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economic growth
An increase in a country's production of goods and services
Eden Hall
The luck of Eden Hall. An enamelled drinking-glass, made probably in Venice m the 10th century, in the possession of the Musgrave family at Eden Hall, Cumberland, and traditionally supposed to be endowed with fortune-bringing properties. The tale is that it was taken from St.
edge of the earth
A remote or distant place
edge of the world
A remote or inaccessible place
edge out
to barely defeat or surpass someone
edish
An edition.
edjamacation
Education.
Education: that which discloses to the wise and disguises from the foolish their lack of understanding. (Ambrose Bierce)
Education reveals knowledge to the wise, but hides ignorance from the foolish.
Edward IV
It seems to have been used for the last time by James I in 1614, but it was not declared illegal till the passing of the Bill of Rights in 1689.
Edward VII
It was originally made in Hom- burg in Prussia where the King "took the waters.
eeople put on their best attire
(Ital. gala, nery.) Galahad, Sir (gal' a had).
eff all
fuck all.
eff off
fuck off.
effer
Fucker.
effluxion of time
Recognized English idiom; full definition pending editorial review.
efter
A thief who frequents theatres.
egan
Grose’s Classical Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue, with the addition of numerous Slang Phrases, edited by Pierce Egan, 8vo. 1823.
egan’s
(Pierce) Life in London, 2 vols. thick 8vo, with coloured plates by Geo. Cruikshank, representing high and low life. 18—.
egg
Or EGG ON, to excite, stimulate, or provoke one person to quarrel with another, &c. From the Anglo-Saxon eggian; or possibly a corruption of EDGE, or EDGE ON, or even from agere, to drive.—Ancient.
Egg Feast
In Oxford the Saturday preceding Shrove Tuesday used to be so called because, as the eating of eggs was forbidden during Lent, the scholars took leave of them on that day. They were allowed again at Easter, hence the coloured "Easter egg.
egg on
to encourage or urge someone to do something
egg tart
fart
egg-flip
Or EGG-HOT, a drink made after the manner of purl and bishop, with beer, eggs, and spirits made hot and sweetened.
Eggs and oaths are soon broken. (Strauss, 1998 p. 765)
English proverb; full definition pending editorial review.
eggs in moonshine
Recognized English idiom; full definition pending editorial review.
Egotist: a person of low taste, more interested in himself than in me. (Ambrose Bierce)
A person excessively concerned with themselves
egyptian days
Unlucky days, days on which no business should be undertaken. The Egyptian astrologers named two in each month, but the last Monday in April, the second Monday of August, and the third Monday of December seem to have been specially baneful.
eight eyes
I will knock out two of your eight eyes; a common Billingsgate threat from one fish nymph to another: every woman, according to the naturalists of that society, having eight eyes; viz. two seeing eyes, two bub-eyes, a bell-eye, two pope's eyes, and a ***-eye. He has fallen down and trod upon his eye; said of one who has a black eye.
eight oxgangs made a carucate
If an oxgang were as much as one ox could cultivate, its average would be about fifteen acres.
eighty percent of life is showing up
Much of success comes from simply being present and making an effort.
Eisenhower Platz
Nickname of Grosvenor Square, London, during World War II, when all the buildings surrounding the square were occupied by American Military Headquarters.
either do or die
To take a risk and make a big effort or face failure
ekame
A "make," or swindle.
ekom
A "moke," or donkey.
elbow
"to shake one’s ELBOW," to play with dice; "to crook one’s ELBOW," to drink.
elbow grease
hard work and effort
elbow grease
Hard manual labour, especi- ally rubbing and scrubbing.
elbow mentality
Recognized English idiom; full definition pending editorial review.
elbow room
Sufficient space to act in. Out at elbows; said of an estate that is mortgaged.
elbow shaker
A gamester, one who rattles Saint Hugh's bones, i.e. the dice.
Elden Hole
Elden Hole needs filling. A reproof given to great braggarts. Elden Hole is a deep chasm in the Derbyshire Peak, long reputed to be bottomless. See Scott's Peveril of the Peak, ch. iii.
Eleanor Crosses
The crosses erected by Edward I to commemorate his queen, Eleanor, \\hose body was brought from Nottingham- shire to Westminster for burial. At each of the following places, where the body rested, a cross was set up: Lincoln, Grantham, Stam- ford, Geddington, Northampton, Stony Strat- ford, Waltham, West Cheap (Cheapside).
Electronic Brain
An inaccurate term invented by newspaper journalists to describe a calcu- lating machine in which the ordinary mechani- cal processes of reckoning are performed by the employment of thermionic valves.
electronic superhighway
The internet, especially as a means of fast and efficient communication
elegant extracts
A Cambridge University title for those students who having failed only slightly in some one subject, and being "plucked" accordingly, were allowed their degrees. This applied to the "Poll" list, as the "Gulf" did to the "Honours."
Elegy on Mrs
Anne KdUgrew. refer to the fact that both women died of small- pox.
element of surprise
An unexpected event or action that catches someone off guard
elephant
"to have seen the ELEPHANT," to be "up to the latest move," or "down to the last new trick;" to be knowing, and not "green," &c. Possibly a metaphor taken from the travelling menageries, where the ELEPHANT is the finale of the exhibition.—Originally an Americanism. Bartlett gives conflicting examples. General now, however.
Elephant and Castle
A public-house sign at Newmgton that has given its name to a railway station and to a district in South
elephant's trunk
Drunk.
Eleusinian Mysteries
The religious rites in honour of Demeter or Ceres, performed originally at Eleusis, Attica, but later at Athens as part of the state religion. There were Greater and Lesser Eleusinia, the former being celebrated between harvest and seedtime and the latter in early spring. Little is known about the details, but the rites included sea bathing, processions, religious dramas, etc., and the initiated attained thereby a happy life beyond the grave.
elevated
Intoxicated. ELEVATION is the name of a drug-mixture much used in the fen-counties for keeping up the spirits and preventing ague. It consists mainly of opium.
Elevation of the Host
This is the term used for the raising of the Host and the Chalice after consecration in the Mass, for the adoration of the faithful.
elf
A fairy or hobgoblin, a little man or woman.
Elgin Marbles
The 7th Earl of Elgin (1766-1841) was envoy to the Sublime Porte (Turkey) from 1799 to 1803, and on visits to Greece — -at that time a Turkish possession — he observed that from neglect and depreda- tions many Classical sculptures, etc., were in danger of destruction. At his own expense he made a collection of statuary and sculpture (including several works of Phidias) from the Parthenon and the Erechtheion and brought them to England.
Elijah's Melons
Certain stones on Mount Carmel are so called. The story is that the owner of the land refused to supply the wants of the prophet, and consequently his melons were transformed into stones. — STANLEY; Sinai and Palestine.
Eliott's Tailors
The 15th (King's) Hussars. In 1759 Lieutenant-Colonel Eliott (later Lord Heathfield, hero of Gibraltar) enlisted a large number of tailors into a cavalry regiment modelled after the Prussian hussars. This regiment so highly distinguished themselves, that George III granted them the honour of being called "the King's.
Elixir of Life
The supposed potion of the alchemists that would prolong life indefinitely. It was imagined sometimes as a dry drug, sometimes as a fluid. Elixir (Arabic, a powder for sprinkling on wounds) also meant among alchemists the philosopher's stone, the tincture for transmuting metals, etc., and the name is now given to any sovereign remedy for disease — especially one of a "quack" character.
Elizabeth I reigned in England
Tudor architec- ture is of the late style of Gothic, with wide, broad-pointed windows and doorways.