation of the term may be added in a book of “Phrase and Fable.” During the gold mania in California a man would not unfrequently put his wife and children to board with some family while he went to the “diggins.” This he called “putting his wife to grass,” as we put a horse to grass when not wanted or unfit for work.

Grasshopper

as the sign of a grocer, is the crest of Sir Thomas Gresham, the merchant grocer. The Royal Gresham Exchange used to be profusely decorated with grasshoppers, and the brass one on the eastern part of the present edifice is the one which escaped the fires of 1666 and 1838.

There is a tale that Sir Thomas was a foundling, and that a woman, attracted by the chirping of a grasshopper, discovered the outcast and brought him up. Except as a tale, this solution of the combination is worthless. Gres = grass (Anglo—Saxon, græs), and no doubt grasshopper is an heraldic rebus on the name.

Puns and rebuses were at one time common enough in heraldry, and often very far—fetched.

Grasshopper

(The). A compound of seven animals. (Anglo—Saxon, græshoppa.)

“It has the head of a horse, the neck of an ox, the wings of a dragon, the feet of a camel, the tail of a serpent, the horns of a stag, and the body of a scorpion.” — Caylus: Oriental Tales

(The Four Talismans).

Grassmarket

At one time the place of execution in Edinburgh.

“I like nane o' your sermons that end in a psalm at the Grassmarket.” — Sir Walter Scott: Old Mortality, chap. xxxv.

Grassum

or Gersome. A fine in money paid by a lessee either on taking possession of his lease or on renewing it. (Anglo—Saxon, gærsum, a treasure.)

Gratiano

Brother of the Venetian senator, Brabantio. (Shakespeare: Othello.) Also a character in The Merchant of Venice, who “talks an infinite deal of nothing, more than any man in all Venice.” He is one of Bassanio's friends, and when the latter marries Portia, Gratiano marries Nerissa, Portia's maid.

Grave

To carry away the meal from the grave. The Greeks and Persians used to make feasts at certain seasons (when the dead were supposed to return to their graves), and leave the fragments of their banquets on the tombs (Eleemosynam sepulcri patris).

With one foot in the grave. At the very verge of death. The expression was used by Julian, who said he would “learn something even if he had one foot in the grave.” The parallel Greek phrase is, “With one foot in the ferry—boat,” meaning Charon's.

Grave

Solemn, sedate, and serious in look and manner. This is the Latin gravis, grave; but “grave,” a place of interment, is the Anglo—Saxon græf, a pit; verb, graf—an, to dig.

More grave than wise. “Tertius e cælo cecidit Cato.”

Grave—diggers

(Hamlet). “If the water come to the man ...” The legal case referred to by Shakespeare occurred in the fifth year of Queen Elizabeth's reign, called Hales v. Petit, stated at length in Notes and Queries, vol. viii. p. 123 (first series).

Grave Maurice

A public—house sign. The head of the [Graf Moritz], Prince of Orange, and Captain—General of the United Provinces (1567—1625). (Hotten: Book of Signs.)

Grave Searchers

Monkir and Nakir, so called by the Mahometans. (Ockley, vol. ii.) (See Monkir.)

Grave as a Judge

Sedate and serious in look and manner.

Grave as an Owl

Having an aspect of solemnity and wisdom.

Gravelled

I'm regularly gravelled. Non—plussed, like a ship run aground and unable to move.

“When you were gravelled for lack of matter.” —Shakespeare: As You Like It, iv. 1.

Gray

The authoress of Auld Robin Gray was Lady Anne Lindsay, afterwards Lady Barnard (1750—1825).

Gray Cloak

An alderman above the chair; so called because his proper costume is a cloak furred with gray amis. (Hutton: New View of London, intro.)

Gray Man's Path

A singular fissure in the greenstone precipice near Ballycastle, in Ireland.

Gray's Inn

(London) was the inn or mansion of the Lords Gray.

Grayham's

(See Grahame's Dyke .)

Graysteel

The sword of Kol, fatal to the owner. It passed to several hands, but always brought ill—luck. (Icelandic Edda.) (See Fatal Gifts; Swords.)

Greal

(San). Properly divided, it is sang—real, the real blood of Christ, or the wine used in the last supper, which Christ said was “His blood of the New Testament, shed for the remission of sin.” According to tradition, a part of this wine—blood was preserved by Joseph of Arimathæa, in the cup called the Saint Graal. When Merlin made the Round Table, he left a place for the Holy Graal. (Latin, Sang [uis] Real [is].) (See Graal.)

Grease One's Fist

or Palm (To). To give a bribe.

“Grease my fist with a tester or two, and ye shall find it in your pennyworths.” — Quarles: The Virgin Widow, iv. 1. p. 40.

“S. You must oyl it first.

C. I understand you —

Greaze him i' the fist.”

Cartwright: Ordinary (1651).

Greasy Sunday

Dominica carnelevale — i.e. Quinquagesima Sunday. (See Du Cange, vol. iii. p. 196, col. 2.)

Great

(The).

ABBAS I., Shah of Persia. (1557, 1585—1628.)

ALBERTUS MAGNUS, the schoolman. (1193—1280.)

ALFONSO III., King of Asturias and Leon. (848, 866—912.) ALFRED, of England. (849, 871—901.)

ALEXANDER, of Macedon. (B.C. 356, 340—323.)

ST. BASIL, Bishop of Cæsare'a. (329—379.)

CANUTE, of England and Denmark. (995, 1014—1036.)

CASIMIR III., of Poland. (1309, 1333—1370.)

CHARLES I., Emperor of Germany, called Charlemagne. (142, 764—814). CHARLES III. (or II.), Duke of Lorraine. (1543—1608).

CHARLES EMMANUEL I., Duke of Savoy. (1562—1630.)

CONSTANTINE I., Emperor of Rome. (272, 306—337.)

COUPERIN, (Francis), the French musical composer. (1668—1733.) DOUGLAS, (Archibald, the great Earl of Angus also called Bell—the—Cat [q.v.]). (Died 1514.) FERDINAND I., of Castile and Leon. (Reigned 1034—1065.)

FREDERICK WILLIAM, Elector of Brandenburg, surnamed The Great Elector. (1620, 1640—1688.) FREDERICK II., of Prussia. (1712, 1740—1786.)

GREGORY I., Pope. (544, 590—604.)

HENRI IV., of France. (1553, 1589—1610.) HEROD AGRIPPA I., Tetrarch of Abilene, who beheaded James (Acts xii.). (Died A.D. 44.) HIAO—WEN—TEE, the sovereign of the Hân dynasty of China. He forbade the use of gold and silver vessels in the palace, and appropriated the money which they fetched to the aged poor. (B.C. 206, 179—157.)

JOHN II., of Portugal. (1455, 1481—1495.)

JUSTINIAN I. (483, 527—565.)

LEWIS I., of Hungary. (1326, 1342—1381.)

LOUIS II., Prince of Condé, Duc d'Enghien. (1621—1686.) LOUIS XIV., called Le Grand Monarque. (1638,1643—1714.) MAHOMET II., Sultan of the Turks. (1430, 1451—1481.)

MAXIMILIAN, Duke of Bavaria, victor of Prague. (1573—1651.) COSMO DI'MEDICI, first Grand Duke of Tuscany.(1519, 1537—1574.) GONZALES PEDRO DE MENDOZA, great Cardinal of Spain, statesman and scholar. (1503—1575.) NICHOLAS I., Pope (was Pope from 858—867).

OTHO I., Emperor of Germany. (912, 936—973.)

PETER I., of Russia. (1672, 1689—1725.)

PIERRE III., of Aragon. (1239, 1276—1285.)

SFORZA (Giacomo), the Italian general.(1369—1424.) SAPOR or SHAH—POUR, the ninth king of the Sassanides (q.v.). (240, 307—379). SIGISMUND, King of Poland. (1466, 1506—1548.)

THEO'DORIC, King of the Ostrogoths. (454, 475—526.)

THEODO'SIUS I., Emperor. (346, 378—395.)

MATTEO VISCONTI, Lord of Milan, (1250, 1295—1322.)

VLADIMIR, Grand Duke of Russia. (973—1014.)

WALDEMAR I., of Denmark. (1131, 1157—1181.)

Great Bullet—head

George Cadoudal, leader of the Chouans, born at Brech, in Morbihan. (1769—1804.)

Great Captain

(See Captain .)

Great Cham of Literature

So Smollett calls Dr. Johnson. (1709—1784.)

Great Commoner

(The). William Pitt (1759—1806).

Great Cry and Little Wool Much ado about nothing. (See Cry .)

Great Dauphin

(See Grand .)

Great Elector

(The). Frederick William, Elector of Brandenburg (1620, 1640—1688).

Great Go

A familiar term for a university examination for degrees: the “previous examination” being the “Little Go.”

“Great Go” is usually shortened into “Greats.”

“Since I have been reading ... for my greats. I have had to go into all sorts of deep books.” — Grant Allen: The Backslider, part iii.

Great Harry

(The). A man—of—war built by Henry VII., the first of any size constructed in England. It was burnt in 1553. (See Henry Grace De Dieu.)

Great Head

Malcolm III., of Scotland; also called Canmore, which means the same thing. (Reigned 1057—1093.)

“Malcolm III., called Canmore or Great Head.” — Sir W. Scott: Tales of a Grandfather, i, 4.

Great Men

(Social status of). ÆSOP, a manumitted slave.

ARKWRIGHT (Sir Richard), a barber.

BEACONSFIELD (Lord), a solicitor's clerk. BLOOMFIELD, a cobbler, son of a tailor.

BUNYAN, a travelling tinker.

BURNS, a gauger, son of a ploughman.

CÆDMON, a cowherd.

CERVANTES, a common soldier.

CLARE, a ploughman, son of a farm labourer. CLAUDE LORRAINE, a pastrycook.

COLUMBUS, son of a weaver.

COOK (Captain), son of a husbandman.

CROMWELL, son of a brewer.

CUNNINGHAM (Allan), a stonemason, son of a peasant.

DEFOE, a hosier, son of a butcher.

DEMOSTHENES, son of a cutler.

DICKENS, a, newspaper reporter; father the same. ELDON (Lord ), son of a coal—broker.

FARADAY (Michael), a bookbinder.

FERGUSON (James), the astronomer, son of a day—labourer. FRANKLIN, a journeyman printer, son of a tallow—chandler. HARGREAVES, the machinist, a poor weaver.

HOGG, a shepherd, son of a Scotch peasant.

HOMER, a farmer's son (said to have begged his bread). HORACE, son of a manumitted slave.

HOWARD (John), a grocer's apprentice, son of a tradesman.

KEAN (Edmund), son of a stage—carpenter in a minor theatre. JONSON (Ben), a bricklayer.

