h umber
Preserved but no longer current.
Meaning · English
See Spenser's Faerie Queene, II, x, 16:— He [Locrine] then encountred, a confused rout, Forbye the River that whylome was hight The ancient Abus . . .
Era: ca. 1898 (Victorian)
Sources & notes
Reproduced from Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable (1898 edition, public domain; archive.org, retrieved 2026-07-31; OCR text, minor errors possible). Reflects the scholarship and attitudes of its era.
Common questions
What does “h umber” mean?
See Spenser's Faerie Queene, II, x, 16:— He [Locrine] then encountred, a confused rout, Forbye the River that whylome was hight The ancient Abus . . .
Is “h umber” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.