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Dictionary of Phrase and Fable

E. Cobham Brewer From The Edition Of 1894

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F

F is written on his face. “Rogue” is written on his face. The letter F used to be branded near the nose, on the left cheek of felons, on their being admitted to “benefit of clergy.” The same was used for brawling in church. The custom was not abolished by law till 1822.

F Sharp A flea. The pun is F, the initial letter, and sharp because the bite is acute. (See B Flats.)

ff

A corrupt way of making a capital f in Old English, and used as low down as 1750; as ffrance for France, ffarrington for Farrington, etc.

F.E.R.T.

The letters of the Sardinian motto.

Either Fortitudo Ejus Rhodum Tenuit, in allusion to the succour rendered to Rhodes by the house of Savoy, 1310;

Or, Fædere et Religione Tenemur, on the gold doubloon of Victor Amadeus I.; Or, Fortitudo Ejus Rempublicam Tenet.

F.O.B.

Free on board; meaning that the shipper, from the time of shipment, is free from all risk.

F's

The three f's. Fixed tenure, Fair rent, F ree sale. The platform of the Irish League in 1880.

Fa'

(Scotch). To get; to get a share of; to lay a claim to.

“Where is the laird or belted knight

That best deserves to fa' that?”

Burns: Whom Will Ye Send, stanza i.

Fabian Society

An association of socialists.

“The Fabian Society aims at the reorganisation of society by the emancipation of land and industrial capital from individual and class ownership: and the resting of them in the community for the general benefit.” — H.G. Wilshire: Fabian Essays on Socialism, June, 1891, p. 91.

The name of the society is derived from Quintus Fabius, the Roman general, who won his way against Hannibal by wariness, not by violence, by caution, not by defiance.

“Fabian tactics lie in stealing inches, not in grasping leagues.” — Liberty Review, May 19th, 1894, p. 395, col. 1.

Fabian Soldiers

A complimentary phrase for Roman soldiers, the bravest of the brave.

“Quem [band of trained soldiers] quidem sic omni disciplina militari [Iphicratês] crudivit, ut quemadmodum quondam `Fabiani milites' Romani appellati sunt, sic `Iphicratenses' apud Græcos in summa laude fuerint.” — Nepos: Iphicrates, ii.

Fabian Tactics

or Policy — i.e. delay. “Win like Fabius, by delay.” The Roman general Fabius wearied out Hannibal by marches, counter—marches, ambuscades, and skirmishes, without ever coming to an open engagement. Fabius died B.C. 203.

“Met by the Fabian tactics, which proved fatal to its predecessor.” — The Times.

Fabianism

The system called Collectivism. (See Collectivists .)

“It must be evident that the Fabian Society has a really gigantic task before it, the difficulties of which will not be lightened when the working classes come to understand that small ownership ... and small savings ... are just as strongly condemned by Collectivists as large estates and colossal fortunes.” — Nineteenth Century (November, 1892, p. 686

Fabila's sad Fate

The king Don Fabila was a man of very obstinate purpose and fond of the chase. One day he encountered a boar, and commanded those who rode with him to remain quiet and not interfere; but the boar overthrew him and killed him. (Chronica Antiqua de España, p. 121.)

Fabius

The American Fabius. Washington (1732—1799), whose military policy was similar to that of Fabius. He wearied out the English troops by harassing them, without coming to a pitched battle. Duguesclin pursued the same policy in France, by the advice of Charles V., whereby all the conquests of Edward and the Black Prince were retrieved.

Fabius of the French. Anne, Duc de Montmorency, grand constable of France; so called from his success in almost annihilating the imperial army which had invaded Provence, by laying the country waste and prolonging the campaign. (1493—1567.)

Fables

The most famous writers of fables are —

Pilpay, among the Hindus.

Lokman, among the Arabs. Æsop and Babrios, among the Greeks.

Phædrus and Arianus, among the Romans. Faerne, Abstemius, and Casti, among the Italians. The last wrote The Talking Animals. La Fontaine and Florian, among the French.

John Gay and Edward Moore, among our own countrymen. The former is sometimes called “The English Æsop.”

Lessing and Pfeffel, among the Germans.

Krilof, among the Russians.

(See Aesop.)

Fabliaux

The metrical fables of the Trouvères, or early poets north of the Loire, in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. The word fable, in this case, is used very widely, for it includes not only such tales as Reynard the Fox, but all sorts of familiar incidents of knavery and intrigue, all sorts of legends and family traditions. The fabliau of Aucassin and Nicolette is full of interesting incidents, and contains much true pathos and beautiful poetry.

Fabricius

A Roman hero, representative of inflexible purity and honesty. The ancient writers love to tell of the frugal way in which he lived on his hereditary farm; how he refused the rich presents offered him by the Samnite ambassadors; and how at death he left no portion for his daughters, whom the senate provided for.

“Fabricius, scorner of all—conquering gold.”

Thomson: Seasons (Winter).

Fabulinus

The god who taught Roman children to utter their first word. It was the god Vagitanus (q.v.) who taught them to utter their first cry. From fari, to speak (Varro).

Fabulous Isles

(See under Islands .)

Face (Latin, facies.)

A brazen face. A bold, defiant look. A brazen—faced person means one with an impudent, audacious look, especially in a bad cause. Brass metaphorically is generally used in a bad or deprecatory sense, as “You have plenty of brass” [impudence], “I admire your brass.”

A rebec face (French, visage de rebec). An ugly, grotesque face, like that which used to be cut on the upper part of a rebec or three—stringed fiddle.

“Dead is the noble Badëbec,

Who had a face like a rebec.”

Rabelais: Pantagruel, book ii. 4.

Badebec was the mother of Gargantua, and died in childbirth. A wry face. The features drawn awry, expressive of distaste. To draw a long face. To look dissatisfied or sorrowful, in which case the mouth is drawn down at the corners, the eyes are dejected, and the face elongated

“Of course, it is all right; if you had not drawn such a long face I should never have doubted.” — Dr. Cupid.

To fly in the face of ... To oppose violently and unreasonably: to set at defiance rashly. To put a good face on the matter. To make the best of a bad matter; to bear up under something disagreeable; “vultu malum dissimulare;” “in adversis vultum secundæ fortunæ gerere.”

To set one's face against [something]. To oppose it; to resist its being done. The expression of the face shows the state of the inclination of a person's mind.

Face to Face

In the immediate presence of each other; two or more persons facing each other. To accuse another “face to face” means not “behind his back” or in his absence, but while present.

Faces

To keep two faces under one hood. To be double—faced; to pretend to be very religious, and yet live an evil life.

“We never troubled the Church ... We knew we were doing what we ought not to do, and scorned to look pious, and keep two faces under one hood.” — Boldrewood: Robbery Under Arms, chap. ii.

To make faces. To make grimaces with the face.

Face

To face it out. To persist in an assertion which is not true. To maintain without changing colour or hanging down the head.

To face down. To withstand with boldness and effrontery.

Faced

With a facing, lining of the cuffs, etc.; also the preterite of the verb “to face.”

Faced

Bare—faced. Impudence unconcealed. A “bare—faced lie” is a lie told shamelessly and without prevarication. Shame—faced. Having shame expressed in the face.

Faced with [silk, etc.]. An inferior article bearing the surface of a superior one, as when cotton—velvet has a silk surface; the “facings" (as the lining of coat—cuffs, etc.) made of silk, etc.

Face—card

or Faced—card. A court card, a card with a face on it.

Facil&eumk; Princeps By far the best; admittedly first.

“But the facilë princeps of all gypsologists is Professor Pott, of Halle.” — Chambers's Cyclopædia.

Facings

To put one through his facings. To examine; to ascertain if what appears on the surface is superficial only.

“The Greek books were again had out, and Grace ... was put through her facings.” — A. Trollope.