LATIMER, Bishop of Worcester, son of a small farmer.

LUCIAN, a sculptor, son of a poor tradesman.

MONK (General), a volunteer.

OPIE (John), son of a poor carpenter in Cornwall.

PAINE (Thomas), a stay—maker, son of a Quaker. PORSON (Richard), son of a parish clerk in Norfolk. RICHARDSON, a bookseller and printer, son of a joiner. SHAKESPEARE, son of a wool—stapler.

STEPHENSON (George), son of a fireman at a colliery.

VIRGIL, son of a porter.

WATT (James), improver of the steam engine, son of a block—maker. WASHINGTON, a farmer.

WOLSEY, son of a butcher.

And hundreds more.

Great Men

(Wives of). (See under Wives .)

Great Mogul

The title of the chief of the Mogul Empire, which came to an end in 1806.

Great Mother

The earth. When Junius Brutus and the sons of Tarquin asked the Delphic Oracle who was to succeed Superbus on the throne of Rome, they received for answer, “He who shall first kiss his mother.” While the two princes hastened home to fulfil what they thought was meant, Brutus fell to the earth, and exclaimed, “Thus kiss I thee, O earth, the great mother of us all.”

Great Perhaps

(The). So Rabelais (1485—1553) described a future state.

Great Scott

or Scot! A mitigated form of oath. The initial letter of the German Gott is changed into Sc.

“ `Great Scott! ... Beg pardon!' ejaculated Silas, astounded.” — A. C. Gunter: Baron Montez, book iv. chap. xix.

Great Sea

(The). So the Mediterranean Sea was called by the ancient Greeks and Romans.

Great Unknown

(The). Sir Walter Scott, who published the Waverley Novels anonymously. (1771—1832.)

Great Unwashed

(The). The artisan class. Burke first used the compound, but Sir Walter Scott popularised it.

Great Wits Jump

Think alike; tally. Thus Shakespeare says, “It jumps with my humour.” (1 Henry IV., iv. 2.)

Great Wits to Madness nearly are Allied

(Pope.) Seneca says, “Nullum magnum ingenium absque mixtura dementiæ est. “

Greatest

The greatest happiness of the greatest number. Jeremy Bentham's political axiom. (Liberty of the People.) (1821.)

Greatheart

(Mr.). The guide of Christiana and her family to the Celestial City. (Bunyan: Pilgrim's Progress, ii.)

Greaves

(Sir Launcelot). A sort of Don Quixote, who, in the reign of George II., wandered over England to redress wrongs, discourage moral evils not recognisable by law, degrade immodesty, punish ingratitude, and reform society. His Sancho Panza was an old sea captain. (Smollett: Adventures of Sir Launcelot Greaves.)

Grebenski Cossacks So called from the word greben (a comb). This title was conferred upon them by Czar Ivan I., because, in his campaign against the Tartars of the Caucasus, they scaled a mountain fortified with sharp spurs, sloping down from its summit, and projecting horizontally, like a comb (Duncan: Russia.)

Grecian Bend

(The). An affectation in walking, with the body stooped slightly forward, assumed by English ladies in 1875. The silliness spread to America and other countries which affect passing oddities of fashion.

Grecian Coffee—house

in Devereux Court, the oldest in London, was originally opened by Pasqua, a Greek slave, brought to England in 1652 by Daniel Edwards, a Turkey merchant. This Greek was the first to teach the method of roasting coffee, to introduce the drink into the island, and to call himself a “coffee—man.”

Grecian Stairs

A corruption of greesing stairs. Greesings (steps) still survives in the architectural word grees, and in the compound word de—grees. There is still on the hill at Lincoln a flight of stone steps called “Grecian stairs. “

“Paul stood on the greezen [i.e. stairs].” —Wicliffe: Acts xxi. 40.

Greedy

(Justice). In A New Way to Pay Old Debts, by Massinger.

Greegrees

Charms. (African superstition.)

A gree—gree man. One who sells charms.

Greek

(The). Manuel Alvarez (el Griego), the Spanish sculptor (1727—1797).

All Greek to me. Quite unintelligible; an unknown tongue or language. Casca says, “For mine own part, it was all Greek to me.” (Shakespeare: Julius Caesar, i. 2.) “C'est du Grec pour moi. “

Last of the Greeks. Philopœmen, of Megalopolis, whose great object was to infuse into the Achæans a military spirit, and establish their independence (B.C. 252—183).

To play the Greek (Latin, græcari). To indulge in one's cups. The Greeks have always been considered a luxurious race, fond of creature—comforts. Thus Cicero, in his oration against “Verres,” says: “Discumbitur; fit sermo inter eos et invitatio, ut Græco more biberetur: hospes hortatur, poscunt majoribus poculis; celebratur omnium sermone lætiliaque convivium. ” The law in Greek banquets was E pithi e apithi (Quaff, or be off!) (Cut in, or cut off!). In Troilus and Cressida Shakespeare makes Pandarus, bantering Helen for her love to Troilus, say, “I think Helen loves him better than Paris;” to which Cressida, whose wit is to parry and pervert, replies, “Then she's a merry Greek indeed,” insinuating that she was a “woman of pleasure.” (Troilus and Cressida, i. 2.)

Un Grec (French). A cheat. Towards the close of the reign of Louis XIV., a knight of Greek origin, named Apoulos, was caught in the very act of cheating at play, even in the palace of the grand monarque. He was sent to the galleys, and the nation which gave him birth became from that time a byword for swindler and blackleg.

Un potage à la Grecque. Insipid soup; Spartan broth.

When Greek joins Greek, then is the tug of war. When two men or armies of undoubted courage fight, the contest will be very severe. The line is from a verse in the drama of Alexander the Great, slightly altered, and the reference is to the obstinate resistance of the Greek cities to Philip and Alexander, the Macedonian kings.

“When Greeks joined Greeks, then was the tug of war.” Nathaniel Lee.

In French the word “Grec ' sometimes means wisdom, as —

Il est Grec en cela. He has great talent that way. Il n'est pas grand Grec. He is no great conjurer.

Greek Calends Never. To defer anything to the Greek Calends is to defer it sine die. There were no calends in the Greek months. The Romans used to pay rents, taxes, bills, etc., on the calends, and to defer paying them to the “Greek Calends” was virtually to repudiate them. (See Never.)

“Will you speak; of your paltry prose doings in my presence, whose great historical poem, in twenty books, with notes in proportion, has been postponed `ad Græcas Kalendas'?” — Sir W. Scott: The Betrothed (Introduction).

Greek Church

includes the church within the Ottoman Empire subject to the patriarch of Constantinople, the church in the kingdom of Greece, and the Russo—Greek Church. The Roman and Greek Churches formally separated in 1054. The Greek Church dissents from the doctrine that the Holy Ghost proceeds from the Father and the Son (Filioque), rejects the Papal claim to supremacy, and administers the eucharist in both kinds to the laity; but the two churches agree in their belief of seven sacraments, transubstantiation, the adoration of the Host, confession, absolution, penance, prayers for the dead, etc.

Greek Commentator

Fernan Nunen de Guzman, the great promoter of Greek literature in Spain. (1470—1553.)

Greek Cross

Same shape as St. George's cross (+). The Latin cross has the upright one—third longer than the cross—beam (†).

St George's Cross is seen on our banners, where the crosses of St. Andrew and St. Patrick are combined with it. (See Union Jack.)

Greek Fire

A composition of nitre, sulphur, and naphtha. Tow steeped in the mixture was hurled in a blazing state through tubes, or tied to arrows. The invention is ascribed to Callinicos, of Heliopolis, A.D. 668.

A very similar projectile was used by the Federals in the great American contest, especially at the seige of Charleston.

Greek Gift

(A). A treacherous gift. The reference is to the Wooden Horse said to be a gift or offering to the gods for a safe return from Troy, but in reality a ruse for the destruction of the city. (See Fatal Gifts.)

“Timeo Danaos et dona ferentes.”

Virgil: Æneid, ii. 49.

Greek Life

A sound mind in a sound body. “Mens sana in corpore sano.”

“This healthy life, which was the Greek life, came from keeping the body in good tune.” — Daily Telegraph.

Greek Trust

No trust at all. “Græca fides” was with the Romans no faith at all. A Greek, in English slang, means a cheat or sharper, and Greek bonds are sadly in character with Græca fides.

Greeks

in the New Testament mean Hellenists, or naturalised Jews in foreign countries; those not naturalised were called Aramæan Jews in Syria, Mesopotamia, and Palestine.

“I will praise God that our family has ever remained Aramæan; not one among us has ever gone over to the Hellenists.” — Eldad the Pilgrim, chap. ii.

Green

Young, fresh, as green cheese, i.e. cream cheese, which is eaten fresh; green goose, a young or midsummer goose.

“If you would fat green geese, shut them up when they are about a month old.” — Mortimer: Husbandry

Immature in age or judgment, inexperienced, young.

“The text is old, the orator too green.”

Shakespeare: Venus and Adonis, 806.

Simple, raw, easily imposed upon; a greenhorn (q.v.).

“`He is so jolly green,' said Charley.” — Dickens:

Oliver Twist. chap. ix.

Green. The imperial green of France was the old Merovingian colour restored, and the golden bees are the ornaments found on the tomb of Childeric, the father of Clovis, in 1653. The imperial colour of the Aztecs was green; the national banner of Ireland is green; the field of many American flags is green, as their Union Jack, and the flags of the admiral, vice—admiral, rear—admiral, and commodore; and that of the Chinese militia is green.

Green is held unlucky to particular clans and counties of Scotland. The Caithness men look on it as fatal, because their bands were clad in green at the battle of Flodden. It is disliked by all who bear the name of Ogilvy, and is especially unlucky to the Grahame clan. One day, an aged man of that name was thrown from his horse in a fox chase, and he accounted for the accident from his having a green lash to his riding whip.

(See Kendal Green.)

For its symbolism, etc., see under COLOURS.) N.B. There are 106 different shades of green. (See Kendal Green.)

Green Bag

What's in the green bag? What charge is about to be preferred against me? The allusion is to the “Green Bag Inquiry” (q.v.).

Green Bird

(The) told everything a person wished to know, and talked like an oracle. (Countess D'Aulnoy: Fair Star and Prince Chery.)

Green Cloth

The Board of Green Cloth. A board connected with the royal household, having power to correct offenders within the verge of the palace and two hundred yards beyond the gates. A warrant from the board must be obtained before a servant of the palace can be arrested for debt, So called “because the committee sit with the steward of the household at a board covered with a green cloth in the counting—house, as recorders and witnesses to the truth.” It existed in the reign of Henry I., and probably at a still earlier period.

Green Dogs

Any extinct race, like that of the Dodo. Brederode said to Count Louis: “I would the whole race of bishops and cardinals was extinct, like that of green dogs.” (Motley Dutch Republic, part ii. 5.)

