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One of the four great national festivals of Greece, celebrated at Nemea every alternate year, the second and fourth of each Olympiad. Legend states that they were instituted in memory of Arche- morus, who died from the bite of a serpent as the expedition of the Seven against Thebes was passing through the valley.
A terrible lion which kept the people of the valley in constant alarm. The first of the twelve Labours of Hercules was to slay it; he could make no impression on the beast with his club, so he caught it in his arms and squeezed it to death, Hercules ever after wore the skin as a mantle.
An allegorical romance by Bacon (written between 1614 and 1618) in which he describes an imaginary island where was established a philosophical commonwealth bent on the cultivation of the natural sciences. See UTOPIA; CITY OF THE SUN.
The paradise of Christians, in allusion to Rev.
The regenerated man. In Scripture phrase the unregenerated state is called the old man.
the day after a particular event or time
(1) Ayesha, daughter of Abu Bekr, only nine years old on her wedding-day. This was his youngest and favourite wife.
So Byron styles Rome, the "lone mother of dead empires," with "broken thrones and temples**; a "chaos of ruins"; a "desert where we steer stumbling o'er recollections." (Childe Harold, iv, 79.
The old epithet for o: Nolo episcopari ... — - — • fencing or boxing, now usually called "The Noble Art of S elf-Defence.
The sign of Cancer, or summer solstice; so called because it marks the northern tropic.
One's sense of smell can detect something
In the Middle Ages it was held that a sweet and delightful odour was given off by the bodies of saintly persons at their death, and also when their bodies, if "translated," were disinterred. Hence the phrase, he died in the odour of sanctity, i.e. he died a saint. The Swedenborgians say that when the celestial angels are present at a death- bed, what is then cadaverous excites a sensa- tion of what is aromatic.
The offending: Adam, etc. Consideration, like an angel, came And whipped the offending Adam out of him. SHAKESPEARE: Henry V, i, 1.
The Devil; Old Nick. Also a special card in a prepared pack, used for tricks or cheating.
A creature en- countered by Sinbad the Sailor in his fifth voyage (Arabian Nights). This terrible Old Man got on Sinbad's back, and would neither dismount nor could be shaken off.
Recognized English idiom; full definition pending editorial review.
Traditional English proverbial phrase; full definition pending editorial review.
an opportunity or thing that was lost or missed
Nothing is truly free, as everything has a cost or consequence.
It's always better to ask a question than to remain ignorant
You must show friendship to others to receive it in return
Loving someone is necessary to truly understand them
The oracle to which Rabelais (Bks. iv and v) sent Panurge and a large party to obtain an answer to a question which had been put to sibyl and poet, monk and fool, philosopher and witch, judge and fortune-teller: "whether Panurge should marry or not?" The oracle was situated at Bacbuc (#.v.), "near Cathay in Upper Egypt,"1 and the story has been interpreted as a satire on the Church.
The second of the Danish orders of knighthood; instituted in 1219 by Waldemar II, restored by Christian V in 1671, and several times modified since.
Catharine. A Russian order founded for ladies of the nobility by Peter the Great after his nayal victory of Aland in 1714, and so named in compliment to his wife, Catharine.
"The sack"; notice of dismissal from one's employment. To go to bed in his boots. To be very tipsy.
An order 9f knighthood created by St. Louis in 1269, in memory of a disastrous expedition made by sea for the succour of Christians. Perrot says it scarcely survived its foundation.
In the House of Com- mons the ordinary public business of each day is classified as consisting of notices of motions and orders of the day. A motion becomes an order of the day as soon as the debate on it has been adjourned by oider of the House to a particular day. See QUESTION.
An order of twelve knights traditionally said to have been created by Edward in in France, on an occasion when he thought that a great shouting raised by the French army heralded the onset of battle, but found afterwards it was on account of a hare running between the two armies.
An order of knight- hood instituted by Frederick II of Branden- burg in 1440 (and shortly after in Cleves) in honour of the Lohengrin legend. It died out in the 16th century, but it is still commemorated in our White Swan public-house sign, which was first used in honour of Anne of Cleves, one of the wives of Henry VIII. The badge was a silver swan surmounted by an image of the Virgin.