Façon de Parler

Idiomatic or usual form of speech, not meant to be offensive. I once told a waiter in Norway that the meat he brought me for breakfast was not sufficiently cooked; and he bluntly told me it was not true

(det er ikke sandt), but he did not intend to be rude. It was the Norwegian “façon de parler.”

Faction The Romans divided the combatants in the circus into classes, called factions, each class being distinguished by its special colour, like the crews of a boat—race. The four original factions were the leek—green (prasina), the sea—blue (veneta), the white (alba), and the rose—red (rosea). Two other factions were added by Domitian, the colours being golden—yellow (aurata ) and purple. As these combatants strove against each other, and entertained a strong esprit de corps, the word was easily applied to political partisans. In the faction riots of Constantinople, A.D. 532, above 30,000 persons were killed. (Latin, factio).

Factor

An agent; a substitute in mercantile affairs; a commission merchant. (Latin, facio, to do, whence the French facteur, one who does something for an employer.)

“Asleep and naked as an Indian lay,

An honest factor stole a gem away.”

Pope: Moral Essays, Ep. iii. 361.

Thomas Pitt, ancestor of the Earl of Chatham, was appointed by Queen Anne Governor of Fort St. George, in the East Indies, and in 1702 purchased there, for £20,400, a diamond weighing 127 carats, which he sold to the King of France. This gem is still called the Pitt diamond. Pope insinuates that Pitt stole the diamond. This is not exactly true. He obtained it for a price much below its value, and threatened the thief with exposure if he made a fuss about the matter.

Factotum

One who does for his employer all sorts of services. Sometimes called a Johannes Factotum. Our “Jack—of—all—trades” does not mean a factotum, but one who does odd jobs for anyone who will pay him.

(Latin, facere totum, to do everything required.)

Fad

(A). A hobby, a temporary fancy, a whim. A contraction of faddle in “fiddle—faddle.”

“Among the fads that Charley had taken up for a time was that of collecting old prints.” — Eggleston: Faith Doctor, chap. iii.

Fada

A fée or kobold of the south of France, sometimes called “Hada.” These house—spirits, of which, strictly speaking, there are but three, bring good luck in their right hand and ill luck in their left.

Fadda

Mahomet's white mule.

Fadge

(1 syl.). To suit or fit together, as, It won't fadge; we cannot fadge together; he does not fadge with me. (Anglo—Saxon, fægen, to fit together; Welsh, ffag, what tends to unite.)

“How will this fadge?”

Shakespeare: Twelfth Night, ii. 2.

Fadge

A farthing. A corrupt contraction of fardingal, i.e. farthingale. (See Chivy.)

Fadha

(Al). Mahomet's silver cuirass, confiscated from the Jews on their expulsion from Medina.

Fadladeen'

The great Nazir', or chamberlain of Aurungze'bë's harem, in Lalla Rookh. The criticism of this self—conceited courtier upon the several tales which make up the romance are very racy and full of humour;

and his crest—fallen conceit when he finds out that the poet was the Prince in disguise is well conceived.

“He was a judge of everything — from the pencilling of a Circassian's eyelids to the deepest questions of science and literature; from the mixture of a conserve of rose—leaves to the composition of an epic poem ... all the cooks and poets of Delhi stood in awe of him.” — T. Moore.

Faërie

or Feerie. The land of the fays or faeries. The chief fay realms are Avalon, an island somewhere in the ocean; Oberon's dominions, situate “in wilderness among the holtis hairy;” and a realm somewhere in the middle of the earth, where was Pari Banou's palace.

“For learnëd Colin [Spenser] lays his pipes to gage,

And is to Faëry gone a pilgrimage.”

Drayton: Eclogue, iii.

Faërie Queene

A metrical romance in six books, by Edmund Spenser (incomplete). It details the adventures of various knights, who impersonate different virtues, and belong to the court of Gloriana, Queen of faërie land.

The first book contains the legend of the Red Cross Knight (the spirit of Christianity), and is by far the best. The chief subject is the victory of Holiness over Error. It contains twelve cantos.

The second book is the legend of Sir Guyon (the golden mean), in twelve cantos. The third book is the legend of Britomartis (love without lust), in twelve cantos. Britomartis is Diana, or Queen Elizabeth the Britoness.

The fourth book is the legend of Cambel and Triamond (fidelity ), in twelve cantos. The fifth book is the legend of Artegal (justice ), in twelve cantos.

The sixth book is the legend of Sir Calidore (courtesy), in twelve cantos. There are parts of a seventh book — viz. cantos 6 and 7, and two stanzas of canto three. The subject is Mutability.

The plan of the Faërie Queene is borrowed from the Orlando Furioso, but the creative power of Spenser is more original, and his imagery more striking, than Ariosto's. Thomson says of him —

“[He] like a copious river, poured his song

O'er all the mazes of enchanted ground.”

The Seasons (Summer), 1574—5.

Fag

One who does, and perseveres in doing. In public schools, it means a little boy who waits upon a bigger one. Probably a contracted form of factor, factotum; Latin, fac—ere, to do.

Fag. Servant of Captain Absolute, who apes his master in all things. (Sheridan: The Rivals.)

“Even the mendacious Mr. Fag assures us, though he never scruples to tell a lie at his master's command, yet it hurts his conscience to be found out.” — Sir Walter Scott.

Fag—end

(A). The selvedge or coarse end of a piece of cloth. This also is from facio, factum, meaning the part added after the piece is finished. The fag—end of a session means the last few days before dissolution.

Fagged Out

Wearied with hard work. Fatigued contracted into fa'g'ed.

Fagin An infamous Jew, who teaches boys and girls to rob with dexterity. (Dickens: Oliver Twist.)

Fagot

A badge worn in mediæval times by those who had recanted their “heretical” opinions. It was designed to show what they merited, but had narrowly escaped. (See Fagots.)

Il y a fagots et fagots. There are divers sorts of fagots; every alike is not the same. The expression is in Molièe's Le Médecin malgré lui, where Sganarelle wants to show that his fagots are better than those of other persons; “Ay, but those fagots are not so good as my fagots.” (Welsh, ffag, that which unites; Anglo—Saxon, fægan, to unite.)

Sentire les fagots. To be heretical; to smack of the fagots. In allusion to the custom of burning heretics by surrounding them with blazing fagots.

Fagot Votes

Votes obtained by the nominal transfer of property to a person whose income was not otherwise sufficient to qualify him for being a voter.

The “fagot” was a bundle of property divided into small lots for the purpose stated above. Abolished.

“The object was to prevent the creation of fagot votes.” — The Times.

Fagots

Cakes made of the “insides” of pigs, with thyme, scraps of pork, sage onions, and other herbs, fried together in grease, and eaten with potatoes. (Greek, phago, to eat.)

Fahfah

One of the rivers of Paradise in Mahometan mythology.

Faids

The second class of Druids.

Faience

(2 syl.). Majolica. So called from Faenza, where, in 1299, it was first manufactured. It is termed majolica because the first specimens the Italians saw came from Majorca. In France it now means a fine ware not equal to porcelain.

Faineant

Les Rois Fainéants (the cipher or puppet kings). Clovis II. and his ten successors were the puppet kings of the Palace Mayors. Louis V. (last of the Carlovingian dynasty) received the same designation.

“ `My signet you shall command with all my heart, madam,' said Earl Philip. ... `I am, you know, a complete Roy Fainéant, and never once interfered wth my Maire du Palais in her proceedings.' ” — Sir Walter Scott: Peveril of the Peak, chap. xv.

Faint

Faint heart ne'er won fair lady.

“The bold a way will find or make.”

King: Orpheus and Eurydice.

“Faint harts faire ladies neuer win.” (1569.)

Philobiblion Society's Publications (1827, p. 22).