Green Dragoons

(The). The 13th Dragoons (whose regimental facings were green). Now called the 13th Hussars, and the regimental facings have been white since 1861.

Green Glasses

To look through green glasses. To feel jealous of one; to be envious of another's success.

“If we had an average of theatrical talent, we had also our quantum of stage jealousies; for who looks through his green glasses more peevishly than an actor when his brother Thespian brings down the house with applause.” — C. Thomson: Autobiography, p. 197.

Green Goose (A). A young goose not fully grown.

Green Gown

(A). A tousel in the new—mown hay. To “give one a green gown" sometimes means to go beyond the bounds of innocent playfulness.

“Had any dared to give her [Narcissa] a green gown,

The fair had petrifled him with a frown ...

Pure as the snow was she, and cold as ice.”

Peter Pindar: Old Simon.

Green Hands

(a nautical phrase). Inferior sailors, also called boys. A crew is divided into (1) Able seamen;

(2) Ordinary seamen; and (3) Green hands or boys. The term “boys" has no reference to age, but merely skill and knowledge in seamanship. Here “green” means not ripe, not mature.

Green Horse

(The). The 5th Dragoon Guards; so called because they are a horse regiment, and have green for their regimental facings. Now called “The Princess Charlotte of Wales's Dragoon Guards.”

Tarleton's green horse. That is, the horse of General Tarleton covered with green ribbons and housings, the electioneering colours of the member for Liverpool, which he represented in 1790, 1796, 1802, 1807. His Christian name was Banastre.

Green Howards

(The). The 19th Foot, named from the Hon. Charles Howard, colonel from 1738 to 1748. Green was the colour of their regimental facings, now white, and the regiment is called “The Princess of Wales's Own.”

Green Isle

or The Emerald Isle. Ireland; so called from the brilliant green hue of its grass.

Green Knight

(The). A Pagan, who demanded Fezon in marriage; but, overcome by Orson, resigned his claim. (Valentine and Orson.)

Green Labour

The lowest—paid labour in the tailoring trade. Such garments are sold to African gold—diggers and agricultural labourers. Soap and shoddy do more for these garments than cotton or cloth. (See Greener.)

Green Linnets

The 39th Foot, so called from the colour of their facings. Now the Dorsetshire, and the facings are white.

Green Man

This public—house sign represents the gamekeeper, who used at one time to be dressed in green.

“But the `Green Man' shall I pass by unsung,

Which mine own James upon his sign—post hung? His sign, his image — for he once was seen

A squire's attendant, clad in keeper's green.”

Crabbe: Borough.

The men who let off fireworks were called Green—men in the reign of James I.

“Have you any squibs, any green—man in your shows?” — The Seven Champions of Christondom.

Green Room

(The). The common waiting—room in a theatre for the performers; so called because at one time the walls were coloured green to relieve the eyes affected by the glare of the stage lights.

Green Sea

The Persian Gulf; so called from a remarkable strip of water of a green colour along the Arabian coast.

Between 1690 and 1742 the 2nd Life Guards were facetiously called “The Green Sea” from their sea—green facings, in compliment to Queen Catharine, whose favourite colour it was. The facings of this regiment are now blue.

Green Thursday

Maunday Thursday, the great day of absolution in the Lutheran Church. (German, Grün—donnerstag; in Latin, dies viridium, Luke xxiii. 31.)

Green Tree

If they do these things in the green tree, what shall be done in the dry? (Luke xxiii. 31.) If the righteous can find no justice in man, what must not the unrighteous expect? If innocent men are condemned to death, what hope can the guilty have? If green wood burns so readily, dry wood would burn more freely still.

Green Wax

Estreats delivered to a sheriff out of the Exchequer, under the seal of the court, which is impressed upon green wax, to be levied (7 Henry IV. c. 3). (Wharton: Law Lexicon.)

Green as Grass

Applied to those easily gulled, and quite unacquainted with the ways of the world. “Verdant Greens.”

Green Bag Inquiry

Certain papers of a seditious character packed in a green bag during the Regency. The contents were laid before Parliament, and the committee advised the suspension of the Habeas Corpus Act (1817).

Green Baize Road

(Gentlemen of the). Whist players. “Gentlemen of the Green Cloth Road,” billiard players. (See Bleak House, chap. xxvi. par. 1.) Probably the idea of sharpers is included, as “Gentlemen of the Road” means highwaymen.

Green—Eyed Jealousy

or Green—eyed Monster. Expressions used by Shakespeare (Merchant of Venice, iii. 2; Othello, iii. 3). As cats, lions, tigers, and all the green—eyed tribe “mock the meat they feed on,” so jealousy mocks its victim by loving and loathing it at the same time.

Green in my Eye

Do you see any green in the white of my eye (or eyes)? Do I look credulous and easy to be bamboozled? Do I look like a greenhorn? Credulity and wonderment are most pronounced in the eye.

Green Man and Still

This public—house sign refers to the distillation of spirits from green herbs, such as peppermint cordial, and so on. The green man is the herbalist, or the greengrocer of herbs, and the still is the apparatus for distillation.

Green Ribbon Day

in Ireland is March 17th, St. Patrick's Day, when the shamrock and green ribbon are worn as the national badge.

Green Sleeves and Pudding Pies This, like Maggie Lauder, is a scurrilous song, in the time of the Reformation, on the doctrines of the Catholic Church and the Catholic clergy. (See “John Anderson, my Jo.”)

Greens of Constantinople

(The). A political party opposed to the Blues in the reign of Justinian.

Greenbacks

Bank notes issued by the Government of the United States in 1862, during the Civil War; so called because the back is printed in green. In March, 1878, the amount of greenbacks for permanent circulation was fixed at 346,681,016 dollars; in rough numbers, about 70 millions sterling.

Greener

A slang term for a foreigner who begins to learn tailoring or shoe—making on his arrival in England.

Greengage

Introduced into England by the Rev. John Gage from the Chartreuse Monastery, near Paris. Called by the French “Reine Claude,” out of compliment to the daughter of Anne de Bretagne and Louis XII., generally called la bonne reine (1499—1524).

Greenhorn

(A). A simpleton, a youngster. French, Cornichon (a cornicle or little horn), also a simpleton, a calf.

“Panurge le veau cocquart, cornichon, escorne ...viens ici nous ayder, grand veau plourart,” etc.” — Rabelais, book iv. chap. xxi.

Greenlander

A native of Greenland. Facetiously applied to a greenhorn, that is, one from the verdant country called the land of green ones.

Greenlandman's Galley

The lowest type of profanity and vulgarity.

“In my seafaring days the Greenland sailors were notorious for daring and their disrespect of speech, prefacing or ending every sentence with an oath, or some indecent expression. Even in those days [the first quarter of the nineteenth century] a `Greenlandman's Galley' was proverbially the lowest in the scale of vulgarity.” — C. Thomson: Autobiography, p. 118.

Too low for even a Greenlandman's Galley. One whose ideas of decency were degraded below even that of a Greenland crew.

Greenwich

is the Saxon Grenë—wic (green village), formerly called Grenawic, and in old Latin authors “Grenoviam viridis.” Some think it is a compound of grian—wic (the sun city).

Greenwich Barbers

Retailers of sand; so called because the inhabitants of Greenwich “shave the pits” in the neighbourhood to supply London with sand.

Gregarines

(3 syl.). In 1867 the women of Europe and America, from the thrones to the maid—servants, adopted the fashion of wearing a pad made of false hair behind their head, utterly destroying its natural proportions. The microscope showed that the hair employed for these “uglies” abounded in a pediculous insect called a gregarine (or little herding animal), from the Latin grex (a herd). The nests on the filaments of hair resemble those of spiders and silkworms, and the “object” used to form one of the exhibits in microscopical soirées.

Gregorian Calendar

One which shows the new and full moon, with the time of Easter and the movable feasts depending thereon. The reformed calendar of the Church of Rome, introduced by Pope Gregory XIII. in 1582, corrected the error of the civil year, according to the Julian calendar.

Gregorian Chant So called because it was introduced into the church service by Gregory the Great (600).

Gregorian Epoch

The epoch or day on which the Gregorian calendar commenced — March, 1582.

Gregorian Telescope

The first form of the reflecting telescope, invented by James Gregory, professor of mathematics in the university of St. Andrews. (1663.)

Gregorian Tree

The gallows; so named from three successive hangmen — Gregory, sen., Gregory, jun., and Gregory Brandon. Sir William Segar, Garter Knight of Arms, granted a coat of arms to Gregory Brandon.

(See Hangmen.)

“This trembles under the black rod, and he

Doth fear his fate from the Gregorian tree.” Mercutius Pragmaticus (1641).

Gregorian Water

or Gringorian Water. Holy water; so called because Gregory I. was a most strenuous recommender of it.

“In case they should happen to encounter with devils, by virtue of the Gringoriene water, they might make them disappear.” — Rabelais: Gargantua, book i. 43.

Gregorian Year

The civil year, according to the correction introduced by Pope Gregory XIII. in 1582. The equinox which occurred on the 25th of March, in the time of Julius Caesar, fell on the 11th of March in the year 1582. This was because the Julian calculation of 365 1/4 days to a year was 11 min. 10 sec. too much. Gregory suppressed ten days, so as to make the equinox fall on the 21st of March, as it did at the Council of Nice, and, by some simple arrangements, prevented the recurrence in future of a similar error.

Gregories

(3 syl.). Hangmen. (See Gregorian Tree .)

Gregory

(A). A school—feast, so called from being held on St. Gregory's Day (March 12th). On this day the pupils at one time brought the master all sorts of eatables, and of course it was a dies non, and the master shut his eyes to all sorts of licences. Gregories were not limited to any one country, but were common to all Europe.

Gregory

(St.). The last Pope who has been canonised. Usually represented with the tiara, pastoral staff, his book of homilies, and a dove. The last is his peculiar attribute.

Gregory Knights

or St. Gregory's Knights. Harmless blusterers. In Hungary the pupils at their Gregories played at soldiers, marched through the town with flying colours, some on pony back and some on foot; as they went they clattered their toy swords, but of course hurt no one.

Grenade

(2 syl.). An explosive shell, weighing from two to six pounds, to be thrown by the hand.

Grenadier'

(3 syl.). Originally a soldier employed to throw hand—grenades.

Grenadier Guards

The first regiment of Foot Guards. Noted for their size and height.

Grendel A superhuman monster slain by Beowulf, in the Anglo—Saxon romance of that title. (See Turner's abridgement.)

Gresham College

(London). Founded by Sir Thomas Gresham in 1575.

Gresham and the Grasshopper

(See Grasshopper .)

