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A mediaeval instrument of torture used in Germany for "heretics," traitors, parricides, etc. It was a box big enough to admit a man, with folding- doors, the whole studded with sharp iron spikes. When the doors were closed on him these spikes were forced into the body of the victim, who was left there to die in horrible torture.
A strange fatality which has brought about something quite the reverse of what might have been expected.
Madagascar is so named by the natives. The limbus of the moon. See above.
The distin- guishing or distinctive mark of anyone. The tale is that Demeter ate the shoulder of Pelops when it was served up by Tantalus; when the gods put the body back into the cauldron to restore it to life, this portion was lacking, whereupon Demeter supplied one of ivory.
A scheme or deception has been discovered or exposed
Your trickery is discovered. "Jig" was old slang for a joke or trick.
Someone is the victim of a joke or trick
The black flag with skull and cross-bones, the favourite ensign of pirates.
Recognized English idiom; full definition pending editorial review.
The Rock of Gibraltar, which commands the entrance be- tween Europe and Africa. It was taken from the Spaniards by a combined British and Dutch force under Sir George Rooke, July 24th, 1704. Spain attempted to retake the Rock in 1705, 1736, and 1779-83 when it was held throughout the lengthy siege by Lord Heathfield (1717-90). See also MARE NOSTRUM.
Pennsylvania; so called from its position and importance.
The title (in Hindi Shah Jehan) assumed by Khorrum Shah, third son of Selim Jehan Ghir, and fifth of the Mogul emperors of Delhi (reigned 1628-58).
English proverb; full definition pending editorial review.
Recognized English idiom; full definition pending editorial review.
A title given both to Zeus and Agamemnon.
A title conferred by Napoleon I on his son Francois Charles Joseph Napoleon, Duke of Reichstadt (1811-32), on the day of his birth. He was called UAiglon (the young eagle) by Edmond Rostand in his play.
A nickname of Adam Scott of Tushielaw (executed 1529), a famous border outlaw and chief.
The Chimcera, or sea-ape, a cartilaginous fish which accompanies a shoal of herrings in their migrations.
The group of stars called "Orion's Belt.
The oak under which Henry VIII sat, in Epping Forest, while Anne (Boleyn) was being executed.
The general peace of law- abiding subjects; originally the protection secured by the king to those employed on his business.
The name given by Jacobites to James II after his flight to France; to His son the Old Pretender (James III), and to his grandsons Charles Edward the Young Pretender (Charles III), and Henry, Cardinal of York (Henry DO.
Workers deserve fair payment for their work
A crag under the castle rock of Stirling, where ladies used to witness tournaments.
Women are not ad- mitted into freemasonry, but the story goes
In the Arthurian legends, Vivien, the mistress of Merlin. She lived hi the midst of an imaginary lake sur- rounded by knights and damsels. See LANCE- LOT.
A name given to Florence Nightingale (1820-1910) because she went the rounds of the hospital wards in the Crimea carrying a lighted lamp.
The sun. Phoebus is the mythological personification of the sun.
Irnerius the Italian jurist was so called. He was the first to lecture on the Pandects of Justinian after their discovery at Amalfi in 1137.
The land of the faithful or blessed; a Scotticism for a hypothetical land of happiness, loyalty, and virtue, hence heaven, as in Lady Nairn's song —
Scotland, famous for its oatmeal cakes. Land o' cakes and brither Scots. — Sums.
To go to the land of Nod is to go to bed. There are many similar puns, and more in French than in English.
A name given to the State of Connecticut, which was the original stronghold of Presbyterianism in America and the home of the notorious Blue Laws (q.v.).
English proverb; full definition pending editorial review.
A small addition can cause a situation to become too much to handle
Samuel Rogers (1763-1 855), poet and banker. Maelstrom (maTstrom) (Norw., whirling stream). A dangerous whirlpool off the coast of Norway, between the islands of Moskenaso and Varo (in the Lofoten Islands), where the water is pushed and jostled a good deal, and where, when the wind and tide are contrary, it is not safe for small boats to venture!
There will always be someone foolish enough to repeat a mistake
Recognized English idiom; full definition pending editorial review.
"Tis the last straw that breaks the camel's back." There is an ultimate point of endurance beyond which calamity breaks a man down.
on the most recent occasion
The final end of all things earthly; the Day of Judgment. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump. — 1 Cor. xv, 51, 52.
English proverb; full definition pending editorial review.
Rem acu tetiglsti (You have touched the thing with a needle), refers to the custom of probing sores.
Formed thus: f- The Greek cross has four equal arms, thus: -K
The peoples the basis of whose language is Latin; i.e. the Italians, Spanish, Portuguese, French, Rumanians, etc.
Name given to the famous portrait of an unknown gallant, by the Dutch painter Franz Hals, now in the Wallace Collection, London.
The law is unjust or stupid
The economic statement that the competition of buyers and sellers tends to make such changes ir^price that trie demand for any article in a given market will become equal to the supply. In other words, if the demand exceeds the supply the price rises, operating so as to reduce the de- mand and so enable the supply to meet it, and vice versa.
A league, having headquarters at Geneva, formed after the close of World War I, largely through the exertions of W'oodrow Wilson, President of the United States 1913-21, whose action was, however, repudiated by the United
Henry Wild, of Norwich (1684-1734), who mastered, while he worked at his trade, the Greek, Latin, Hebrew, Chaldaic, Syriac, Persian, and Arabic lan- guages.
The third edition (second folio) of the Bishops' Bible (#.v.), published in 1572, and so called because the decoration to the initial at the Epistle to the Hebrews is a startling and incongruous woodcut of Jupiter visiting Leda in the guise of a swan. This, and several other decorations in the New Testament of this edition, were from an edition of Ovid's Metamorphoses', they created such a storm of protest that they were never afterwards used.
Different parts of an organization are not coordinating with each other
Swithin, Bishop of Winchester, who died 862, desired to be buried in the church-yard of the minster, that the "sweet rain of heaven might fall upon his grave.
a very short distance
A person's nature does not change
A Polish translation of the Vulgate by John of Lemberg (anc., Leopolis) published in 1561 at Cracow.
Terpander, Alcseus, Anon, and Sappho, all of Lesbos.
A flexible rule used by ancient Greek masons for measuring curved mouldings, etc.; hence, figuratively, a pliant and accommodating principle or rule of con- duct.
The Greek upsilon, Y; so called because it was used by him as a symbol of the divergent paths of virtue and vice.
Dr. Johnson (1709-84). Levitation is a term applied to the phenomenon of heavy bodies rising and floating in the air. It is frequently mentioned in the Hindu scriptures and other writings, and it is a not- uncommon attribute of Catholic saints.