Faint Hearted

Easily discouraged; afraid to venture.

Fair

(The).

Charles IV., King of France, le Bel (1294, 1322—1328). Philippe IV. of France, le Bel (1268, 1285—1314).

Fair as Lady Done. A great Cheshire family that has long occupied a mansion at Utkinton. (Cheshire expression.)

Fair Geraldine. (See Geraldine.) Fair Rosamond. (See Rosamond.) To bid fair, as “he bids fair to be a good ...” To give good promise of being ...; to indicate future success or excellence; one de quo bene sperare licet.

Fair as a lily. (See Similes.)

Fair (Latin feriæ, holidays.)

A day after the fair. Too late for the fun. “Sero sapiunt Phryges. ” The Phrygians were noted for their obstinacy; hence, Phryx verberatus melior. They were thrice conquered: by Hercules, the Greeks, and the Latins, and were wise “after the events.”

Fair

(Statute). (See Mop .)

Fair City

Perth; so called from the beauty of its situation.

Fair Game

A worthy subject of banter; one who exposes himself to ridicule.

“Bourrienne is fair game; but the whole of his statements are not worthless.” — The Spectator, Feb. 18th, 1888.

Fair Maid

(The).

Fair Maid of Anjou. Lady Edith Plantagenet, who married David, Prince Royal of Scotland. Fair Maid of February. The snow—drop, which blossoms in February.

Fair Maid of Kent. Joan, Countess of Salisbury, wife of the Black Prince, and only daughter of Edmond Plantagenet, Earl of Kent. She had been twice married ere she gave her hand to the prince.

Fair Maid of Norway. Margaret, daughter of Eric II. of Norway, and granddaughter of Alexander III. of Scotland. Being recognised by the states of Scotland as successor to the throne, she set out for her new kingdom, but died on her passage from seasickness. (1290.)

Fair Maid of Perth. Katie Glover, the most beautiful young woman of Perth. Heroine of Scott's novel of the same name.

Fair—star

The Princess Fair—star, in love with Prince Chery, whom she sets to obtain for her “the dancing water,” “the singing apple,” and “the green bird” (q.v.). This tale is borrowed from the fairy tales of Straparola the Milanese. (1550.) Chery and Fair—star, by the Countess d'Aulnoy.

Fair Trade Smuggling.

“Neither Dirk Hatteraick nor any of his sailors, all well known men in the fair trade, were again seen upon that coast.” — Sir Walter Scott: Guy Mannering, chap. x.

Latterly the phrase has been introduced into politics to signify reciprocity of protection or free—trade. That is, free—trade to those nations that grant free—trade to us, and vice versa.

Fair Way

In a fair way. On the right tack. The “fair way” is the proper track through a channel.

Fair and Square

Honestly, justly, with straightforwardness.

Fair fall you

Good befall you.

Fair Play is a Jewel

As a jewel is an ornament of beauty and value, so fair play is an honourable thing and a “jewel in the crown” of the player.

Fairies

good and bad.

AFREET or EFREET, one of the Jinn tribe, of which there are five. (See Story of the Second Calendar.) APPARITION. A ghost.

ARIEL. (See Ariel.)

BANSHEE or BENSHEE, an Irish fairy attached to a house. (See Banshee.) BOGGART. (Scotch.) A local hobgoblin or spirit.

BOGIE or BOGLE, a bugbear (Scotch form of bug). (See Bogie.) BROWNIE, a Scotch domestic fairy; the servants friend if well treated. (See Brownie.) BUG or BUGBEAR, any imaginary thing that frightens a person. (Welsh, bwg. (See Bug.) CAULD LAD (The), the Brownie of Hilton Hall. (See Cauld Lad.)

DJINN, JIN, or GINN (Arabian).(See Jinn.)

DUENDE (3 syl.), a Spanish house—spirit.(See Duende.) DWARE, a diminutive being, human or superhuman. (Anglo—Saxon, dweorg.) DWERGER, DWERGUGH, or DUERGAR, Gotho—German dwarfs, dwelling in rocks and hills. (Anglo—Saxon,dweorgh.)

ELF (plu. ELVES), fairies of diminutive size, supposed to be fond of practical jokes. (Anglo—Saxon, ælf. (See Elf.)

ELLE—MAID or ELLE—WOMAN, ELLE—FOLK, of Scandinavia.

ESPRIT FOLLET, the house—spirit of France.

FAIRY or FAERIE (plu. FAIRIES), a supernatural being, fond of pranks, but generally pleasing. (German and French, fee.)

FAMILIAR (A, an evil spirit attendant on witches, etc. (See Familiar.) FATA, an Italian fay, or white lady.

FATES, the three spirits (Clotho, Lachesis, and Atropos) which preside over the destiny of every individual. (Latin, fata.)

FAY (plu. FAYS), same as Fairy (q.v..)

FEAR DEARG (The), i.e. Red Man. A house—spirit of Munster. GENII (plu.). The sing. genie and genius. Eastern spirits, whether good or bad, who preside over a man or nation. “He is my evil [or good] genius.” (Latin, genius. (See Genius.)

GHOST, the immaterial body or noumenon of a human being. Supposed to be free to visit the earth at night—time, but obliged to return to its Hades at the first dawn.

GHOUL, a demon that feeds on the dead. (Persian.)

GNOME (1 syl.), the guardian of mines, quarries, etc. (Greek, gnóme a Cabalistic being.) (See Gnomes.) GOBLIN or HOBGOBLIN, a phantom spirit. (French, gobelin; German, kobold.)

GOOD FOLK (The). The Brownies or house—spirits.

GUARDIAN—ANGEL, an angelic spirit which presides over the destiny of each individual. HABUNDIA, queen of the White Ladies.

HAG (A), a female fury. Milton (Comus 445) speaks of “blue meagre hags.” H AMADRYAD, a wood—nymph. Each tree has its own wood—nymph, who dies when the tree dies. HOBGOBLIN. (See above, GOBLIN.) Hob is Robin,as Hodge is Roger.

HORNS or HORNIE, the Devil. (See Hornie.)

IMP, a puny demon or spirit of mischief. (Welsh, imp.) JACK—A—LANTERN, a bog or marsh spirit who delights to mislead. JINN or GINN. (See Jinn.) These Arabian spirits were formed of “smokeless fire.” KELPIE (2 syl.). In Scotland, an imaginary spirit of the waters in the form of a horse. (See Kelpie.) KOBOLD, a German household goblin, also frequenting mines. (German, kobold. ) (See Kobold.)

LAMIA (plu. LAMIÆ), a hag or demon. Keats's Lamia is a serpent which had assumed the form of a beautiful woman, beloved by a young man, and gets a soul. (Latin, Lamia.) (See Lamies.)

LAMIES, African spectres, having the head of a woman and tail of a serpent. (See Lamia.) LAR (plu. LARES) (2 syl.), Latin household deities. (See Lares.)

LEPRECHAUN, a fairy shoemaker.

MAB, the faries' midwife. Sometimes incorrectly called queen of the fairies. (Welsh, mab.) (See Mab.) MANDRAKE. (See Mandrake.)

MERMAID, a sea—spirit, the upper part a woman and the lower half a fish. MERROWS, both male and female, are spirits of the sea, of human shape from the waist upwards, but from the waist downwards are like a fish. The females are attractive, but the males have green teeth, green hair, pig's eyes, and red noses. Fishermen dread to meet them.

MONACIELLO or LITTLE MONK, a house—spirit of Naples.

NAIAD (plu. NAIADES [3 syl.] or NAIADS [2 syl.]), water—nymphs. (Latin.) (See Naiads.) NIS or NISSE (2 syl.), a Kobold or Brownie. A Scandinavian fairy friendly to farmhouses. (Contraction of Nicolaus.)

NIX (female, NIXIE), a water—spirit. The nix has green teeth, and wears a green hat; the nixie is very beautiful.