Gresham and the Pearl

When Queen Elizabeth visited the Exchange, Sir Thomas Gresham, it is said, pledged her health in a cup of wine containing a precious stone crushed to atoms, and worth £15,000. If this tale is true, it was an exceedingly foolish imitation of Cleopatra (q.v.).

“Here fifteen thousand pounds at one clap goes

Instead of sugar; Gresham drinks the pearl

Unto his queen and mistress. Pledge it, lords.” Heywood. If You Know Not Me You Know Nobody.

To dine or sup with Sir Thomas Gresham. (See under Dine.)

Greta Hall

The poet of Greta Hall. Southey, who lived at Greta Hall, in the Vale of Keswick. (1774—1843.)

Gretchen

A pet German diminutive of Margaret.

Grethel

(Gammer). The hypothetical narrator of the Nursery Tales edited by the brothers Grimm.

Gretna Green Marriages

Runaway matches. In Scotland, all that is required of contracting parties is a mutual declaration before witnesses of their willingness to marry, so that elopers reaching the parish of Graitney, or village of Springfield, could get legally married without either licence, banns, or priest. The declaration was generally made to a blacksmith.

Crabbe has a metrical tale called Gretna Green, in which young Belwood elopes with Clara, the daughter of Dr. Sidmere, and gets married; but Belwood was a “screw,” and Clara a silly, extravagant hussy, so they soon hated each other and parted. (Tales of the Hall, book xv.)

Grève

(1 syl.). Place de Grève. The Tyburn of ancient Paris. The present Hôtel de Ville occupies part of the site. The word grève means the strand of a river or the shore of the sea, and is so, called from gravier (gravel or sand). The Place de Grève was on the bank of the Seine.

“Who has e'er been to Paris must needs know the Grève,

The fatal retreat of th' unfortunate brave,

Where honour and justice most oddly contribute

To ease Hero's pains by a halter or gibbet.”

Prior: The Thief and the Cordelier.

Grey Friars

Franciscan friars, so called from their grey habit. Black friars are Dominicans, and White friars Carmelites.

Grey Hen

(A). A stone bottle for holding liquor. Large and small pewter pots mixed together are called “hen and chickens.”

“A dirty leather wallet lay near the sleeper, ... also a grey—hen which had contained some sort of strong liquor.” — Miss Robinson: Whitefriars, chap. viii.

Grey Mare The Grey Mare is the better horse. The woman is paramount. It is said that a man wished to buy a horse, but his wife took a fancy to a grey mare, and so pertinaciously insisted that the grey mare was the better horse, that the man was obliged to yield the point.

Macaulay says: “I suspect [the proverb] originated in the preference generally given to the grey mares of Flanders over the finest coach—horses of England.”

The French say, when the woman is paramount, C'est le mariage d'epervier (`Tis a hawk's marriage), because the female hawk is both larger and stronger than the male bird.

“As long as we have eyes, or hands, or breath,

We'll look, or write, or talk you all to death. Yield, or she—Pegasus will gain her course, And the grey mare will prove the better horse.” Prior: Epilogue to Mrs. Manley's Lucius.

Grey Wethers

These are huge boulders, either embedded or not, very common in the “Valley of Stones” near Avebury, Wilts. When split or broken up they are called sarsens or sarsdens.

Grey—coat Parson

(A). An impropriator; a tenant who farms the tithes.

Grey from Grief

Ludovico Sforza became grey in a single night. Charles I. grew grey while he was on his trial.

Marie Antoinette grew grey from grief during her imprisonment. (See Gray.)

Grey Goose Wing

(The). “The grey goose wing was the death of him,” the arrow which is winged with grey goose feathers.

Grey Mare's Tail

A cataract that is made by the stream which issues from Lochskene, in Scotland, so called from its appearance.

Grey Washer by the Ford

(The). An Irish wraith which seems to be washing clothes in a river, but when the “doomed man” approaches she holds up what she seemed to be washing, and it is the phantom of himself with his death wounds from which he is about to suffer. (Hon. Emily Lawlett; Essex in Ireland, p. 245—6.)

Greybeard

(A). An earthen pot for holding spirits; a large stone jar. Also an old man. (Bellarmine.)

“We will give a cup of distilled waters ... unto the next pilgrim that comes over; and ye may keep for the purpose the grunds of the last greybeard.” — Sir W Scott: The Monastery, chap.

ix.

Greycoats

Russian soldiers of the line, who wear grey coats.

“You might think of him thus calm and collected charging his rifle for one more shot at the advancing greycoats.” — Besant and Rice: By Celia's Arbour, chap. xiv.

Greyhound

“A greyhounde shoulde be heded like a snake, And neked like a Drake; Foted like a Kat, Tayled like a Rat; Syded like a Teme, Chyned like a Beme.” (Dame Berner.)

“Syded like a teme,” probably means both sides alike; a plough—team being meant.

Greyhound

A public—house sign, in honour of Henry VII., whose badge it was.

Greys The Scotch Greys. The 2nd (Royal North British) Dragoons, so called because they are mounted on grey horses.

Gridiron

Emblematic of St. Laurence, because in his martyrdom he was broiled to death on a gridiron. In allusion thereto the church of St. Laurence Jewry, near Guildhall, has a gilt gridiron for a vane. The gridiron is also an attribute of St. Faith, who was martyred like St. Laurence; and St. Vincent, who was partially roasted on a gridiron covered with spikes, A.D. 258. (See Escurial.)

It is said that St. Laurence uttered the following doggerel during his martyrdom:

“This side enough is roasted, turn me, tyrant, eat, And see if raw or roasted I make the better meat.”

Grief

To come to grief. To be ruined; to fail in business. As lots of money is the fulness of joy, so the want of it is the grief of griefs. The Americans call the dollar “almighty.”

Grievance—monger

One who is always raking up or talking about his own or his party's grievances, public or private.

Griffen Horse

(The) belonged to Atlantes, the magician, but was made use of by Rogero, Astolpho, and others. If flew through the air at the bidding of the rider, and landed him where he listed. (Ariosto: Orlando Furioso.)

Griffin

A cadet newly arrived in India, half English and half Indian.

Griffins, the residue of a contract feast, taken away by the contractor, half the buyer's and half the seller's.

Griffon, Griffen

or Griffin. Offspring of the lion and eagle. Its legs and all from the shoulder to the head are like an eagle, the rest of the body is that of a lion. This creature was sacred to the sun, and kept guard over hidden treasures. Sir Thomas Browne says the Griffon is emblematical of watchfulness, courage, perseverance, and rapidity of execution (Vulgar Errors, iii. 2.) (See Arimaspians.)

Grig

Merry as a grig. A grig is the sand—eel, and a cricket. There was also a class of vagabond dancers and tumblers who visited ale—houses so called. Hence Levi Solomon, alias Cockleput, who lived in Sweet Apple Court, being asked in his examination how he obtained his living, replied that “he went a—grigging.” Many think the expression should be merry as a Greek, and have Shakespeare to back them: “Then she's a merry Greek;” and again, “Cressid 'mongst the merry Greeks” (Troilus and Cressida, i. 2; iv. 4). Patrick Gordon also says, “No people in the world are so jovial and merry, so given to singing and dancing, as the Greeks.”

Grim

(Giant) in Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress, part ii. He was one who tried to stop pilgrims on their way to the Celestial City, but was slain by Mr. Greatheart. (See Giants.)

Grimace

(2 syl.). Cotgrave says this word is from Grimacier, who was a celebrated carver of fantastic heads in Gothic architecture. This may be so, but our word comes direct from the French grimace; grimacier, one who makes wry faces.

Grimalkin

or Graymalkin (French, gris malkin). Shakespeare makes the Witch in Macbeth say, “I come, Graymalkin,” Malkin being the name of a foul fiend. The cat, supposed to be a witch and the companion of witches, is called by the same name.

Grimes

(Peter). This son of a steady fisherman was a drunkard and a thief. He had a boy whom he killed by illusage. Two others he made away with, but was not convicted for want of evidence. As no one would live with him, he dwelt alone, became mad, and was lodged in the parish

poor—house, confessed his crime in his delirium, and died. (Crabbe: Borough, letter xxii.)

Grimm's Law

A law discovered by Jacob L. Grimm, the German philologist, to show how the mute consonants interehange as corresponding words occur in different branches of the Aryan family of languages. Thus, what is p in Greek, Latin, or Sanskrit becomes f in Gothic, and b or f in the Old High German; what is t in Greek, Latin, or Sanskrit becomes th in Gothic, and d in Old High German; etc. Thus changing p into f, and

t into th, “pater” becomes “father.”

Grimsby

(Lincolnshire). Grim was a fisherman who rescued from a drifting boat an infant named Habloc, who he adopted and brought up. This infant turned out to be the son of the king of Denmark, and when the boy was restored to his royal sire Grim was laden with gifts. He now returned to Lincolnshire and built the town which he called after his own name. The ancient seal of the town contains the names of Gryme and Habloc. This is the foundation of the mediæval tales about Havelock the Dane.

Grim's Dyke

or Devil's Dyke (Anglo—Saxon, grima, a goblin or demon).

Grimwig

A choleric old gentleman fond of contradiction, generally ending with the words “or I'll eat my head.” He is the friend of Brownlow. (Dickens: Oliver Twist.)

Grin and Bear It

(You must), or You must grin and bide it, for resistance is hopeless. You may make up a face, if you like, but you cannot help yourself.

Grind

To work up for an examination; to grind up the subjects set, and to grind into the memory the necessary cram. The allusion is to a mill, and the analogy evident.

To grind one down. To reduce the price asked; to lower wages. A knife, etc., is gradually reduced by grinding.

To take a grind is to take a constitutional walk; to cram into the smallest space the greatest amount of physical exercise. This is the physical grind. The literary grind is a turn at hard study.

To take a grinder is to insult another by applying the left thumb to the nose and revolving the right hand round it, as if working a hand—organ or coffeemill. This insulting retort is given when someone has tried to practise on your credulity, or to impose upon your good faith.

Grinders

The double teeth which grind the food put into the mouth. The Preacher speaks of old age as the time when “the grinders cease because they are few” (Ecc. xii. 3). (See Almond Tree.)

Grisaille

A style of painting in gray tints, resembling solid bodies in relief, such as ornnaments of cornices, etc.

Grise

A step. (See Grecian Stairs .)

Which as a grise or step may help these lovers into your favour.”

Shakespeare: Othello, i.3.