Recognized English idiom; full definition pending editorial review.
The first complete Slavonic edition; printed at Ostrog, Volhyma, Russia, in 1581.
Recently, on a day that is not specified
A different perspective or aspect of a situation
a place very far away
Recognized English idiom; full definition pending editorial review.
The Royal Horse Guards were so called in 1690, from the Earl of Oxford their commander and the blue facings. Wellington, in one of his dispatches, writes* — "I have been appointed colonel, of the Blues.
Death. Rev. vi, 8. Pegasus ("born near the pege or source of the ocean'*). The winged horse of Apollo and the Muses. Perseus rode him when he rescued Andromeda.
to outdo or defeat someone completely
As fools or idiots are not responsible for their works, the old School- men held that they are not punished in purga- tory and cannot be received into heaven, so they go to a special "Paradise of Fools.
Whoever put this mitten on would be sure to thrive in all things. He that his honde put in this metayn, He shal have multiplying of his grayn, Whan he hath sowen, be it whete or otes, So that ye offre pans [pence] or elles grootes.
Convened by Henry IV at Coventry, in 1404, and so called because all lawyers were excluded from it. Also known as the Lawless, and Unlearned, Parliament.
Said of a critical moment when one has to choose between two different courses of action. The allusion, of course, is to a place at which a road branches off in different directions.
The peace that the Huguenots, the Politiques, and the Duke d'Alenson ("Monsieur") obliged Henri III of France to sign in 1576. By it the Huguenots and the Duke gained great concessions.
An emblem of vain- glory, and in some Eastern countries a mark of rank.
So the early Spanish ex- plorers named the Venezuelan coast from Cumana to Trinidad; the islands off this coast were called the Pearl Islands. This district was the site of large pearl-fisheries. Peasants' War, The.
A local name for the scarlet pimpernel, which closes its petals at the approach of rain. It is also called the poor man's warning.
Properly, the Jews— the "Chosen people*; but taken as a title by a sect founded m 1838, the chief characteristic of which is that its members refuse all medical aid and, as a consequence, are frequently m con- flict with the authorities. They have a strong belief m the efficacy of prayer; subscribe to no creed and have no recognized preachers or clergy. The name is based on Titus ii, 14 — "tc^ purify unto himself a peculiar people.
Intellectual power is greater than physical strength
English proverb; full definition pending editorial review.
English proverb; full definition pending editorial review.
An alchemist's term for the elixir, or philosopher's stone. He that once has the flower of the sun, The perfect ruby, which we call elixir, . . . Can confer honour, love, respect, long life, Give safety, valour, yea, and victory, To whom he will.
The peace concluded June 24th, 1502, between England and Scot- land, whereby Margaret, daughter of Henry VII, was betrothed to James IV; a few years afterwards the battle of Flodden Field was fought. The name has also been given to other treaties, as that between Austria and Switzer- land in 1474, and between France and Switzer- land in 1516.
Hafiz (b. Shirza, d. c. 1389), greatest of Persian poets; his collected odes are known as The Duan.
Fable has it that when those studying the black arts had made certain progress they were chased through a subterranean hall by the devil. If he caught only their shadow, or part of it, they became first-rate magicians, but lost either all or part of their shadow. This would make the expression mean, May you escape wholly and entirely from the clutches of the foul fiend.
A colloquial and convenient way of referring to a cinematograph entertain- ment.
An old colloquial name for the Elephant and Castle public- house; in allusion to its sign of a pig-like
The rising on behalf of the Catholics that broke out in Lin- colnshire in the autumn of 1536. It quickly assumed large proportions, but was finally ex- tinguished in March, 1537, by the Council of the North, over 70 of the rebels being executed. Robert Aske, the Archbishop of York, Lord Darcy, and the Percys were the principal leaders.
The opposite rocks at the entrance of the Mediterranean, one in
The flower or Very acme of perfection. In the same way Shake- speare (Romeo and Juliet, li, 4) has "the pink of courtesy.