OBERON, king of the fairies.

OGRE [pronounce og'r], an inhabitant of fairyland said to feed on infant children. (French.) OREADS, mountain nymphs. (Greek, oros.)

OUPHE (2 syl.), a fairy or goblin.

PERI, a Persian fairy. Evil peris are called “Deevs.” PIGWIDGEON, a fairy of very diminutive size.

PIXY or PIXIE (also pisgy, pisgie), a Devonshire fairy, same as Puck. POUKE (1 syl.), same as Puck. (See Pouke.)

PUCK, a merry little fairy spirit, full of fun and harmless mischief. (Icelandic and Swedish, puke.) (See Puck.)

ROBIN— GOODFELLOW, another name for PUCK. (See Robin ...) SALAMANDER, a spirit which lives in fire. (Latin and Greek, salamandra.) (See Salamandra.) SHADES, ghosts.

SPECTRE, a ghost,

SPOOK (in Theosophy), an elemental.

SPRITE, a spirit.

STROMKARL, a Norwegian musical spirit, like Neck. (See Stromkarl.) SYLPH, a spirit of the air; so named by the Rosicrucians and Cabalists. (Greek, silphe, French, sylphide.) (See Sylphs.)

TRITON, a sea deity, who dwells with Father Neptune in a golden palace at the bottom of the sea. The chief employment of tritons is to blow a conch to smooth the sea when it is ruffled.

TROLL, a hill—spirit. Hence Trolls are called Hill—people or Hill—folk, supposed to be immensely rich, and especially dislike noise. (See Trolls.)

UNDINE (2 syl.), a water—nymph. (Latin, unda.) (See Undine.) URCHIN properly means a hedgehog, and is applied to mischievous children and small folk generally. (See Urchin.)

VAMPIRE (2 syl.), the spirit of a dead man that haunts a house and sucks the blood of the living. A Hungarian superstition. (See Vampire.)

WERE—WOLF (Anglo—Saxon, wer—wulf, man—wolf), a human being, sometimes in one form and sometimes in another. (See WereWolf.)

WHITE LADIES OF NORMANDY. (See White Ladies.)

WHITE LADY (The) of the royal family of Prussia. A “spirit" said to appear before the death of one of the family. (See White Lady.)

WHITE LADY OF AVENEL (2 syl.), a tutelary spirit.

WHITE LADY OF IRELAND (The, the banshee or domestic spirit of a family.) WHITE MERLE (The), of the old Basques. A white fairy bird, which, by its singing, restored sight to the blind.)

WIGHT, any human creature, as a “Highland wight.” Dwarfs and all other fairy creatures. WILL—O'—THE—WISP, a spirit of the bogs, whose delight is to mislead belated travellers.

WRAITH (Scotch), the ghost of a person shortly about to die or just dead, which appears to survivors, sometimes at a great distance off. (See Wraith, Household Spirits.)

Fairies

are the dispossessed spirits which once inhabited human bodies, but are not yet meet to dwell with the “saints in light.”

“All those airy shapes you now behold

Were human bodies once, and clothed with earthly mould; Our souls, not yet prepared for upper light,

Till doomsday wander in the shades of night.”

Dryden: The Flower and the Leaf.

Fairing

(A). A present from a fair. The ing is a patronymic = a descendant of, come from, belonging to.

“Fairings come thus plentifully in.”

Shakespeare: Love's Labour's Lost, v. 2.

Fairlimb

The sister of Bitelas and daughter of Rukenaw, the ape; in the tale of Reynard the Fox.

Fairservice (Andrew). A shrewd Scotch gardener at Osbaldistone Hall. (Sir Walter Scott: Rob Roy.)

Fairy

of nursery mythology is the personification of Providence. The good ones are called fairies, elves,

elle—folks, and fays; the evil ones are urchins, ouphes, ell—maids, and ell—women.

“Fairies, black, grey, green, and white,

You moonshine revellers, and shades of night, You ouphen—heirs of fixed destiny,

Attend your office.”

Shakespeare: Merry Wives of Windsor, v. 5.

The dress of the fairies. They wear a red conical cap; a mantle of green cloth, inlaid with wild flowers; green pantaloons, buttoned with bobs of silk; and silver shoon. They carry quivers of adder—slough, and bows made of the ribs of a man buried where “three lairds' lands meet;” their arrows are made of bog—reed, tipped with white flints, and dipped in the dew of hemlock; they ride on steeds whose hoofs would not “dash the dew from the cup of a harebell.” (Cromek.

“Fairies small, two foot tall,

With caps red on their head.”

Dodsley's Old Plays; Fuimus Troes, i, 5.

Fairy Darts

Flint arrow—heads, supposed at one time to have been thrown by fairies in their pranks.

Fairy Hillocks

Little knolls of grass, like mole—hills, said in the “good old times” to be the homes of fairies.

Fairy Ladies

or Mage, such as Urganda, the guardian of Amadigi; the fair Oriana; Silvana, the guardian of Alidoro; Lucina, the protectress of Alidoro and his lady—love, the maiden—warrior, Mirinda; Eufrosina, the sister of Lucina; Argea, the protectress of Floridante, and Filide'a, sister of Ardea; all in Tasso's Amadigi.

Fairy Land The land where fairies are supposed to dwell; dreamland; a place of great delight and happiness.

“The fairest of fairy lands — the land of home.”

Jean Ingelow: The Letter, part i. stanza 31.

Fairy Loaves

or Fairy Stones. Fossil sea—urchins (echini), said to be made by the fairies.

Fairy Money

Found money. Said to be placed by some good fairy at the spot where it was picked up. “Fairy money” is apt to be transformed into leaves.

Fairy Rings

Circles of rank or withered grass, often seen in lawns, meadows, and grass—plots. Said to be produced by the fairies dancing on the spot. In sober truth, these rings are simply an agaric or fungus below the surface, which has seeded in a circular range, as many plants do. Where the ring is brown and almost bare, the “spawn" is of a greyish—white colour. The grass dies because the spawn envelops the roots so as to prevent their absorbing moisture; but where the grass is rank the “spawn” is dead, and serves as manure to the young grass.

“You demi—puppets, that

By moonshine do the green—sour ringlets make, Whereof the ewe not bites.”

Shakespeare: Tempest, v. 1.

Fairy Sparks The phosphoric light from decaying wood, fish, and other substances. Thought at one time to be lights prepared for the fairies at their revels.

Fairy of the Mine

A malevolent being supposed to live in mines, busying itself with cutting ore, turning the windlass, etc., and yet effecting nothing. (See Gnome.)

“No goblin, or swart fairy of the mine,

Hath hurtful power o'er true virginity.”

Milton: Comus, 447—8.

Fait Accompli

(French). A scheme which has been already carried out with success.

“The subjection of the South is as much a fait accompli as the declaration of independence itself.” — The Times.

Faith

Defender of the Faith. (See Defender .)

In good faith. “Bona fide;” “de bonne foi;” with no ulterior motive.

Faithful

in Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress, is seized at Vanity Fair, burnt to death, and taken to heaven in a chariot of fire. A Puritan used to be called Brother Faithful. The abiding disciples of any cult are called the faithful.

Jacob Faithful. The hero of Captain Marryat's novel so called. Father of the faithful. Abraham (Rom. iv.; Gal. iii. 6—9).

Fakar

(Dhu'l). The scimitar of Mahomet, which fell to his share when the spoil was divided after the battle of Bekr. This term means “The Trenchant.”

Fake

(1 syl.). Fake away. Cut away, make off (Latin, fac, do, make). It also means to do — i.e. to cheat or swindle.

Fake. A single fold of a coiled cable. (Scotch, faik, a fold; Swedish, vika, to involve; Saxon, fægan, to unite.)