Grisilda

or Griselda. The model of enduring patience and conjugal obedience. She was the daughter of Janicola, a poor charcoal—burner, but became the wife of Walter, Marquis of Saluzzo. The marquis put her humility and obedience to three severe trials, but she submitted to them all without a murmur: (1) Her infant daughter was taken from her, and secretly conveyed to the Queen of Pavia to bring up, while Grisilda was made to believe that it had been murdered. (2) Four years later she had a son, who was also taken from her, and sent to be brought up with her sister. When the little girl was twelve years old, the marquis told Grisilda he intended to divorce her and marry another; so she was stripped of all her fine clothes and sent back to her father's cottage. On the “wedding day” the much—abused Grisilda was sent for to receive “her rival” and prepare her for the ceremony. When her lord saw in her no spark of jealousy, he told her the “bride” was her own daughter. The moral of the tale is this: If Grisilda submitted without a murmur to these trials of her husband, how much more ought we to submit without repining to the trials sent us by God.

This tale is the last of Boccaccio's Decameron; it was rendered by Petrarch into a Latin romance entitled De Obedientia et Fide Uxoria Mythologia, and forms The Clerkës Tale in Chaucer's Canterbury Tales. Miss

Edgeworth has a novel entitled The Modern Griselda.

Grist

All grist that comes to my mill. All is appropriated that comes to me; all is made use of that comes in my way. Grist is all that quantity of corn which is to be ground or crushed at one time. The phrase means, all that is brought — good, bad, and indifferent corn, with all refuse and waste — is put into the mill and ground together. (See Emolument.)

To bring grist to the mill. To supply customers or furnish supplies.

Grizel

or Grissel. Octavia, wife of Marc Antony and sister of Augustus Caesar, is called the “patient Grizel” of Roman story. (See Grisilda.)

“For patience she will prove a second Grissel.”

Shakespeare: Taming of the Shrew, ii. I.

Groaning Cake

A cake prepared for those who called at the house of a woman in confinement “to see the baby.”

Groaning Chair

The chair used by women after confinement when they received visitors.

Groaning Malt

A strong ale brewed for the gossips who attend at the birth of a child, and for those who come to offer to a husband congratulations at the auspicious event. A cheese, called the Ken—no, or “groaning cheese,” was also made for the occasion. (See Ken—No.)

“Meg Merrilies descended to the kitchen to secure her share of the groaning malt.” — Sir W. Scott: Guy Mannering, chap. iii.

Groat

From John o' Groat's house to the Land's End. From Dan to Beersheba, from one end of Great Britain to the other. John o' Groat was a Dutchman, who settled in the most northerly point of Scotland in the reign of James IV., and immortalised himself by the way he settled a dispute respecting precedency. (See John O' Groat.)

Blood without groats is nothing (north of England), meaning “family without fortune is worthless.” The allusion is to black—pudding, which consists chiefly of blood and groats formed into a sausage.

Not worth a groat. Of no value. A groat is a silver fourpence. The Dutch had a coin called a grote, a contraction of grote—schware (great schware), so called because it was equal in value to five little schware. So the coin of Edward III. was the groat or great silver penny, equal to four penny pieces. The modern groat was first issued in 1835, and were withdrawn from circulation in 1887. (French, gros, great.) Groats are no longer in circulation.

“He that spends a groat a day idly, spends idly above six pounds a year.” — Franklin: Necessary Hints, p. 131.

Grog

Rum and water, cold without. Admiral Vernon was called Old Grog by his sailors because he was accustomed to walk the deck in rough weather in a grogram cloak. As he was the first to serve water in the rum on board ship, the mixture went by the name of grog. Six—water grog is one part rum to six parts of water. Grog, in common parlance, is any mixture of spirits and water, either hot or cold.

Grog Blossoms

Blotches on the face that are produced by over—indulgence of grog.

Grogram

A coarse kind of taffety, stiffened with gum. A corruption of the French gros—grain.

“Gossips in grief and grograms clad.”

Praed: The Troubadour, canto i. stanza 5.

Groined Ceiling

One in which the arches are divided or intersected. (Swedish, grena, to divide.)

Grommet, Gromet, Grumet

or Grummet. A younker on board ship. In Smith's Sea Grammar we are told that “younkers are the young men whose duty it is to take in the topsails, or top the yard for furling the sails or slinging the yards. ...” “Sailors,” he says, “are the elder men.” Gromet is the Flemish grom (a boy), with the diminutive. It appears in bride—groom, etc. Also a ring of rope made by laying a single strand. (Dana: Seaman's Manual, p. 98.) Also a powder—wad.

Grongar Hill

in South Wales, has been rendered famous by Dyer's poem called Grongar Hill.

Groom of the Stole

Keeper of the stole or state—robe. His duty, originally, was to invest the king in his

state—robe, but he had also to hand him his shirt when he dressed. The office, when a queen reigns, is termed Mistress of the Robes, but Queen Anne had her “Groom of the Stole.” (Greek, stole, a garment.) (See Bridegroom.)

Gross

(See Advowson .)

Grosted

or Robert Grosseteste, Bishop of Lincoln, in the reign of Henry III., the author of some two hundred works. He was accused of dealings in the black arts, and the Pope ordered a letter to be written to the King of England, enjoining him to disinter the bones of the too—wise bishop and burn them to powder. (Died 1253.)

“None a deeper knowledge boasted,

Since Hodgé, Bacon, and Bob Grosted.”

Butler: Hudibras, ii. 3.

Grotesque

(2 syl.) means in “Grotto style.” Classical ornaments so called were found in the 13th century in grottoes, that is, excavations made in the baths of Titus and in other Roman buildings. These ornaments

abound in fanciful combinations, and hence anything outré is termed grotesque.

Grotta del Cane

(Naples). The Dog's Cave, so called from the practice of sending dogs into it to show visitors how the carbonic acid gas near the floor of the cave kills them.

Grotto

Pray remember the grotto. July 25 new style, and August 5 old style, is the day dedicated to St. James the Greater; and the correct thing to do in days of yore was to stick a shell in your hat or coat, and pay a visit on that day to the shrine of St. James of Compostella. Shell grottoes with an image of the saint were erected for the behoof of those who could not afford such pilgrimage, and the keeper of it reminded the passer—by to remember it was St. James's Day, and not to forget their offering to the saint.

Grotto of Ephesus

(The). The test of chastity. E. Bulwer—Lytton, in his Tales of Miletus (iii.), tells us that near the statue of Diana is a grotto, and if, when a woman enters it, she is not chaste, discordant sounds are heard and the woman is never seen more; if, however, musical sounds are heard, the woman is a pure virgin and comes forth from the grotto unharmed.

Ground

(Anglo—Saxon, grund.)

It would suit me down to the ground. Wholly and entirely. To break ground. To be the first to commence a project, etc.; to take the first step in an undertaking. To gain ground. To make progress; to be improving one's position or prospects of success.

To hold one's ground. To maintain one's authority; not to budge from one's position; to retain one's popularity.

To lose ground. To become less popular or less successful; to be drifting away from the object aimed at. To stand one's ground. Not to yield or give way; to stick to one's colours; to have the courage of one's opinion.

Ground Arms

(To). To pile or stack military arms, such as guns, on the ground (in drill).

Groundlings

Those who stood in the pit, which was the ground in ancient theatres.

“To split the ears of the groundlings.”

Shakespeare: Hamlet, iii. 2.

Grove

The “grove” for which the Jewish women wove hangings, and which the Jews were commanded to cut down and burn, was the wooden Ashera, a sort of idol symbolising the generative power of Nature.

Growlers

and Crawlers. The fourwheel cabs; called “growlers” from the surly and discontented manners of their drivers, and “crawlers" from their slow pace

“Taken as a whole, the average drivers of hansom cabs ... are smart, intelligent men, sober, honest, and hardworking. ... They have little ... in common with the obtrusive, surly, besotted drivers of the `growlers' and `crawlers.' ” — Nineteenth Century, March, 1893, p. 473

Grub Street

Since 1830 called Milton Street, near Moorfields, London, once famous for literary hacks and inferior literary productions. The word is the Gothic graban (to dig), whence Saxon grab (a grave) and groep (a ditch). (See Dunciad, i. 38, etc.)

Gruel

To give him his gruel. To kill him. The allusion is to the very common practice in France, in the sixteenth century, of giving poisoned possets — an art brought to perfection by Catherine de Medicis and her Italian advisers.

Grumbo A giant in the tale of Tom Thumb. A raven picked up Tom, thinking him to be a grain of corn, and dropped him on the flat roof of the giant's castle. Old Grumbo came to walk on the roof terrace, and Tom crept up his sleeve. The giant, annoyed, shook his sleeve, and Tom fell into the sea, where a fish swallowed him, and the fish, having been caught and brought to Arthur's table, was the means of introducing Tom to the British king, by whom he was knighted. (Nursery Tale: Tom Thumb.)

Grundy

What will Mrs. Grundy say? What will our rivals or neighbours say? The phrase is from Tom Morton's Speed the Plough. In the first scene Mrs. Ashfield shows herself very jealous of neighbour Grundy, and farmer Ashfield says to her, “Be quiet, wull ye? Always ding, dinging Dame Grundy into my ears. What will Mrs. Grundy zay? What will Mrs. Grundy think? ...”

Grunth

The sacred book of the Sikhs.

Gruyère

A town in Switzerland which gives its name to a kind of cheese made there.

Gryll

Let Gryll be Gryll, and keep his hoggish mind. Don't attempt to wash a blackamoor white; the leeopard will never change his spots. Gryll is from the Greek gru (the grunting of a hog). When Sir Guyon disenchanted the forms in the Bower of Bliss some were exceedingly angry, and one in particular, named Gryll, who had been metamorphosed by Acrasia into a hog, abused him most roundly. “Come,” says the palmer to Sir Guyon,

“Let Gryll be Gryll, and have his hoggish mind.

But let us hence depart while weather serves. and wind.”

Spenser Faërie Queene, book ii. 12

Gryphon

(in Orlando Furioso), son of Olivero and Sigismunda, brother of Aquilant, in love with Origilla, who plays him false. He was called White from his armour, and his brother Black. He overthrew the eight champions of Damascus in the tournament given to celebrate the king's wedding—day. While asleep Martano steals his armour, and goes to the King Norandino to receive the meed of high deeds. In the meantime Gryphon awakes, finds his armour gone, is obliged to put on Martano's, and, being mistaken for the coward, is hooted and hustled by the crowd. He lays about him stoutly, and kills many. The king comes up, finds out the mistake, and offers his hand, which Gryphon, like a true knight, receives. He joined the army of Charlemagne.

Gryphons

(See Griffon .)

Guadiana

The squire of Durandartë. Mourning the fall of his master at Roncesvallës, he was turned into the river which bears the same name. (Don Quixote, ii. 23.)

Guaff

Victor Emmanuel was so called from his nose.

Guano

is the Peruvian word huano (dung), and consists of the droppings of sea—fowls.

Guarantee

An engagement on the part of a third person to see an agreement fulfilled.

Guard

To be off one's guard. To be careless or heedless.

