The Salutation and Cat
The "Salutation" (which refers to the angel saluting the Virgin Mary) is the sign of the house, and the "Cat" is added to signify that arrangements are made for playing cat or tipcat.
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the sand-man is about
A playful remark addressed to children who are tired and "sleepy-eyed." Cp. DUSTMAN.
the sands are running out
Time is getting short; there will be little opportunity for doing what you have to do unless you take advantage of now. Often used in reference to one who evidently has not much longer to live. The allusion is to the hour-glass.
The Saracen's Head
Reminiscent of the Crusades; adopted probably by some Crusader after his return home, or to excite sympathy with these quixotic expeditions.
The Sardonic laugh
A laugh caused, it was supposed, by a plant growing m Sardinia, of which they who ate died laughing. — TRENCH: Words> lecture iv, p. 176.
The Satanic School
So Southey called Byron, Shelley, and those of their followers who set at defiance the generally received notions of religion. See the Preface to his Vision of Judgment.
The Scots Greys
The 2nd Dragoons, so called from the colour of their original facings of stone grey. They have also for many years been mounted on grey horses.
The Scottish Anacreon
Alexander Scot, who flourished about 1550.
The Scottish Hobbema
Patrick Nasmyth (born at Edinburgh, 1787, died 1831), the landscape painter, was so called.
The Scourge of Grammar
So Pope, m the Dunciad (m, 149), called Giles Jacob (1686- 1744), a very minor poet, who, in his Register of the Poets, made an unprovoked attack on Pope's friend, Gay.
The second Adam
The new Adam, etc. Jesus Christ is so called.
The second French Pleiad
Seven contem- porary poets m the reign of Louis XIII, very inferior to the "first Pleiad " They are Rapm, Comrmre, Larue, Santeuil, M6nage, Dupener, and Petit.
The Self-denying Ordinance
The bill passed by the Long Parliament in 1645 ordering that Members of either House should give up then military commands and civil appointments within forty days; the reason being the sus- picion that the Civil War was being prolonged for personal ends.
The September Bible
Luther's German translation of the New Testament, published anonymously at Wittenberg in September,
The Seraphic Hymn
The Sanctus "Holy, holy, holy" (Is. vi, 3), which was sung by the seraphim.
The serpent of old Nile
Cleopatra, so called by Antony. He's speaking now, Or murmuring "Where's my serpent of old Nile?" For so he calls me.
the setting of a jewel
The frame or mount, of gold or silver surrounding a jewel in a ring, brooch, etc.
The Seven against Thebes
An expedition in Greek legend fabled to have taken place against Thebes of Bceotia before the Trojan
the seven deadly sins
Pride, Wrath, Envy, Lust, Gluttony, Avarice, and Sloth.
The Seven Sciences
A mediaeval term for the whole group of studies, viz. Grammar, Logic, and Rhetoric (the Trivium), with Arithmetic, Music, Geometry, and Astronomy (the Quadrivium).
The Seven Stars
An astrological sign of the Middle Ages.
the seventh water after kissel
Recognized English idiom; full definition pending editorial review.
The She Bible
See HE BIBLE. "Sin on" Bible. The first Bible printed in Ireland was dated 1716. John v, 14 reads "sin on more" instead of "sin no more " The mistake was not found out until the impression of 8,000 copies had been printed and bound.
The Shepherd Lord
Henry, tenth Lord Clifford (d. 1523), sent by his mother to be brought up by a shepherd, in order to save him from the fury of the Yorkists. At the 'accession of Henry VII he was restored to all his rights and seigniories.
The Shepherd of Banbury
The ostensible author of a Weather Guide (published 1744).
The Shepherd of the Ocean
So Sir Walter Raleigh is called by Spenser- — When I asked from what place he came, And how he hight, himselfe he did ycleape The Shepheard of the Ocean by name, And said he came far from the mam-sea deepe. Colin Clout's Come Home Again* 64.
The Shepherd's Sundial
The scarlet pimper- nel, which opens at a little past seven in the morning and closes at a little past two. When rain is at hand, or the weather is unfavourable, it does not open at all.
the shewbread
The twelve loaves representing the twelve tribes of Israel.
The Shield of Expectation
The perfectly plain shield given to a young warrior in his maiden campaign. As he achieved glory, his deeds were recorded or symbolized on it.
