Fred and Rose
a rhyming phrase for 'dead and gone'
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Frederick the Great
It came to full- flower after the Franco-Prussian war of 1870 when Prussia forced herself as a leader among the German states forming the new German
FREDERICK V
"There is not a drop of blood on my hands." Cp.
free
Free of fumblers hall; a saying of one who cannot get his wife with child.
free and easy johns
A society which meet at the Hole in the Wall, Fleet-street, to tipple porter, and sing bawdry.
Free Bench
A legal term denoting a widow's right to a copyhold in certain English manors. It is not a dower or gift, but a free right independent of the will of the husband. Called bench because, upon acceding to the estate, she becomes a tenant of the manor, and entitled to sit on the bench at manorial courts.
free booters
Lawless robbers and plunderers: originally soldiers who served without pay, for the privilege of plundering the enemy.
free fight
A fight conducted on the Irishman’s principle—"Sure, wherever you see a head, hit it." The term is, however, American, so the practice may be considered fairly general.
Free French
See FIGHTING FRENCH. Free lance. See LANCE.
free hand
The freedom to act or make decisions without restriction
free is for me
Traditional English proverbial phrase; full definition pending editorial review.
free lunch
Something given or obtained without any cost or effort
free on board
Said of goods delivered on board ship, or into the conveyance, at the seller's expense; generally contracted to F.O.B.
free ride
To receive something without effort or cost
Free Trade
The system by which goods are allowed to enter one country from another country without paying customs duty for the protection of home producers. For many years it was held that the prosperity of Britain depended upon leaving the ports open to the shipping and goods of all the world. In 1932 Great Britain abandoned Free Trade by imposing a general tariff on imported goods.
free-and-easy
A club held at a low public-house, the members of which meet in the tap-room or parlour for the purpose of drinking, smoking, and hearing each other sing. These gatherings are generally called harmonic meetings by the landlord, but FREE-AND-EASY best indicates the character of the proceedings.
freeholder
He whose wife accompanies him to the alehouse.
Freeman of Bucks
A cuckold. The allusion is to the buck's horn. See HORNS.
freeman's quay
Free of expence. To lush at Freeman's Quay; to drink at another's cost.
freeze
A thin, small, hard cider, much used by vintners and coopers in parting their wines, to lower the price of them, and to advance their gain. A freezing vintner; a vintner who balderdashes his wine.
freeze out
Deliberately ignore or exclude someone
freezing cold
Recognized English idiom; full definition pending editorial review.
French and Saunders
a British comedy duo
French by the nuns
French was a common acquirement of the time and freely used at Court and in society; but it was a somewhat archaic French, descending from Norman days,, and not such as was current in Paris.
French cream
Brandy.
french disease
The venereal disease, said to have been imported from France. French gout; the same. He suffered by a blow over the snout with a French faggot-stick; i.e. he lost his nose by the pox.
French fact
Recognized English idiom; full definition pending editorial review.
French gout
Syphilis.
French leave
to leave a place without permission or notice
French migraine
A neuralgic affection generally confined to one brow, or to one side of the forehead; whims, fancies.
French of Stratford at Bow
This has been taken to mean French as spoken by an Englishman, and a Cockney at that, but it has no such ironical connotation. Stratford and Bromley were fashionable suburbs in those days, and at Bromley was the convent of St.
French poisoner
She was born about 1630' and was executed m Pans in 1676. Havmg- ruined her husband, the Marquis, and squandered his fortune, she became the lover of the Seigneur de Sainte Croix, who instructed her in the use of a virulent poison, supposed to have been aqua tofana. With this she poisoned her father and other members of her family m order to obtain possession of the family lands and wealth.
French pox
Syphilis.
French residents
The insurrection forms the basis of the anonymous Elizabethan play, Sir Thomas More.
French version
It is the basis of Gr6try's opera Zemire et Azor (1771). The story of a handsome and wealthy prince being compelled by enchantment to assume the appearance and character of a loathsome beast or formidable dragon until released by the pure love of one who does not suspect the disguise, is of great antiquity and takes various forms.
frenchified
Infected with the venereal disease. The mort is Frenchified: the wench is infected.
frequent flyer
A person who travels often by air
fresh
Said of a person slightly intoxicated.
fresh as paint
very fresh
fresh legs
new energy or a fresh perspective
fresh milk
Cambridge new comers to the university.
fresh off the boat
Recently arrived from a foreign country, often naive about local customs.
fresh out of
having just finished or run out of something
fresh start
A new beginning or opportunity to improve one's life
freshman
One just entered a member of the university.
freshman
A University man during his first year. The official appellation for the students until they have passed the Previous or First Cambridge Examination, otherwise called the Smalls or Little Go, is Junior Sophs or Sophisters. After this they are Senior Sophs until their last term, when they are Questionists, or preparing "ad respondendum quæstioni." At Oxford the title FRESHMAN lasts for the first term.
fret the gizzard
To worry or be anxious about something
Fretting cares make grey hairs. (Strauss, 1994 p. 631
Worrying excessively leads to premature aging
Friar Bungay
A famous necro- mancer of the 15th century, whose story is much overlaid with legend. It is said that he "raised mists and valours which befriended Edward IV at the battle of Barnet" In the old prose romance. The Famous History of Friar Bacon, and in Greene's Honourable History of Friar Bacon and Friar Bungay (acted 1591), he appears as the assistant to Roger Bacon (d. 1292).
Friar John
A prominent character in Rabelais's Gargantua and Pantagruel, a tall, lean, wide-mouthed, long-nosed friar of Seville.
Friar Rush
A legendary house-spirit who originated as a kind of ultra-mischievous and evil-dispositioned Robin Goodfellow in medi- aeval German folk-tales.
Friar Tuck
Chaplain and steward of Robin Hood. In this our spacious isle I think there is not one But he hath heard some talk of Hood and Little John; Of Tuck, the merry friar, which many a sermon made In praise of Robin Hood, his outlaws, and their trade DRAYTON: Polyolbwn, xxvi, 311-16.
Friar's Heel
The outstanding upright stone at Stonehenge, formerly supposed by some to stand in the central axis of the avenue, is so called. Geoffrey of Monmouth says the devil bought the stones of an old woman in Ireland, wrapped them up in a wyth, and brought them to Salisbury Plain. Just before he got to Mount Ambre the wyth broke, and one of the stones fell into the Avon, the rest were carried to the plain.
Friar's Lanthorn
One of the many names given to the Will o' the Wisp, Friars Major (Fiatres major es)* The Domini- cans.
Friar's Tale
In the Canterbury Tales a tale throwing discredit on Summoners. Chaucer obtained it from the Latin collection, Promptu- anum Exemplorum.
fribble
An effeminate fop; a name borrowed from a celebrated character of that kind, in the farce of Miss in her Teens, written by Mr. Garrick.
Frick and Frack
Two people closely linked or inseparable
friday-face
A dismal countenance. Before, and even long after the Reformation, Friday was a day of abstinence, or jour maigre. Immediately after the restoration of king Charles II. a proclamation was issued, prohibiting all publicans from dressing any suppers on a Friday.
friday-face
A gloomy-looking man. Most likely from FRIDAY being a day of meagre fare among Catholics and High Church Protestants.
friend of Bill W.
A member of Alcoholics Anonymous