A guardroom is the place where military offenders are detained; and a guardship is a ship stationed in a port or harbour for its defence.

Guards of the Pole

The two stars b and g in the Great Bear. Shakespeare, in Othello, ii. l, refers to them where he says, the surge seems “to quench the guards of the ever—fixéd pole.”

“How to knowe the houre of the night by the [Polar] Gards, by knowing on what point of the compass they shall be at midnight every fifteenth day throughout the whole year.” — Norman: Safegard of Sailors (1587)

Guarinos

(Admiral). One of Charlemagne's paladins, taken captive at the battle of Roncesvalles. He fell to the lot of Marlotes, a Moslem, who offered him his daughter in marriage if he would become a disciple of Mahomet. Guarinos refused, and was cast into a dungeon, where he lay captive for seven years. A joust was then held, and Admiral Guarinos was allowed to try his hand at a target. He knelt before the Moor, stabbed him to the heart, and then vaulted on his grey horse Trebozond, and escaped to France.

Gubbings

Anabaptists near Brent, in Devonshire. They had no ecclesiastical order or authority, “but lived in holes, like swine; had all things in common; and multiplied without marriage. Their language was vulgar Devonian ... They lived by pilfering sheep; were fleet as horses; held together like bees; and revenged every wrong. One of the society was always elected chief, and called King of the Gubbings.” (Fuller.)

N.B. Their name is from gubbings, the offal of fish (Devonshire).

Gudgeon

Gaping for gudgeons. Looking out for things extremely improbable. As a gudgeon is a bait to deceive fish, it means a lie, a deception.

To swallow a gudgeon. To be bamboozled with a most palpable lie, as silly fish are caught by gudgeons. (French, goujon, whence the phrase faire avaler le goujon, to humbug.)

“Make fools believe in their foreseeing

Of things before they are in being,

To swallow gudgeons ere they're catched,

And count their chickens ere they're hatched.” Butler: Hudibras, ii. 3.

Gudrun

A model of heroic fortitude and pious resignation. She was a princess betrothed to Herwig, but the King of Norway carried her off captive. As she would not marry him, he put her to all sorts of menial work, such as washing the dirty linen. One day her brother and lover appeared on the scene, and at the end she married Herwig, pardoned the “naughty” king, and all went merry as a marriage bell. (A North—Saxon poem.)

Gudule

(2 syl.) or St. Gudula, patron saint of Brussels, was daughter of Count Witger, died 712. She is represented with a lantern, from a tradition that she was one day going to the church of St. Morgelle with a lantern, which went out, but the holy virgin lighted it again with her prayers.

St. Gudule in Christian art is represented carrying a lantern which a demon tries to put out. The legend is a repetition of that of St. Geneviève, as Brussels is Paris in miniature.

Guebres

or Ghebers [Fire—Worshippers ]. Followers of the ancient Persian religion, reformed by Zoroaster. Called in Persian gabr, in the Talmud Cheber, and by Origen Kabir, a corruption of the Arabic Kafir (a

non—Mahometan or infidel), a term bestowed upon them by their Arabian conquerors.

Guelder Rose is the Rose de Gueldre, i.e. of the ancient province of Guelder or Guelderland, in Holland. But Smith, in his English Flora, says it is a corruption of Elder Rose, that is, the Rose Elder, the tree being considered a species of Elder, and hence called the “Water Elder.”

Guelpho

(3 syl.), son of Actius IV., Marquis d'Este and of Cunigunda, a German, King of Carynthia. He led an army of 5,000 men from Germany, but two—thirds were slain by the Persians. He was noted for his broad shoulders and ample chest. Guelpho was Rinaldo's uncle, and next in command to Godfrey. (Tasso: Jerusalem Delivered, iii.)

Guelphs

and Ghibellines. Two great parties whose conflicts make up the history of Italy and Germany in the twelfth, thirteenth, and fourteenth centuries. Guelph is the Italian form of Welfe, and Ghibelline of Waiblingen, and the origin of these two words is this: At the battle of Weinsburg, in Suabia (1140), Conrad, Duke of Franconia, rallied his followers with the war—cry Hie Waiblingen (his family estate), while Henry the Lion, Duke of Saxony, used the cry of Hie Welfë (the family name). The Ghibellines supported in Italy the side of the German emperors; the Guelphs opposed it, and supported the cause of the Pope.

Guendolen

(3 syl.). A fairy whose mother was a human being. One day King Arthur wandered into the valley of St. John, when a fairy palace rose to view, and a train of ladies conducted him to their queen. King Arthur and Guendolen fell in love with each other, and the fruit of their illicit love was a daughter named Gyneth. After the lapse of three months Arthur left Guendolen, and the deserted fair one offered him a parting cup. As Arthur raised the cup a drop of the contents fell on his horse, and so burnt it that the horse leaped twenty feet high, and then ran in mad career up the hills till it was exhausted. Arthur dashed the cup on the ground, the contents burnt up everything they touched, the fairy palace vanished, and Guendolen was never more seen. This tale is told by Sir Walter Scott in The Bridal of Triermain. It is called Lyulph's Tale, from canto i. 10 to canto ii. 28. (See Gyneth.)

“Her mother was of human birth,

Her sire a Genie of the earth,

In days of old deemed to preside

O'er lover's wiles and beauty's pride.

Bridul of Triermain, ii. 3.

Guendolœna

daughter of Corineus and wife of Locrin, son of Brute, the legendary king of Britain. She was divorced, and Locrin married Estrildis, by whom he already had a daughter named Sabrina. Guendolœna, greatly indignant, got together a large army, and near the river Stour a battle was fought, in which Locrin was slain. Guendolœna now assumed the government, and one of her first acts was to throw both Estrildis and Sabrina into the river Severn. (Geoffrey: Brit. Hist., ii. chaps. 4, 5.)

Guenever

(See Guinever .)

Guerilla

improperly Guerilla wars, means a petty war, a partisan conflict; and the parties are called Guerillas or Guerilla chiefs. Spanish, guerra, war. The word is applied to the armed bands of peasants who carry on irregular war on their own account, especially at such time as their Government is contending with invading armies.

“The town was wholly without defenders, and the guerillas murdered people and destroyed property without hindrance.” — Lessing; United States, chap. xviii. p. 676.

Guerino Meschino

[the Wretched ]. An Italian romance, half chivalric and half spiritual, first printed in Padua in 1473. Guerin was the son of Millon, King of Albania. On the day of his birth his father was dethroned, and the child was rescued by a Greek slave, and called Meschino. When he grew up he fell in love

with the Princess Elizena, sister of the Greek Emperor, at Constantinople.

Guess

(I). A peculiarity of the natives of New England, U.S. America.

Guest

The Ungrateful Guest was the brand fixed by Philip of Macedon on a Macedonian soldier who had been kindly entertained by a villager, and, being asked by the king what he could give him, requested the farm and cottage of his entertainer.

Gueux

Les Gueux. The ragamuffins. A nickname assumed by the first revolutionists of Holland in 1665. It arose thus: When the Duchess of Parma made inquiry about them of Count Berlaymont, he told her they were “the scum and offscouring of the people” (les gueux). This being made public, the party took the name in defiance, and from that moment dressed like beggars, substituted a fox's tail in lieu of a feather, and a wooden platter instead of a brooch. They met at a public—house which had for its sign a cock crowing these worde, Vive les Gueux par tout le monde! (See Motley. Dutch Republic, ii. 6.)

The word gueux was, of course, not invented by Berlaymont, but only applied by him to the deputation referred to. In Spain, long before, those who opposed the Inquisition were so called.

N.B. The revolters of Guienne assumed the name of Eaters, those of Normandy Barefoot; those of Beausse and Soulogne Wooden—pattens, and in the French Revolution the most violent were termed Sansculottes.

Gugner

A spear made by the dwarf Eitri and given to Odin. It never failed to hit and slay in battle. (The Edda.)

Gui

Le Gui (French). The mistletoe or Druid's plant.

Guiderius

The elder son of Cymbeline, a legendary king of Britain during the reign of Augustus Caesar. Both Guiderius and his brother Arviragus were stolen in infancy by Belarius, a banished nobleman, out of revenge, and were brought up by him in a cave. When grown to man's estate, the Romans invaded Britain, and the two young men so distinguished themselves that they were introduced to the king, and Belarius related their history. Geoffrey of Monmouth says that Guiderius succeeded his father, and was slain by Hamo.

(Shakespeare: Cymboline.)

Guides

(pron. gheed). Contraction of guidons. A corps of French cavalry which carries the guidon, a standard borne by light horse—soldiers, broad at one end and nearly pointed at the other. The corps des Guides was organised in 1796 by Napoleon as a personal bodyguard; in 1848 several squadrons were created, but Napoleon III. made the corps a part of the Imperial Guard. Great care must be taken not to confound the Guides with the Gardes, as they are totally distinct terms.

Guido

surnamed the Savage (in Orlando Furioso), son of Constantia and Amon, therefore younger brother of Rinaldo. He was also Astolpho's kinsman. Being wrecked on the coast of the Amazons, he was doomed to fight their ten male champions. He slew them all, and was then compelled to marry ten of the Amazons. He made his escape with Aleria, his favourite wife, and joined the army of Charlemagne.

Guido Francischini

A reduced nobleman, who tried to repair his fortune by marrying Pompilia, the putative child of Pietro and Violante. When the marriage was consummated and the money secure, Guido ill—treated Pietro and Violante; whereupon Violante, at confession, asserted that Pompilia was not her child, but one she had brought up, the offspring of a Roman wanton, and she applied to the law—courts to recover her money. When Guido heard this he was furious, and so ill—treated his wife that she ran away under the protection of a young canon. Guido pursued the fugitives, overtook them, and had them arrested; whereupon the canon was suspended for three years, and Pompilia sent to a convent. Here her health gave way, and as the birth of a child was expected, she was permitted to leave the convent and live with her putative parents. Guido went to the house, murdered all three, and was executed. (Browning: The Ring and the Book.)

Guildhall

The hall of the city guilds. Here are the Court of Common Council, the Court of Aldermen, the Chamberlain's Court, the police court presided over by an alderman, etc. The ancient guilds were friendly trade societies, in which each member paid a certain fee, called a guild, from the Saxon gildan (to pay). There was a separate guild for each craft of importance.

“Gild [guild] signified among the Saxons a fraternity. Derived from the verb gyld—an (to pay), because every man paid his share.” — Blackstone: Commentaries, book i. chap. xviii. p. 474 (note).

Guillotine

(3 syl.). So named from Joseph Ignace Guillotin, a French physician, who proposed its adoption to prevent unnecessary pain (1738—1814).

It was facetiously called “Mdlle. Guillotin” or “Guillotin's daughter.” It was introduced April 25th, 1792, and is still used in France. A previous instrument invented by Dr. Antoine Louis was called a Louisette (3 syl.).