The Ship and Shovel
Referring to Sir Cloudesley Shovel, a favourite admiral in Queen Anne's reign.
the shires
The English counties whose names terminate in -shire; but, in a narrower sense, the Midland counties noted for fox- hunting, especially Leicestershire, Northamp- tonshire, and Rutland.
the shirt off one's back
To give something precious or one's last possession
the shits
Diarrhoea.
the shoe is on the other foot
Situations are now reversed, with roles or advantages changed.
the shoemaker's son always goes barefoot
Those who provide for others often neglect their own needs
the show must go on
Events or activities must continue despite problems or difficulties
The Sicilian Anacreon
Giovanni Meli (1740-1815). Anachronism (Gr. ana chronos, out of time). An event placed at a wrong date.
the silly season
An obsolescent journalistic expression for the part of the year when Parliament and the Law Courts are not sitting (about August and September), when, through lack of news, the papers had to fill their columns with trivial items — such as news of giant gooseberries and sea serpents — and long correspondence on subjects of evanescent (if any) interest.
The Silver Age
The second of the Ages of the World (tf.v.), according to Hesiod and the Greek and Roman poets; fabled as a period that was voluptuous and godless, and much inferior in simplicity and true happiness to the Golden Age.
the silver cooper
A kidnapper. "To play the silver cooper," to kidnap. A cooper is one who coops up another.
The Silver-Fork School
A name given in amused contempt (about 1830) to the novelists who were sticklers for the etiquette and graces of the Upper Ten and showed great respect for the affectations of gentility. Theodore Hook, Lady Blessington, and Bulwer Lytton might be taken as representatives of it.
the simple life
A mode of living in which the object is to eliminate as far as possible all luxuries and extraneous aids to happiness, etc., returning to the simplicity of life as imagined by the pastoral poets.
the sinking fund
Money set aside by the Government for paying off a part of the national debt. This money is "sunk," or with- drawn from circulation, for the bonds pur- chased by it are destroyed.
The Six Articles
An Act of Parliament passed in 1539 (repealed 1547) enjoining belief in (1) the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist; (2) the sufficiency of communion in one kind; (3) the celibacy of the priests; (4) the obligation of vows of chastity; (5) the expediency of private masses; and (6) the necessity of auricular confession, and decreeing death on those who denied the doctrine of
The Six Clerks Office
An old name for the Court of Chancery because there were six highly paid clerks connected with it.
The Six Nations
The confederacy of North American Indian tribes consisting of the Five Nations (#.v.) and the Tuscaroras (formerly of North Carolina but now of New York and Ontario) who joined about 1715.
The Six Points of Ritualism
Altar lights, eucharistic vestments, the eastward position, wafer bread, the mixed chalice, and incense. These were sanctioned in the Church of Eng- land in the time of Edward VI, and, it is held by many, were never forbidden by competent authority.
the six-foot way
The strip of ground be- tween two parallel sets of railway lines.
the skeleton at the feast
The thing or person that acts as a reminder that there are troubles as well as pleasures in life. Plutarch says in his Moralia that the Egyptians always had a skeleton placed in a prominent position at their banquets.
the slippery slope
The broad and easy way "that leadeth to destruction.
the small of the back
The slenderer narrower part, just above the buttocks.
The Socratic method
The method of •conducting an argument, imparting informa- tion, etc., by means of question and answer.
the soldier's friend
An official appointed by the authorities at the various pension boards to assist soldiers in making out and presenting their claims to pensions, etc.
The son of Austerlitz
When Napoleon fought the Russians and Austnans at Auster- litz (Dec. 2nd, 1805), a brilliant sun suddenly burst through and scattered the mists, thus enabling him to gain an overwhelming victory. Napoleon ever after looked upon this as a special omen from heaven.
The Song of Songs
The Canticles, or the Song of Solomon, in the Old Testament.
The Spanish Ennius
Juan de Mena (d. 1456), born at Cordova.
The Spanish Main
Properly, the northern coast of South America, going westward from the mouth of the Orinoco to the Isthmus of Panama, or a bit farther; the wwz/w-land bordering the Caribbean Sea, called by the Spanish conquerors Tierra Firme.
the spear-side
The male line of descent, called by the Anglo-Saxons spere-healfe. Cp. SPINDLE-SIDE.
the sport of winds
All these, upwhirled aloft, Into a Limbo large and broad, since called The Paradise of Fools.
The Spread Eagle
The arms of Germany ; to indicate that German wines could be obtained within.
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