Fakenham Ghost

A ballad by Robert Bloomfield, author of The Farner's Boy. The ghost was a donkey.

Fakir'

(Indian). A poor man, a mendicant, a religious beggar. The Fakirs are the lowest in the priesthood of Yesidis. They wear coarse black or brown dresses, and a black turban over which a red handkerchief is tied. Fakirs perform all menial offices connected with burials. They clean the sacred building, trim and light the lamps, and so on.

Falcon and Falconet. Pieces of light artillery, the names of which are borrowed from hawks. (See Saker.)

Falcon Gentle

(A). A goshawk.

Falcon Peregrine

or Pelerin. La seconde ligme est faucons que hom apels “pelerins,” par ce que nus ne trouve son ni; ains est pris autresi come en pelerinage, et est mult legiers a norrir, et mult cortis, et vaillans, et de bone maniere. (Tresor de Brunst Latin: Des Faucons.)

“A faukoun peregryn than semëd sche

Of fremdë [foreign] land.”

Chaucer: Canterbury Tales (10,742).

Fald—stool

A small desk at which the Litany is sung or said. The place at the south side of the alter at which sovereigns kneel at their coronation. (Barbarous Latin, falda, a thing which folds or shuts up.)

Faldistory

The episcopal seat in a chancel, which used to fold or lift up.

Falernian

the second best wine in Italy, was so called by the ancient Romans because it was made of grapes from Falernus. There were three sorts — the rough, the sweet, and the dry.

Falkland

In Godwin's novel called Caleb Williams. He commits murder, and keeps a narrative of the transaction in an iron chest. Williams, a lad in his employ, opens the chest, and is caught in the act by Falkland. The lad runs away, but is hunted down. This tale, dramatised by Colman, is entitled The Iron Chest.

Fal—lals Nick—nacks; ornaments of small value. (Greek, phalara, metal ornaments for horses, etc.)

“Our god—child passed in review all her gowns flchus, tags, bobbins, laces, silk stockings, and fallals.” — Thackeray: Vanity Fair, chap. vi. p. 38.

Fall

In the fall. In the autumn, at the fall of the leaf. (An American revival.)

“What crowds of patients the town doctor kills,

Or how, last fall, he raised the weekly bills.” Dryden: Juvenal.

To try a fall. To wrestle, when each tries to “fall” or throw the other.

“I am given, sir, ... to understand that your younger brother, Orlando, hath a disposition to come in disguised against me to try a fall.” — As You Like It, i. 1.

Fall Away

(To). To lose flesh; to degenerate; to quit a party, as “his adherents fell away gradually [one by one], or rapidly.”

Fall Flat

(To). To lie prostrate or procumbent; to fail to interest, as “the last act fell flat.”

Fall Foul

To fall foul of one is to make an assault on someone. A sea term. A rope is said to be foul when it is entangled; and one ship falls foul of another when it runs against her and prevents her free progress. Hence to run up against, to assault.

Fall From

(To). To violate, as “to fall from his word;” to tumble or slip off, as “to fall from a horse;” to abandon or go away from, as “to fall from grace.”

Fall In (To). To take one's place with others; to concur with, as “he fell in with my views” — that is, his views or ideas fell into the lot of my views or ideas. (See Fall Out.)

Fall Off

(To). To detach themselves; to be thrown off [a horse]; to leave. The Latin decido.

Fall Out (To). To quarrel; to happen. (Latin, accido.) (See Fall In.)

“Three children sliding on the ice

Upon a summer's day;

As it fell out they all fell in,

The rest they ran away.”

Porson: Mother Goose.

“See ye fall not out by the way.” — Genesis xlv. 24.

Fall Sick

(To). To be unwell. A Latin phrase, “In morbum incidere. “

Fall Through

(To). To tumble through [an insecure place]; to fail of being carried out or accomplished.

Fall to

(To). To begin [eating, fighting, etc.].

“They sat down ... and without waiting ... fell to like commoners after grace.” — Kane: Arctic Explorations, vol. i. chap. xxx. p. 419.

Fall Under

(To). To incur, as, “to be under the reproach of carelessness;” to be submitted to, as, “to fall under consideration,” a Latinism, “In deliberationem cadere. “

Fall Upon

(To). To attack, as “to fall upon the rear,” a Latin phrase, “ultimis incidere; ” to throw oneself on, as, “he fell on his sword,” “manu sua cadere; ” to happen on, as, “On what day will the games fall?”

Fall in With

(To). To meet accidentally; to come across. This is a Latin phrase, in aliquam casu incidere. “

Fall into a Snare

(To), or “To fall into an ambuscade.” To stumble accidentally into a snare. This is a Latin phrase, “insidias incidere. ” Similarly, to fall into disgrace is the Latin “ni offensionem cadere. “

Fall of Man

(The). The degeneracy of the human race in consequence of the “fall” [or disobedience] of Adam, man's federal head. Adam fell, or ceased to stand his ground, under temptation.

Fall of the Drop

(The), in theatrical parlance, means the fall of the drop—curtain at the end of the act or play.

Fall Out of

(To). To tumble or slip from, as, “The weapons fell out of my hands.” This is a Latin phrase, “De manibus meis arma ceciderunt. “

Fall Short of

(To). To be deficient of a supply. This is the Latin excido, to fail. To fall short of the mark is a figure taken from archery, quoits, etc., where the missile falls to the ground before reaching the mark.

Fall Together by the Ears

(To). To fight and scratch each other; to contend in strife. “To fall together by the ears” is “inter se certare; ” but “to set together by the ears” is “discordium concitare. “

Fall Upon One's Feet

(To). To escape a threatened injury; to light upon one's feet.

Falling Bands Neck—bands which fall on the chest, common in the seventeenth century.

Falling Sickness

Epilepsy, in which the patient falls suddenly to the ground.

“Brutus. — He[i.e. Cæsar] hath the falling—sickness.

Cassius. — No, Cæsar hath it not: but you, and I, And honest Casca, we have the falling sickness.” Shakespeare: Julius Cæsar, i. 2.

Falling Stars

are said by Mahometans to be firebrands flung by good angels against evil spirits when they approach too near the gates of heaven.

Fallow Land

Land ploughed, but not sown; so called from its brown or tawny colour. (German, fahl, tawny; Anglo—Saxon, falu or fealo, pale—red; hence, fallow deer, red deer.)

“Break up the fallow land.” — Jer. iv. 3.

False

(The Rule of). A method of solving certain mathematical questions generally done by equations. Suppose the question is this: “What number is that whose half exceeds its third by 12?” Assume any number you like as the supposed answer — say 96. Then, by the question, 96 ÷ 2 = 96 i.e. 54, but 48 does not equal 54, the latter is 16 too much. Well, now state by rule of proportion thus, 16: 12:: 96 to the answer, which is 72, the number required.

False Ceiling

The space between the garret—ceiling and the roof.

Falstaff

A fat, sensual, boastful, and mendacious knight; full of wit and humour; he was the boon companion of Henry, Prince of Wales. (1 and 2 Henry IV., and Merry Wives of Windsor.)

Falutin

(High). Oratorical bombast; affected pomposity; “Ercles vein.” (See Hifaluten.)

None of your high falutin airs with me. None of your swell ways with me. (Dutch, verlooten.

Familiar A cat, dog, raven, or other dumb creature, petted by a “witch,” and supposed to be her demon in disguise. (See below.)

Familiar Spirits

Spirit slaves. From the Latin, famulus (an attendant).

“Away with him! he has a familiar under his tongue.” — Shakespeare: 2 Henry VI., iv. 7.

Familiarity

Too much familiarity breeds contempt.

Latin: Nimia familiaritas contemptum parit. French: La familiaritéengendre le méris. Italian: La famigliaritàfàdispregiamento.