The Maiden (q.v., introduced into Scotland (1566) by the Regent Morton, when the laird of Pennicuick was to be beheaded, was a similar instrument. Discontinued in 1681.

“It was but this very day that the daughter of M. de Guillotin was recognised by her father in the National Assembly and it should properly be called `Mademoiselle Guillotin.'“ — Dumas: The Countess de Charny, chap. xvii.

Guinea

Sir Robert Holmes, in 1666, captured in Schelling Bay 160 Dutch sail, containing bullion and

gold—dust from Cape Coast Castle in Guinea. This rich prize was coined into gold pieces, stamped with an elephant, and called Guineas to memorialise the valuable capture. (See Dryden: Annus Mirabilis. )

Guinea. The legend is M. B. F. et H. Rex. F. D. B. L. D. S. R. I. A. T. et E. — Magnæ Britainniæ, Franciæ, et Hiberniæ Rex; Fidei Defensor; Brunsvicensis, Lunenburgensis Dux; Sacri Romani Imperii Archi Thesaurarius et Elector.

Guinea—pieces = 21s. were first coined in 1663, and discontinued in 1817. The sovereign coined by Henry

VII. in 1480 was displaced by the guinea, but recoined in 1815, soon after which it displaced the guinea. Of course, 20s. is a better decimal coin than 21s.

Guinea—dropper

A cheat. The term is about equal to thimble—rig, and alludes to an ancient cheating dodge of dropping counterfeit guineas.

Guinea Fowl

So called because it was brought to us from the coast of Guinea, where it is very common.

“Notwithstanding their barsh cry ... I like the Guinea—fowl. They are excellent layers, and enormous devourers of insects.” — D. G. Mitchell: My Farm of Edgewood. chap. iii. p. 192.

Guinea—hen

A courtesan who is won by money.

“Ere ... I would drown myself for the love of a Guinea—hen, I would change my humanity with a baboon.” — Shakespeare: Othello, i. 3.

Guineapig

(Stock Exchange term). A gentleman of sufficient name to form a bait who allows himself to be put on a directors list for the guinea and lunch provided for the board. (See Floaters.)

Guineapig

(A). A midshipman. A guineapig is neither a pig nor a native of Guinea; so a middy is neither a sailor nor an officer.

“He had a letter from the captain of the Indiaman, offering you a berth on board as guineapig, or midshipman.” — Captain Marryat: Poor Jack. chap. xxxi.

A special juryman who is paid a guinea a case: also a military officer assigned to some special duty, for which he receives a guinea a day, are sometimes so called.

Guineapig

(A), in the Anglican Church, is a clergyman without cure, who takes occasional duty for a guinea a sermon, besides his travelling expenses (second class) and his board, if required.

Guinever

or rather Guanhumara (4 syl.). Daughter of Leodograunce of Camelyard, the most beautiful of women, and wife of King Arthur. She entertained a guilty passion for Sir Launcelot of the Lake, one of the knights of the Round Table, but during the absence of King Arthur in his expedition against Leo, King of the Romans, she “married” Modred, her husband's nephew, whom he had left in charge of the kingdom. Soon as Arthur heard thereof, he hastened back, Guinever fled from York and took the veil in the nunnery of Julius the Martyr, and Modred set his forces in array at Cambula, in Cornwall. Here a desperate battle was fought, in which Modred was slain and Arthur mortally wounded. Guinever is generally called the “grey—eyed;” she was buried at Meigle, in Strathmore, and her name has become the synonym of a wanton or adulteress. (Geoffrey: Brit. Hist., x. 13.)

“That was a woman when Queen Guinever of Britain was a little wench.” — Shakespeare: Love's Labour's Lost, iv. L.

Guinevere

(3 syl.). Tennyson's Idyll represents her as loving Sir Lancelot; but one day, when they were bidding farewell, Modred tracked them, “and brought his creatures to the basement of the tower for testimony.” Sir Lancelot hurled the fellow to the ground and got to horse, and the queen fled to a nunnery at

Almesbury. (See Guinever.)

Guingelot

The boat of Wato or Wade, the father of Weland, and son of Vilkinr, in which he crossed over the nine—ell deep, called Grœnasund, with his son upon his shoulders. (Scandinavian mythology. )

Guisando

The Bulls of Guisando. Five monster statues of antiquity, to mark the scene of Cæsar's victory over the younger Pompey.

Guise's Motto:

“A chacun son tour, ” on the standards of the Duc de Guise, who put himself at the head of the Catholic League in the sixteenth century, meant. “My turn will come.”

Guitar

(Greek, kithara; Latin, cithara; Italian, chitarra; French, guitare. The Greek kithar is the Hindu cha—tar (six—strings).

Guitar. The best players on this instrument have been Guiliani, Sor, Zoechi, Stoll, and Horetzsky.

Gules

[red]. An heraldic term. The most honourable heraldic colour, signifying valour, justice, and veneration. Hence it was given to kings and princes. The royal livery of England is gules or scarlet. In heraldry expressed by perpendicular parallel lines. (Persian, ghul, rose; French, gueules, the mouth and throat, or the red colour thereof; Latin, gula, the throat.)

“With man's blood paint the ground, gules, gules.” Shakespeare: Timon of Athens, iv. 3.

“And threw warm gules on Madeline's fair breast.” Keats: Eve of St. Agnes.

Gules of August

(The). The 1st of August (from Latin, gula, the throat), the entrance into, or first day of that month. (Wharton: Law Lexicon, p. 332.)

August 1 is Lammas Day, a quarter—day in Scotland, and half—quarter—day in England.

“ `Gula Augusti' initium mensis Augusti. Le Gule d'August, in statuo Edw. III., a. 31 c. 14, averagium æstivale fleri debet inter Hokedai et gulam Augusti.” — Ducange: Glossarium Manuale, vol. iii. p. 866.

(“Hokeday est dies Martis, qui quindenam Paschœ expletam proxime excipit.” — Vol. iv. p. 65 col. 1.)

Gulf

A man that goes in for honour at Cambridge — i.e. a mathematical degree — is sometimes too bad to be classed with the lowest of the three classes, and yet has shown sufficient merit to pass. When the list is made out a line is drawn after the classes, and one or two names are appended. These names are in the gulf, and those so honoured are gulfed. In the good old times these men were not qualified to stand for the classical tripos.

“The ranks of our curatehood are supplied by youths whom, at the very best, merciful examiners have raised from the very gates of `pluck' to the comparative paradise of the `Gulf.' ” — Saturday Review.

A great gulf fixed. An impassable separation or divergence. From the parable of Dives and Lazarus, in the third Gospel. (Luke xvi. 26.)

Gulf Stream

The stream which issues from the Gulf of Mexico, and extends over a range of 3,000 miles, raising the temperature of the water through which it passes, and of the lands against which it flows. It washes the shores of the British Isles, and runs up the coast of Norway.

“It is found that the amount of heat transferred by the Gulf Stream from equatorial regions into the North Atlantic ... amounts to no less than one—fifth part of the entire heat possessed by the North Atlantic.” — T. Croll: Climate and Time, chap. i. p. 15.

Gulistan

[garden of roses ]. The famous recueil of moral sentences by Saadi, the poet of Shiraz, who died 1291. (Persian, ghul, a rose, and tan, a region.)

Gull

(rhymes with dull). A dupe, one easily cheated. (See Bejan.)

“The most notorious geck and gull

That e'er invention played on.”

Shakespeare: Twelfth Night, v. 1.

Gulliver

(Lemuel). The hero of the famous Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World, by Lemuel Gulliver, first a Surgeon, and then a Captain of several Ships, i.e. to Lilliput, Brobdingnag, Laputa, and the Houyhnhnms (Whin—nims), written by Dr. Swift, Dean of St. Patrick's, Ireland.

Gulnare

(2 syl.), afterwards called Kaled, queen of the harem, and fairest of all the slaves of Seyd [Seed ]. She was rescued from the flaming palace by Lord Conrad, the corsair, and when the corsair was imprisoned released him and murdered the Sultan. The two escaped to the Pirate's Isle; but when Conrad found that Medora, his betrothed, was dead, he and Gulnare left the island secretly, and none of the pirates ever knew where they went to. The rest of the tale of Gulnare is under the new name, Kaled (q.v.). (Byron: The Corsair. )

Gummed

(1 syl.). He frets like gummed velvet or gummed taffety. Velvet and taffeta were sometimes stiffened with gum to make them “sit better,” but, being very stiff, they fretted out quickly.

Gumption

Wit to turn things to account, capacity. In Yorkshire we hear the phrase, “I canna gaum it” (understand it, make it out), and gaumtion is the capacity of understanding, etc. (Irish, gomsh, sense, cuteness.)

“Though his eyes were dazzled with the splendour of the place, faith he had gomsh enough not to let go his hold.” — Dublin and London Magazine, 1825 (Loughleagh).

Gumption. A nostrum much in request by painters in search of the supposed “lost medium” of the old masters, and to which their unapproachable excellence is ascribed. The medium is made of gum mastic and linseed—oil.

Gun

(Welsh gwn, a gun.)

CANNONS AND RIFLES.

Armstrong gun. A wrought—iron cannon, usually breech—loading, having an iron—hooped steel inner tube. Designed by Sir William Armstrong in 1854, and officially tested in 1861.

Enfield rifles. Invented by Pritchett at the Enfield factory, adopted in the English army 1852, and converted into Snider breech—loaders in 1866.

Gatling gun. A machine gun with parallel barrels about a central axis, each having its own lock. Capable of being loaded and of discharging 1,000 shots a minute by turning a crank. Named from the inventor, Dr. R. J. Gatling.

Krupp gun. A cannon of ingot steel, made at Krupp's works, at Essen, in Prussia. Lancaster gun. A cannon having a slightly elliptical twisted bore, and a conoid (2 syl.) projectile. Named from the inventor.

Minié rifle. Invented in 1849, and adopted in the English army in 1851. Named after Claude Minié, a French officer. (1810—1879.)

Snider rifle. Invented by Jacob Snider. A breech—loader adopted by the British Government in 1866. Whitworth gun. An English rifled firearm of hexagonal bore, and very rapid twist. Constructed in 1857. Its competitive trial with the Armstrong gun in 1864. Named after Sir Joseph Whitworth, the inventor

(1803—1887).

Woolwich infant (The). A British 35—ton rifled muzzle—loading cannon, having a steel tube hooped with wrought—iron coils. Constructed in 1870. (See Brown Bess, Mitrailleuse, etc.)

Gun

A breech—loading gun. A gun loaded at the breech, which is then closed by a screw or wedge—block.

Evening or sunset gun. A gun fired at sunset, or about 9 o'clock p.m.

