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Money, like "tin," used generally to signify silver; also a tankard. "Let me have my beer in the PEWTER," is a common request to waiters, made by "City" men, and others who affect habits of rude health. The pots for which rowing men contend are often called PEWTERS.
The "Thirty-six Line Bible" (<?.v.). The Place-makers" Bible. The second edition of the Geneva Bible (?.v,), 1562; so called from a printer's error in Matt, v, 9, "Blessed are the placemakers [peacemakers], for they shall be called the children of God." It has also been called the "Whig Bible.
The swan. Cygnus, son of Apollo, was the friend of Phaeton and lamented his fate so grievously that Apollo changed him into a swan, and placed him among the con- stellations.
The mere ghost of corn; corn that has as little body as a spectre.
One who is under the ban of some hobgoblin; a half-witted person.
Flesh that hangs loose and flabby; formerly supposed to be bewitched.
The grains of wheat some- times found in mummy cases. See MUMMY- WHEAT.
A chemical toy consisting of sulpho-cyanide of mercury, which fuses into a serpentine shape when lighted; so called in allusion to the magic serpents of Exod. vii, 9-12.
Excellent; cool; very good.
phat pants
phat pants
A corruption of the Gaelic Fionn-wsge, the clear water, so' 'called from a spring at one time resorted to as a chalybeate spa.
A lawyer of outstanding ability, with a keen scent for the weaknesses in an adversary's case and a thorough know- ledge of the intricacies of the law. "You will have to get a Philadelphia lawyer to solve that" is a familiar American phrase.
A Transatlantic limb of the law considered to be the very acme of acuteness. Sailors relate many stories of his artful abilities, none, however, short enough to find a place here. The phrase, "Enough to puzzle a PHILADELPHIA-LAWYER," means, enough to puzzle the sharpest man in the world.
To ramble on incoherently; to write discursively and weakly.
A policeman. The word is loudly given as a signal that the police are approaching.
When a woman who asked Philip of Macedon to do her justice was snubbed by the petulant monarch, she ex- claimed, "Philip, I shall appeal against this judgment." " Appeal!'* thundered the enraged king, "and to whom will you appeal?" "To Philip sober," was her reply.
A thief’s accomplice, one who stands by and looks out for the police while the others commit a robbery, and who calls out "Philip!" when any one approaches.
The ballad tells how young Dunois followed his lord tp Syria, and prayed the Virgin "that he might prove the bravest
A policeman. The German students call all townspeople not of their body "Philister," as ours say "cads." The departing student says, mournfully, in one of the Burschenlieder—
Bailiffs, or officers of justice; also drunkards.
New World of Words, folio. 1696.
A mediaeval preservative against poison and a cure for the plague. The shell of a new egg was pricked, the white blown out, and the place filled with saffron or a yolk of an egg mixed with saffron.
Antisthenes, Diogenes of Sinope, Monimos, Onesicntos, Crates, Metrocles, Hipparchia, Memppos, and Menedemos of Lampsacos.
Aristippos, Hegesias, Anniceris, Theodores, and Bion. Philosophers of the Eleac and Eretriac sects.
Xenophanes, Parmenides, Melissos, Zeno of Tarsos, Leucip- pos, Democritos, Protagoras, and Anaxarchos.
Anaximander, Anaximenes, Anaxagoras, and Archelaos.
Pythagoras, Empedocles, Epicharmos, Archytas, Alcmaeon, Hippasos, Philolaos, and Eudoxos.
The hypothetical sub- stance which, according to the mediaeval al- chemists, would convert all baser metals into gold. Its discovery was the prime object of all the alchemists; and to the wide and unremit- ting search that went on for it we are indebted for the birth of the science of Cttemistry, as well as for many inventions.
A fixed-order word pair (irreversible binomial); full definition pending editorial review.
The face.
Firemen belonging to an insurance office, which gave a badge charged with a phoenix: these men were called likewise firedrakes.
A conversation over the phone
to do something with minimal effort
Common English phrase; full definition pending editorial review.
to repeatedly miss each other's phone calls
A. bottle of phosphorus: used by housebreakers to light their lanthorns. Ding the phos; throw away the bottle of phosphorus.
Half a quarter of a sheet. See VESSEL, PHYSOG.
In music, the second of the "authentic" ecclesiastical modes. It had its "final" on E and its "dominant" on C, and was derived from the ancient Greek mode of this name, which was warlike. It was used for hymns and anthems.
The date-palm; so called because of the ancient idea that this tree, if burnt down or if it falls through old age, will rejuvenate itself and spring up fairer than ever.
an unlikely or mismatched pair
A pause from physical activity
Fix your own problems before helping others
The face. A vulgar abbreviation of physiognomy.
Or PHIZ, the face. Swift uses the latter word. Corruption of PHYSIOGNOMY.
The face. Rum phyz; an odd face or countenance.
A contemptuous term for pious talk, or for an ostentatiously pious or goody-goody person.
Peter's. Although weighing some 320 tons, it was moved bodily on rollers by Pope Sixtus V, in 1586 — an astonishing en- gineering feat, considering the appliances then available. The task was so tricky that spec- tators were forbidden to utter a sound on pain of death.
A pirate; also a sharper.
A pirate or buccaneer originally; now an ordinary thief.
A satirical name applied by the crowd to the regiment of Horse Guards, known as the "Royal Blues," from their savage onslaught upon the crowd on the occasion of the arrest of Sir Francis Burdett at his house in Piccadilly, by order of the Speaker of the House of Commons. See CHEESEMONGERS.
Long carefully combed-out whiskers of the Dundreary fashion.
See WEEPERS. Piccaninny, or Piccanin (West Indian Negro, from Sp. pequeno, small). A little Negro child of the West Indies and southern U.S.A.; also, in South Africa, applied to small Kafir children, and sometimes to native children in Australia.
An anchor.
"to PICK oneself up," to recover after a beating or illness, sometimes varied to "PICK up one’s crumbs;" "to PICK a man up," "to do," or cheat him.
To deliberately start a quarrel or argument
A fixed-order word pair (irreversible binomial); full definition pending editorial review.
Select only the most desirable options
To criticize or analyze something in great detail
to criticize or find fault with something in a petty way