“E tribus optimis rebus tres pessimæ oriuntur: e veritate odium; e familiaritate contemptus; e felicitate invidia.” — Plutarch (translated).

Familists

Members of the “Family of Love,” a fanatical sect founded by David George, of Delft, in 1556. They maintained that all men are of one family, and should love each other as brothers and sisters. Their system is called Familism.

Family A person of family. One of aristocratic birth. The Latin gens.

“Family will take a person anywhere.” —

Warner: Little Journey in the World, chap. iv.

Fan

I could brain him with his lady's fan (1 Henry IV., ii. 3) — i.e. knock his brains out with a fan handle. The ancient fans had long handles, so that ladies used their fans for walking—sticks, and it was by no means unusual for very testy dames to chastise unruly children by beating them with their fan—sticks.

“Wer't not better

Your head were brokeu with the handle of a fan?” Beaumont and Fletcher: Wit at Several Weapons, v.

Fan—light

(A), placed over a door, is a semicircular window with radiating bars, like the ribs of an open fan.

Fanatic

Those transported with religious or temple madness. Among the Romans there were certain persons who attended the temples and fell into strange fits, in which they pretended to see spectres, and uttered what were termed predictions. (Latin, fanum, a temple.)

“That wild energy which leads

The enthusiast to fanatic deeds.”

Hemans: Tale of the Secret Tribunal.

Fancy

Love — i.e. the passion of the fantasy or imagination. A fancyman is a man (not your husband) whom you fancy or select for chaperon.

“Tell me where is fancy bred,

Or in the heart or in the head.”

Shakespeare: Merchant of Venice, iii. 2.

The fancy. Pugilists. So called because boxing is the chief of sports, and fancy means sports, pets, or fancies. Hence “dog—fanciers,” “pigeon—fanciers,” etc.

Fancy—free

Not in love.

“In maiden meditation fancy—free.”

Shakespeare: Midsummer Night's Dream, ii. 2.

Fancy Man

(A). A cavalier servant or cicisbeo; one selected by a married lady to escort her to theatres, etc., to ride about with her, and to amuse her. The man she “fancies” or likes.

Fancy—sick

Love—sick.

“All fancy—sick she is, and pale of cheer.”

Shakespeare: Midsummer Night's Dream, iii. 2.

Fanesii

A Scandinavian tribe far north, whose ears were so long that they would cover their whole body. (Pliny.)

Fanfaron

A swaggering bully; a cowardly boaster who blows his own trumpet. Sir Walter Scott uses the word for finery, especially for the gold chains worn by military men, common in Spain amongst the conquerors of the New World. (Spanish, fanfarron, a bully; French, fanfare, a flourish of trumpets, or short piece of military music performed by brass instruments and kettledrums.)

“ `Marry, hang thee, with thy fanfarona about thy neck!'said the falconer.” — Scott: The Abbot. cxvii.

Fanfaronade

(4 syl.). Swaggering; vain boasting; ostentatious display. (See above.)

“The bishop copied this proceeding from the fanfaronade of M. Boufflers.” — Swift.

Fang A sheriff's officer in Shakespeare's 2 Henry IV.

Fangs

I fell into his fangs. Into his power, his clutches. (Anglo—Saxon, fang, a grasp.)

“To seize.

Traitors, that vice—like fang the hand ye lick.” Bailey: Festus (A Village Feast), sec. 9.

Fangled

A new—fangled notion is one just started or entertained. (Saxon, fengan, to begin.)

Fanny Fern

A nom de plume of Mrs. Sarah Payson Parton, sister of Mr. N. P. Willis, the American poet. (Born 1811, died 1872.)

Fantigue

(2 syl.). A function; a fussy anxiety; that restless, nervous commotion which persons have who are phantom—struck.

Fantoccini

[fanto—cheny ]. A dramatic performance by puppets. (Italian, fantoccio, a puppet.)

Fantom—corn

The mere ghost of corn, having been bewitched. (French, fantóme, a ghost.)

Fantom—fellow

A person who is light—headed, and under the ban of some hobgoblin. (See above.)

Fantom—flesh

Flesh that hangs loose and flabby — supposed to be under the evil influence of some spectre. (See above.)

Far and Away

“Nullus proximus aut secundus;” as, “far and away the best;" some person or thing beyond all comparison or rivalry.

Far Cry from

It is a far cry from ... to ...; as, it is a far cry from Moses to Moses Montefiore, and from David to Disraeli, but they all were Jews, and had certain features in common. Sir Walter Scott several times uses the phrase “It's a far cry to Lochow [Lochawe].” It is a far cry from O'Connell to Kossuth.

Far fetched

Not closely connected; a remote conceit; as, “a far—fetched simile,” a “far—fetched allusion.” Also, obtained from a foreign or distant country, “quod rarum est, carum est.”

“The passionfor long, involved sentences ... and far—fetched conceits ... passed away, and a clearer and less ornate style became popular.” — Lecky: English in the Eighteenth Century, vol. i. chap. i. p. 91.

Far Gone

Deeply affected: as, “far gone in love.”

Far Niente

(3 syl.). Italian phrase. The Latin otium. Dolce far niente is the sweet enjoyment of having nothing to do, i.e. of a holiday. (See Dolce.)

Farce

(1 syl.). Stuffing. Dramatic pieces of no solid worth, but stuffed full of ludicrous incidents and expressions. They bear the same analogy to the regular drama as force—meat does to a solid joint. (French, farce; Latin, farcio, to stuff.)

Farceur

(The). One who writes or acts farces.

Farcy or Farcin (Latin, farcimen, a sausage, any stuffed meat). A disease in horses, which consists of a swelling of the ganglions and lymphatic vessels. It shows itself in little knots; glanders.

Fare

meaning the expense of a journey or passage across water, is the Anglo—Saxon fare or fær, a journey; verb, faran, to travel. (Archaic, feriage, the fare for crossing a ferry.)

Fare Well

(To). You cannot fare well but you must cry out roast meat. Don't blazon your good fortune on the house—top. “Sorex suo perit indicio.” Terence has the same idea: “Egomet meo indicio miser, quasi sorex, hodie pemi.” (Eunuchus, v. 7, 23.)

Farina

Ejusdem farinæ. Other rubbish of the same sort. Literally, “Other loaves of the same batch.” Our more usual expressions are, “Others of the same kidney,” “others of the same feather,” “others tarred with the same brush.”

Farinata

or Farinata Degli Uberti. A nobleman of Florence, chief of the Ghibelline faction, placed by Dante, in his Inferno, in a red—hot coffin, the lid of which is suspended over him till the day of judgment. He is represented as faithless and an epicure. (Thirteenth century.)

Farleu

or Farley. A duty of 6d. paid to the lord of the manor of West Slapton, in Devonshire. (Bailey.) Money given by a tenant instead of his best beast (heriot).

Farm

means food; so called because anciently the tenant was required to provide the landlord with food by way of rent. (Anglo—Saxon, fearme, food.)

To farm taxes is the French affermer (to let or lease), from ferme, a letting for the supply of food.

Farmer George

George III.; so called from his farmer—like manners, taste, dress, and amusements. (1738, 1760—1820.)

“A better farmer ne'er brushed dew from lawn.”

Byrons Vision of Judgment.

Farmers

A farmer ought to make four rents in order to live: one for rent, one for labour, one for stock, and one for himself.

Farnese Bull

[Far—na'—ze ]. A name given to a colossal group attributed to Apollonius and Tauriscus of Trallës, in Asia Minor. They belonged to the Rhodian school, and lived about B.C. 300. The group represents Dirce bound to the horns of a bull by Zethus and Amphion, for ill—using their mother. It was restored by Bianchi in 1546, and placed in the Farnese palace, in Italy.