Gun Cotton

A highly explosive compound, prepared by saturating cotton with nitric and sulphuric acids.

Gun Money

Money issued in Ireland by James II., made of old brass cannons.

Gun Room

A room in the after—part of a lower gun—deck for the accommodation of junior officers. GUN PHRASES.

He's a great gun. A man of note. Son of a gun. A jovial fellow. Sure as a gun. Quite certain. It is as certain to happen as a gun to go off if the trigger is pulled.

Guns

To blow great guns. To be very boisterous and windy. Noisy and boisterous as the reports of great guns.

To run away from their own guns. To eat their own words; desert what is laid down as a principle. The allusion is obvious.

“The Government could not, of course, run away from their guns.” — Nineteenth Century, Feb., 1893, p. 193.

Gunga

[pronounce Gun—jah ]. The goddess of the Ganges. Bishop Heber calls the river by this name.

Gunner

Kissing the gunner's daughter. Being flogged on board ship. At one time boys in the Royal Navy who were to be flogged were first tied to the breech of a cannon.

Gunpowder Plot

The project of a few Roman Catholics to destroy James I. with the Lords and Commons assembled in the Houses of Parliament, on the 5th of November, 1605. It was to be done by means of gunpowder when the king went in person to open Parliament. Robert Catesby originated the plot, and Guy Fawkes undertook to fire the gunpowder. (See Dynamite Saturday.)

Gunter's Chain

for land surveying, is so named from Edmund Gunter, its inventor (1581—1626). It is sixty—six feet long, and divided into one hundred links. As ten square chains make an acre, it follows that an acre contains 100,000 square links.

According to Gunter. According to measurement by Gunter's chain.

Günther King of Burgundy and brother of Kriemhild. He resolved to wed Brunhild, the martial queen of Issland, who had made a vow that none should win her who could not surpass her in three trials of skill and strength. The first was hurling a spear, the second throwing a stone, and the third was jumping. The spear could scarcely be lifted by three men. The queen hurled it towards Günther, when Siegfried, in his invisible cloak, reversed it, hurled it back again, and the queen was knocked down. The stone took twelve brawny champions to carry, but Brunhild lifted it on high, flung it twelve fathoms, and jumped beyond it. Again the unseen Siegfried came to his friend's rescue, flung the stone still farther, and, as he leaped, bore Günther with him. The queen, overmastered, exclaimed to her subjects, “I am no more your mistress; you are Günther's liegemen now” (Lied, vii.). After the marriage the masculine maid behaved so obstreperously that Günther had again to avail himself of his friend's aid. Siegfried entered the chamber in his cloud—cloak, and wrestled with the bride till all her strength was gone; then he drew a ring from her finger, and took away her girdle. After which he left her, and she became a submissive wife. Günther, with unpardonable ingratitude, was privy to the murder of his friend and brother—in—law, and was himself slain in the dungeon of Etzel's palace by his sister Kriemhild. In history this Burgundian king is called Güntacher. (The Nibelungen—Lied.)

Gurgoils

(See Gargouille .)

Gurme

(2 syl.). The Celtic Cerberus. While the world lasts it is fastened at the mouth of a vast cave; but at the end of the world it will be let loose, when it will attack Tyr, the war—god, and kill him.

Gurney Light

(See Bude .)

Guthlac

(St.), of Crowland, Lincolnshire, is represented in Christian art as a hermit punishing demons with a scourge, or consoled by angels while demons torment him.

Guthrum

Silver of Guthrum, or silver of Guthrum's Lane. Fine silver was at one time so called, because the chief gold and silver smiths of London resided there in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. The hall of the Goldsmiths' Company is still in the same locality. (Riley: Munimenta Gildhallæ.)

Guttapercha

The juice of the percha—tree (Isonandra percha) of the family called Sapotacæ. The percha trees grow to a great height, and abound in all the Malacca Islands. The juice is obtained by cutting the bark.

Gutta—percha was brought over by Dr. William Montgomerie in 1843, but articles made of this resin were known in Europe some time before. (Latin, gutta, a drop.)

Gutter

Out of the gutter. Of low birth; of the street—Arab class; one of the submerged.

Gutter Children

Street Arabs.

Gutter Lane

(London). A corruption of Guthurun Lane, from a Mr. Guthurun, Goderoune, or Guthrum, who, as Stow informs us, “possessed the chief property therein.” (See Guthrum.)

All goes down Gutter Lane . He spends everything on his stomach. The play is between Gutter Lane, London, and guttur (the throat), preserved in our word guttural (a throat letter).

Guy

The Guiser or Guisard was the ancient Scotch mummer, who played before Yule; hence our words guise, disguise, guy, etc.

Guy

(Thomas). Miser and philanthropist. He amassed an immense fortune in 1720 by speculations in the South Sea Stock, and gave £238,292 to found and endow Guy's Hospital.

Guy Fawkes, or Guido Fawkes, went under the name of John Johnstone, the servant of Mr. Percy.

Guy, Earl of Warwick

An Anglo—Danish hero of wonderful puissance. He was in love with fair Phelis or Felice, who refused to listen to his suit till he had distinguished himself by knightly deeds. First, he rescued the daughter of the Emperor of Germany “from many a valiant knight;” then he went to Greece to fight against the Saracens, and slew the doughty Coldran, Elmaye King of Tyre, and the soldan himself. Then returned he to England and wedded Phelis; but in forty days he returned to the Holy Land, where he redeemed Earl Jonas out of prison, slew the giant Amarant, and many others. He again returned to England, and slew at Winchester, in single combat, Colbronde or Colbrand, the Danish giant, and thus redeemed England from Danish tribute. At Windsor he slew a boar of “passing might and strength.” On Dunsmore Heath he slew the

“Dun—cow of Dunsmore, a monstrous wyld and cruell beast.” In Northumberland he slew a dragon “black as any cole,” with lion's paws, wings, and a hide which no sword could pierce. Having achieved all this, he became a hermit in Warwick, and hewed himself a cave a mile from the town. Daily he went to his own castle, where he was not known, and begged bread of his own wife Phelis. On his death—bed he sent Phelis a ring, by which she recognised her lord, and went to close his dying eyes. (890—958). His combat with Colbrand is very elaborately told by Drayton (1563—1631) in his Polyolbion.

“I am not Sampson, nor Sir Guy, nor Colbrand, to mow them down before me.” — Shakespeare: Henry VIII., v. 3.

Guy—ropes

Guide, or guiding—ropes, to steady heavy goods while a—hoisting. (Spanish and Portuguese guia, from guiar, to guide.)

Guyon

(Sir). The impersonation of Temperance or Self—government. He destroyed the witch Acrasia, and her bower, called the “Bower of Bliss.” His companion was Prudence. (Spenser: Faërie Queene, book ii.)

The word Guyon is the Spanish guiar (to guide), and the word temperance is the Latin tempero (to guide).

Gwynn

(Nell). An actress, and one of the courtesans of Charles II. of England (died 1687). Sir Walter Scott speaks of her twice in Peveril of the Peak; in chap. xi. he speaks of “the smart humour of Mrs. Nelly;” and in chap. xl. Lord Chaffinch says of “Mrs. Nelly, wit she has; let her keep herself warm with it in worse company, for the cant of strollers is not language for a prince's chamber.”

Gyges' Ring

rendered the wearer invisible. Gyges, the Lydian, is the person to whom Candaules showed his wife naked. According to Plato, Gyges descended into a chasm of the earth, where he found a brazen horse;

opening the sides of the animal, he found the carcase of a man, from whose finger he drew off a brazen ring which rendered him invisible, and by means of this ring he entered into the king's chamber and murdered him.

“Why, did you think that you had Gyges ring. Or the herb that gives invisibility [fern—seed]?” Beaumont and Fletcher: Fair Maid of the Inn, i. 1.

The wealth of Gyges. Gyges was a Lydian king, who married Nyssia, the young widow of Candaule, and reigned thirty—eight years. He amassed such wealth that his name became proverbial. (Reigned B.C.

716—678.)

Gymnastics

Athletic games. The word is from gymnasium, a public place set apart in Greece for athletic sports, the actors in which were naked. (Greek, gumnos, naked.)

Gymnosophists

A sect of Indian philosophers who went about with naked feet and almost without clothing. They lived in woods, subsisted on roots, and never married. They believed in the transmigration of souls. Strabo divides them into Brahmins and Samans. (Greek, gumnos, naked; sophistes, sages.)

Gyneth

Natural daughter of Guendolen and King Arthur. Arthur swore to Guendolen that if she brought forth a boy, he should be his heir, and if a girl, he would give her in marriage to the bravest knight of his kingdom. One Pentecost a beautiful damsel presented herself to King Arthur, and claimed the promise made to Guendolen. Accordingly, a tournament was proclaimed, and the warder given to Gyneth. The king prayed her to drop the warder before the combat turned to earnest warfare, but Gyneth haughtily refused, and twenty knights of the Round Table fell in the tournament, amongst whom was young Vanoc, son of Merlin. Immediately Vanoc fell, the form of Merlin rose, put a stop to the fight, and caused Gyneth to fall into a trance in the Valley of St. John, from which she was never to awake till some knight came forward for her hand as brave as those which were slain in the tournay. Five hundred years passed away before the spell was broken, and then De Vaux undertook the adventure of breaking it. He overcame four temptations — fear, avarice, pleasure, and ambition — when Gyneth awoke, the enchantment was dissolved, and Gyneth became the bride of the bold warrior. (Sir Walter Scott: Bridal of Triermain, chap. ii.)

Gyp

A college servant, whose office is that of a gentleman's valet, waiting on two or more collegians in the University of Cambridge. He differs from a bed—maker, inasmuch as he does not make beds; but he runs on errands, waits at table, wakes men for morning chapel, brushes their clothes, and so on. His perquisites are innumerable, and he is called a gyp (vulture, Greek) because he preys upon his employer like a vulture. At Oxford they are called scouts.

Gypsy

(See Gipsy .)

Gyrfalcon, Gerfalcon

or Jerfalcon. A native of Iceland and Norway, highest in the list of hawks for falconry, “Gyr,” or “Ger,” is, I think, the Dutch gier, a vulture. It is called the “vulture—falcon” because, like the vulture, its beak is not toothed. The common etymology from hieros, sacred, “because the Egyptians held the hawk to be sacred,” is utterly worthless. Besides Ger—falcons, we have Gier—eagles, Lammer—geiers, etc. (See Hawk.)

Gyromancy

A kind of divination performed by walking round in a circle or ring.

Gytrash

A north—of—England spirit, which, in the form of horse, mule, or large dog, haunts solitary ways, and sometimes comes upon belated travellers.

“I remembered certain of Bessie's tales, wherein figured a ... spirit called a Gytrash.” — Charlotte Brontë: Jane Eyre, xii.