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An old pro- verb (given in Ray's Collection, 1742) en- shrining the wisdom of a fair division of labour. The Romans had a similar saying, Multorum manibus magnum levatur onus, by the hands of many a great work is lightened.
Divided tasks become easier with multiple helpers
Wishing someone happiness on their birthday and in the coming year
a long time in the future
English proverb; full definition pending editorial review.
Many words do not necessarily convey much meaning or substance.
Traditional sayings from the Maori culture
The year 1715, noted for the Jacobite rebellion of the Earl of Mar on behalf of the Old Pretender.
Breasts.
A cemetery.
Furniture, movables; "money and MARBLES," cash and personal effects.
March weather starts fiercely and ends mildly
British military term denoting a direction setting out the order in which the elements of a convoy should proceed, the exact minute at which each should pass a given starting point, and the average speed at which each should proceed.
To act or think independently
The guard of civilians enrolled in London during the Middle Ages to keep order in the streets on the Vigils of St.
A little, dirty, old-fashioned maid-of-all-work; a title now in regular use, but derived from the remarkable character in the Old Curiosity Shop.
Legend states that this hill in Herefordshire, on February 7th, 1571, at six o'clock in the evening, "roused itself with a roar, and by seven next morning had moved 40 paces." It kept on the move for three days, carrying all with it; it overthrew Kinnaston chapel, and diverted two high roads at least 200 yards from their former route. Twenty- six acres of land are said to have been moved 400 yards. (Speed : Herefordshire.
Recognized English idiom; full definition pending editorial review.
He has found a mare's nest, and is laughing at the eggs; said of one who laughs without any apparent cause.
The air, however (the same as our "We won't go home till morning"), is of far older date, was well known in Egypt and the East, and is said to have been sung by the Crusaders. According to a tradition recorded by Chateaubriand, the air came from the Arabs, and the tale is a legend of Mambron, a crusader.
Marijuana.
Or MARINE RECRUIT, an empty bottle. This expression having once been used in the presence of an officer of marines, he was at first inclined to take it as an insult, until some one adroitly appeased his wrath by remarking that no offence could be meant, as all that it could possibly imply was, "one who had done his duty, and was ready to do it again."
An empty bottle: marine officers being held useless by the seamen. SEA WIT.
Traditionally claimed by the Chinese to have been in use as early as 2364 B.C., but first recorded as being used for sea travel by a Chinese writer of about A.D. 800. It was introduced to Europe by Marco Polo, but it is probable that it was known — as the result of independent discovery — in the 12th century. See FLEUR-DE-LIS.
The wit lies in the awkward way that marines handle the ship's ropes.
two closely associated people
To make one’s MARK is to achieve a success literary, artistic, or otherwise. Men of eminence are said to leave their MARKS on the earth’s surface. An American poet has described this ambitious, albeit somewhat rare, proceeding as leaving "footprints on the sands of time."
The mark of fixed value employed as an invariable standard in the old Bank at Hamburg, and used by the Hanseatic
Recognized English idiom; full definition pending editorial review.
To assess or evaluate one's own work
to warn or inform someone of a potential problem
The pseudonym of the American novelist and humorist, Samuel L. Clemens (1835-1910) who adopted it from the Mississippi river pilots' cry, Mark twain!" when taking soundings.
In the Middle Ages, and as late as the 17th century (especially in America), this letter was branded on the fore- head of convicted blasphemers. In France Stre matque an "6" means to be either one- eyed, hump-backed, or lame (borgne, bossu, boiteux); hence, a poor, miserable sort of creature.
Notified as a felon. Persons convicted of felony, and admitted to the benefit of clergy, were branded on the thumb with the letter T (thief). The law authorizing this was abolished in 1827.
A horse simply kept in the betting-lists for the purpose of being betted against.
A betting man who devotes himself, by means of special information, to the study of favourites, and the diseases incident to that condition of equine life. The MARKETEER is the principal agent in all milking and knocking-out arrangements.
See TYPOGRAPHICAL SIGNS. Mark, as a name. Mark Banco. See BANCO.
An officious bungler, who spoils everything he interferes with.
The name given to the vituperative paper war of about 1589, in which the Puritan pamphleteers attacked the Church of England under the pseudonym "Martin Marprelate." Thomas Cooper, Bishop of _ Winchester, defended the Church, and the chief of the "Martinists" were probably Udall, Throckmorton, Penry, and Barrow. Udall died in pnson (1592); Penry and Barrow were executed in 1593.
The relationship between a husband and wife
A marriage certificate.—Provincial.
The squalling and crying of children.
Recognized English idiom; full definition pending editorial review.
Marriages are predetermined by fate
Persons chained or handcuffed together, in order to be conveyed to gaol, or on board the lighters for transportation, are in the cant language said to be married together.
A mate, a fellow-workman, a pitman who works in a "shift" with another.—Northumberland and Durham.
A memorable struggle in Scotland about 1719 to 1722, between Puritanism and Presbyterianism; so called from Edward Fisher's Marrow of Modern Divinity, a book of ultra-evangelical tendency (pubd. 1644), which was condemned by the General Assembly in 1720.
The knees; "I’ll bring him down upon his MARROW BONES," i.e., I’ll make him bend his knees as he does to the Virgin Mary. Supposed to be from Mary Bones, an objectionable term used by the first Protestants in reference to the supposed adoration of the Virgin Mary by Catholics.
The knees. To bring any one down on his marrow bones; to make him beg pardon on his knees: some derive this from Mary's bones, i.e. the bones bent in honour of the Virgin Mary; but this seems rather far-fetched. Marrow bones and cleavers; principal instruments in the band of rough music: these are generally performed on by butchers, on marriages, elections, riding skimmington, and other public or joyous occasions.
A very old term of asseveration, originally (in Popish times) a mode of swearing by the Virgin Mary; q.d., by Mary.
English proverb; full definition pending editorial review.
Acting quickly can lead to later regret
to arrange or facilitate someone's marriage
Recognized English idiom; full definition pending editorial review.
nonsense.
So called by the troops of Friedland (1807), on account of his fearless bravery. Napoleon said of him, "That man is a lion.
This was a plan for aiding the stricken European states after World War II. On June 5th, 1947, G. C. Marshall, Secretary of State for the U.S.A., called upon the countries of Europe to work out a programme of reconstruction for which he promised American assistance "so far as it may be practicable.
An old prison in South- wark, London (demolished in 1849), so called because it was formerly governed by a Knight Marshal, i.e. an official of the Royal House- hold who took cognizance of offences com- mitted within the royal verge and who presided over the Marshalsea Court (amal- gamated with the Queen's Bench in 1842). It was the Marshal of this prison who was beheaded by the rebels under Wat Tyler in 1381.
Round towers about forty feet in height, of great strength, and situated on a coast or river-bank. Many of them were built on the south-eastern coasts of England about 1804, to repel the threatened Napoleonic invasion; and they took their name from Mortella (Corsica), where a tower from which these were designed had proved, in 1794, extremely difficult to capture.
An island, some 100 sq. miles in area, off the S.E. coast of Massa- chusetts. It was discovered in 1 602 by Bartholo- mew Gosnold, the discoverer of Cape Cod and the adjacent coasts, and so named by him. Martha's Vineyard is now a popular summer resort with a population, in 1940, of over 5,000.