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Strong drink; "he’s been to Bungay fair, and broke both his legs," i.e., got drunk. In the ancient Egyptian language the determinative character in the hieroglyphic verb "to be drank," has the significant form of the leg of a man being amputated. "Tangle Leg" is the name given to New England rum.
He or she belongs to the breast fleet; i.e. is a Roman catholic; an appellation derived from their custom of beating their breasts in the confession of their sins.
A breast.
Something or someone that brings a refreshing change
Feel relieved after a difficult situation
Recognized English idiom; full definition pending editorial review.
to closely supervise or monitor someone
Recognized English idiom; full definition pending editorial review.
To inhale.
Recognized English idiom; full definition pending editorial review.
To exhale.
A deep defile in the crest of the Pyrenees, some three hundred feet in width, between two precipitous rocks. The legend is that Roland, the paladin, cleft the rock in two with his sword Durandal, when he was set upon by the Gascons at Roncesvalles.
A part of one's nature. "What's bred m the bone will come out in the flesh." A natural propensity cannot be repressed.
Money in the pocket: the swell is well breeched, let's draw him; the gentleman has plenty of money in his pocket, let us rob him.
Or TO HAVE THE BAGS OFF, to have plenty of money; "to be well BREECHED," to be in good circumstances. Also among schoolboys to be well flogged.
To wear the breeches; a woman who governs her husband is said to wear the breeches.
"to wear the BREECHES," said of a wife who usurps the husband’s prerogative. Equivalent to the remark that "the grey mare is the better horse."
An edition of the Bible printed in 1598, wherein it is said that Adam and Eve sewed figleaves together, and made themselves breeches.
A pair of short canvas breeches forming a cradle in which, by means of a pulley and rope, people can be con- veyed from ship to ship or ship to shore.
A flogging. Term in use among boys at several private schools.
A habit or trait is deeply ingrained
Probably identical with BRIEF, a shortened card used for cheating purposes; thus described in an old book of games of about 1720—
Breeches.—Scotch, now common.
To raise a breeze; to kick up a dust or breed a disturbance.
This is the English name for an ancient legal system which pre- vailed in Ireland from about the 7th century. They cover every phase of Irish life and furnish an interesting picture of the country in those early days.
Breakfast.
Titular rank without the pay that usually goes with it. A brevet major had the title of major, but the pay of captain, or whatever his substantive rank happened to be. (Fr. brevet, dim. of bref, a letter, a document.
Being concise is a key element of cleverness
To make (a liquid, especially tea, coffee, or beer) by brewing.
A beer.
A tobacco-pipe made from the root-wood of the large heath (bruyere), which grows in the south of France. Bribery and Corruption is a phrase often used rather loosely in English. In English law a bribe is a gift or other material inducement held out to a person to betray a trust or duty. Bribing at an election is a very serious offence, of which briber and bribed are held to be equally guilty.
A "jolly good fellow;" "a regular BRICK," a staunch fellow. About the highest compliment that in one word can be paid one man. Said to be derived from an expression of Aristotle’s—τετραγωνος ἀνηρ.
Physical stores or buildings, as opposed to online
Recognized English idiom; full definition pending editorial review.
Recognized English idiom; full definition pending editorial review.
The inferior leaves of the plant mixed with a glutinous substance (sometimes bullock's or sheep's blood), pressed into cubes, and dried. These blocks were frequently used as a medium of exchange in Central Asia.
a newly married couple
A relic of the Roman confar- reatio, a mode of marriage practised by the highest class in Rome.
Venice ; so called from the ancient ceremony of the wedding of the sea by the Doge, who threw a ring into the Adriatic, saying, "We wed thee, O sea, in token of perpetual domination.
In the Roman marriage by confarreatio, the bride was led to the Pontifex Maximus by bachelors, but was conducted home by married men. Polydore Virgil says that a married man preceded the bride on her return, bearing a vessel of gold and silver. See BRIDE CAKE.
To make a bridge of any one's nose; to push the bottle past him, so as to deprive him of his turn of filling his glass; to pass one over. Also to play booty, or purposely to avoid winning.
A cheating trick at cards, by which any particular card is cut by previously curving it by the pressure of the hand. Used in France as well as in England, and termed in the Parisian Argot FAIRE LE PONT.
According to a German tradition, Charlemagne's spirit crosses the Rhine on a golden bridge at Bingen, in seasons of plenty, to bless the vineyards and corn- fields.
Over this bridge, which connects the palace of the doge with the state
To help someone during a difficult time
Recognized English idiom; full definition pending editorial review.
Instituted by vhe Rev. Francis Henry Egerton, Earl of Bridgewater, in 1829. He left the interest of £8,000 to be given to the author of the best treatise on "The power, wisdom, and goodness of God, as manifested in the Creation.
A way for r. riding- horse, but not for a horse and cart.
A pawnbroker’s duplicate; a raffle card, or a ticket of any kind.
Very early in the morning
An exciting and attractive place
A clear and absolute distinction or boundary
The positive aspect of a situation
A clever or ingenious person
Recognized English idiom; full definition pending editorial review.
Recognized English idiom; full definition pending editorial review.
(Abbreviation of Brimstone.) An abandoned woman; perhaps originally only a passionate or irascible woman, compared to brimstone for its inflammability.
A violent irascible woman, as inflammable and unpleasant as brimstone, from which the word is contracted.
The sea. A "dip in the BRINEY" once a year is a great attraction to Cockney excursionists. A story is told of one excursionist saying to another, as they stripped in a double machine, "Why, ’Arry, what dirty feet you’ve got!" "’Ave I; well yer see I wasn’t down last year."
to be poorly prepared for a situation