Farnese Hercules

[Far—na'—ze Hercu—lees ]. A name given to Glykon's copy of the famous statue of Lysippos, the Greek sculptor in the time of Alexander the Great. It represents the hero leaning on his club, with one hand on his back, as if he had just got possession of the apple of the Hesperides. Farnese is the name of a celebrated family in Italy, which became extinct in 1731.

“It struck me that an ironclad is to a wooden vessel what the Farnese Hercules is to the Apollo Belvidere. The Hercules is not without a beauty of its own.” — The Times (Paris correspondent).

Faroese

(3 syl.). Belonging to the Faroe Islands; a native of the islands.

Farrago

A farrago of nonsense. A confused heap of nonsense. Farrago is properly a mixture of far (meal) with other ingredients for the use of cattle.

“Anquetil was derided ..., for having suffered a farrago of nonsense to be palmed off upon him by his Parsi teachers as the works of the sage Zoroaster.” — Whitney: Oriental Studies (Avesta), chap. vi. p. 184.

Farringdon Ward

(London). The aldermanry, etc., granted by John le Feure to William Farendon, citizen and goldsmith of London, in consideration of twenty marks given beforehand as a gersum to the said John le Feure. (1279.)

Farthing

A fourth part. Penny pieces used to be divided into four parts, thus, farthing, and two a halfpenny. (Anglo—Saxon, feor— thung. )

I don't care for it a brass farthing. James II. debased all the coinage, and issued, amongst other worthless coins, brass pence, halfpence, and farthings. The feorthung was the fourth part of other coins. Thus, we read in the Grayfriar's Chronicle: —

“This yere the kynge made a newe quyne, as the nobylle, half—nobylle, and ferdyng—nobylle.”

Farthingalo (3 syl.). A sort of crinoline petticoat. The word means a “guard for modesty.” (French, vertugarde, corrupted into verdingade, and then into farthingale.)

Faryndon Inn

Serjeants' Inn, Chancery Lane, used to be so called.

Fascination

means “slain or overcome by the eyes.” The allusion is to the ancient notion of bewitching by the power of the eye. (Greek, baskaino, i.e. phaesi kaino, to kill with the eyes. See Valpy: Etymology of Greek Words, p. 23, col. 1; Latin, fascino. ) (See Evil Eye.)

“None of the affections have been noted to fascinate and bewitch, but love and envy.” — Bacon.

Fashion

[fash'—un. ] In a fashion or after a fashion. “In a sort of a way;” as, “he spoke French in a fashion” (i.e. very badly). (“French of Stratford atte Bowe.”)

Fashion of Speech

(A). “Facon de parler” (q.v.); “Ratio loquendi!”

Fast Girl or Young Lady (A) is one who talks slang, assumes the airs of a knowing one, and has no respect for female delicacy and retirement. She is the ape of the fast young man.

Fast Man

(A) is one who lives a continual round of “pleasure” so fast that he wears himself out.

Fast and Loose

(To play). To run with the hare and hold with the hounds; to blow both hot and cold; to say one thing and do another. The allusion is to a cheating game practised at fairs. A belt is folded, and the player is asked to prick it with a skewer, so as to pin it fast to the table; having so done, the adversary takes the two ends, and looses it or draws it away, showing that it has not been pierced at all.

He forced his neck into a noose,

To show his play at fast and loose;

And when he chanced t'escape, mistook,

For art and subtlety, his luck.”

Butler: Hudibras, iii. 2.

Fasti

Working days; when, in Rome, the law'—courts were open. Holy days (dies non), when the law—courts were not open, were, by the Romans, called ne—fasti.

Fasting The most ingenious method of fasting I know of is that recorded in the Mappemonde Papistique, p.

82. A Venetian saint had certain boxes made like mass—books, and these book—boxes were filled, some with Malmsey wine, and some with the fleshiest parts of capons and partridges. These were supposed to be books of devotion, and the saint lived long and grew fat on them.Fastrade (2 syl.). Daughter of the Saxon count Rodolph and Luitgarde the German. One of the nine wives of Charlemagne.

“Those same soft bells at eventide

Rang in the ears of Charlemagne,

As, seated by Fastrada's side

At lugelheim,in all his pride,

He heard their sound with secret pain.

Longfellow: Golden Legend, vi.

Fat

All the fat is in the fire. The allusion is to the process of frying. If the grease is spilt into the fire, the coals smoke and blaze so as to spoil the food. The proverb signifies that something has been let out inadvertently

which will cause a “regular flare up.”

The Fat: —

Alfonzo II. of Portugal. (1212—1223.)

Charles II. of France, le Gros. (832, 881—888.) Louis VI. of France, le Gros. (1078, 1108—1137.)

Fat Men

Edward Bright, of Essex, weighed 44 stone, or 616 pounds, at death. He was 5 feet 9 inches high, 5 feet round the chest, and 6 feet 11 inches round the paunch. He died 1750, aged thirty.

Daniel Lambert, born at St. Marga ret's Leicester, weighed 739 pounds. He was 3 yards 4 inches round the waist, 1 yard 1 inch round the leg. (1770—1809.)

Fat as a Porpoise

The skin of the porpoise is nearly an inch thick, and under it is a layer of fat somewhat thicker, and yielding oil of the finest quality.

Fata

Women introduced in mediæval romance not unlike witches, and under the sway of Demogorgon. In Orlando Innamorato we meet with the “Fata Morgana;” in Bojardo, with the “Fata Silvanella.” The Fates Nera and Bianca, the protectresses of Guidone and Aquilante; the “Fata della Fonti,” from whom Manricardo obtains the arms of Hector; and “Alcina,” sister of Morgana, who carries off Astolfo. In Tasso we have the three daughters of Morgana, whose names are Morganetta, Nivetta, and Carvilia; we have also Dragontina, Montana Argea (called the queen of the Fates), protectress of Floridante), Filidea (sister of Argea), and several others. In the Adone of Mari'

Fata Morgana

A sort of mirage occasionally seen in the Straits of Messina. Fata is Italian for a “fairy,” and the fairy Morgana was the sister of Arthur and pupil of Merlin. She lived at the bottom of a lake, and dispensed her treasures to whom she liked. She is first introduced in the Orlando Innamorato as “Lady Fortune,” but subsequently assumes her witch—like attributes. In Tasso her three daughters are introduced.

Fatal Gifts

Collar of Arsinoe, collar and veil of Eriphyle, gold of the Nibelungen, gold of Tolosa, necklace of Cadmos, Harmonia's necklace and robe, opal of Alphonso XII., the Trojan horse, the shirt of Nessus, etc. (See these subjects.)

Fate

= something destined or suitable, is not the Latin fatum, but the French fait = share, one's own, that which suits one; as “voila mon fait,” that is the man for me.

“Pour moi, ma sieur, a dit la cadette, j'aime le solide, je veux un homme riche, et le gros don Blanco sera mon fait.” — Le Sage: Diable Boiteux.

Fates

(1 syl.). The cruel fates. The Greeks and Romans supposed there were three Parcæ or Fates, who arbitrarily controlled the birth, events, and death of every man. They are called cruel because they pay no regard to the wishes and requirements of anyone.

The three Fates were Clotho (who held the distaff), Lachesis (who spun the thread of life), and Atropos (who cut it off when life was ended).

Father

A friar in holy orders. (See Brother .) A father suckled by his daughter. Euphrasia, the Grecian daughter, so preserved the life of Evander, her aged father.

Xantippe so preserved the life of her father Cimonos in prison. The guard, marvelling the old man held out so long, set a watch and discovered the fact. Byron alludes to these stories in his Childe Harold.

“There is a dungeon, in whose dim, drear light

What do I gaze on? ...

An old man, and a female young and fair,

Fresh as a nursing mother, in whose vein

The blood is nectar ...

Here youth offers to old age the food,

The milk of his own gift: — it is her sire

To whom she renders back the debt of blood ... Drink, drink and live, old man! heaven's realm holds no such tide.”

Byron: Childe Harold, iv. st. 148, 150.

Without father, without mother, without descent, having neither beginning of days nor end of life — i.e. Melchisedec (Heb. vii. 3). He was not the son of a priest, either on his father's or mother's side; his pedigree could not be traced in the priestly line, like that of the ordinary high priests, which can be traced to Aaron; nor did he serve in courses like the Levites, who begin and end their official duties at stated times.

Jesus was a “priest after the order of Melchisedec.” Neither His reputed father, Joseph, nor His mother, Mary, was of the priestly line. As priest, therefore, He was “without father, without mother,” without genealogy. And, like Melchisedec, He is a “priest for ever.”

He fathers it on me. He imputes it to me; he says it is my bantling.

Father Mathew

(See Mathew .)

Father Neptune

The ocean.

Father Norbert

Pierre Parisot, the French missionary (1697—1769).

Father Paul

Pietro Sarpi, father of the order of Servites in Venice, who changed his Christian name when he assumed the religious habit. (1552—1623.)

Father Prout

Francis Mahoney, a humorous writer in Fraser's Magazine and the Globe newspaper. (1805—1866.)

Father Thames

or Old Father Thames. The Thames, so far as it belongs to London.

“Say, Father Thames, for thou hast seen

Full many a sprightly race

Disporting on thy margent green,

The paths of pleasure trace.”

Gray: Distant Prospect of Eton College.

The epithet is not uncommonly applied to other great rivers, especially those on which cities are built. The river is the father of the city, or the reason why the site was selected by the first settlers there.

“O Tiber, Father Tiber,

To whom the Romans pray.”

Macaulay: Lay of Horatius.

Father Thoughtful

Nicholas Catinat, a marshal of France; so called by his soldiers for his cautious and thoughtful policy. (1637—1712.)

Father of Waters

The Irawaddy, in Burmah, and the Mississippi, in North America. The Nile is so called by Dr. Johnson in his Rasselas. (See Father Thames.)

Father of his Country

Cicero was so entitled by the Roman senate. They offered the same title to Marius, but he refused to accept it.

Several of the Cæsars were so called — Julius, after quelling the insurrection of Spain; Augustus, etc. Cosmo de Medici (1389—1464).

G. Washington, the defender and paternal counseller of the American States. (1732—1799.)

Andrea Dorea (1468—1560). Inscribed on the base of his statue by his countrymen of Genoa. Andronicus Palæologus II. assumed the title (1260—1332).

(See also 1 Chron. iv. 14.)

Father of the People

Louis XII. of France (1462, 1498—1515). Henri, IV. was also termed “the father and friend of the people” (1553, 1589—1610).

Christian III. of Denmark (1502, 1534—1559).

Gabriel du Pineau, the French lawyer (1573—1644).

Fathers of the Church

The early advocates of Christianity, who may be thus classified: — (1) Five apostolic fathers, who were contemporary with the apostles — viz. Clement of Rome, Barnabas, Hermas, Ignatius, and Polycarp.

(2) The primitive fathers. Those advocates of Christianity who lived in the first three centuries. They consisted of the five apostolic fathers (q.v.), together with the nine following: — Justin, Theophilus of Antioch, Irenæ'us, Clement of Alexandria, Cyprian of Carthage, Origen, Gregory Thaumaturgus, Dionysius of Alexandria, and Tertullian.

(3) The fathers, or those of the fourth and fifth century, who were of two groups, those of the Greek and those of the Latin Church. (See below.)

Fathers of the Greek Church

Eusebius, Athanasius, Basil the Great, Gregory Nazianzenus, Gregory of Nyssa, Cyril of Jerusalem, Chrysostom, Epiphanius, Cyril of Alexandria, and Ephraim, deacon of Edessa.

Fathers of the Latin Church

Lactantius, Hilary, Ambrose of Milan, Jerome, Augustin of Hippo, and St. Bernard.

The last of the fathers. St. Bernard (1091—1153). The schoolmen who followed treated their subjects systematically.

Founder of the fathers of Christian doctrine. Caesar de Bus (1544—1607).

Fathom

(Count). A villain in Smollet's novel so called. After robbing his benefactors, and fleecing all who trusted him, he is at last forgiven.

Fatima

The last of Bluebeard's wives, who was saved from death by the timely arrival of her brother with a party of friends. Mahomet's favourite daughter was called Fatima.

Fatted Calf

To kill the fatted calf. To welcome with the best of everything. The phrase is taken from the parable in the third gospel of the prodigal son. (Luke xv. 30.)

Fatua Mulier

A law term for a courtesan. Fatuus with jurisconsults means one not in a right mind, incorrigibly foolish.

Fault

At fault. Not on the right track; doubtful whether right or wrong. Hounds are at fault when the scent is broken because the fox has jumped upon a wall, crossed a river, cut through a flock of sheep, or doubled like a hare.

In Geology, the break or displacement of a stratum of rock is called a fault.

Fault

(French, faute, Latin, fallo, to fail.)

For fault of a better (Shakespeare: Merry Wives, i. 4). Having no better.

“I am the youngest of that name, for fault of a worse.” — Shakespeare: Romeo and Juliet, ii. 4.

In fault. To blame.

“Is Antony or we in fault for this?”

Shakespeare: Antony and Cleopatra, iii. 13.

To a fault: In excess; as, kind to a fault. Excess of every good is more or less evil. To find fault. To blame; to express disapprobation.

Faults

No one is without his faults, i.e. is faultless. “Vitiis nemo sine nascitur. “

Fauna

(2 syl.). The animals of a country at any given geological period; so called from the mythological fauns, who were the patrons of wild animals.

“Nor less the place of curious plant he knows —

He both his Flora and his Fauna shows.”

Crabbe: Borough.

Faust

(1 syl.). The grandest of all Goethe's dramas. Faust makes a compact with Mephistopheles, who on one occasion provides him with a cloak, by means of which he is wafted through the air whithersoever he chooses. “All that is weird, mysterious, and magical groups round this story.” An English dramatic version has been made by Bayle Bernard.

Dr. Faustus, a tragedy by Marlow; Faust and Marguerite, by Boucicault; Faust e Margherito, an opera by Gounod, etc.

Faux—jour

(French). A false or contrary light; meaning that a picture is hung so that the light falls on it in the opposite direction to what it ought. The artist has made his light fall in one direction, but it is so hung that the light falls the other way.

Faux Pas

A “false step”; a breach of manners or moral conduct. (French.)

Favonius

The zephyr or west wind. It means the wind favourable to vegetation.

Favours

Ribbons made into a bow; so called from being the favours bestowed by ladies on the successful champions of tournaments. (See True—Love Knot; Curry Favour)

“Here, Fluellen; wear thou this favour for me, and stick it in thy cap.” — Shakespeare: Henry

V. iv. 7.

Favourite

One to whom a lady gives a “favour” or token. The horse which betting men suppose is most likely to come off the winner of a particular race.

Favourites

False curls on the temples; a curl of hair on the temples plastered with some cosmetic; whiskers made to meet the mouth.

“Yet tell me, sire, don't you as nice appear

With your false calves, bardash, and fav'rites here?” Mrs. Centlivre.

Fay

(See Fairy.)

Faye (1 syl.). The way to Faye (French, “Faie—la vineuse “). A winding or zigzag manner, like “Crooked Lane at Eastcheap.” A person who tries to do something indirectly goes by the pathway to Faye. Faye is a little village in France, built on an eminence so steep that there is no getting to it except by a very zigzag path.

“They go in to Paradise ... as the way is to Faye.” — Rabetais: Gargantua and Pantagruel, book i. 27.

Fazio

A native of Florence, who first tried to make his fortune by alchemy; but being present when Bartoldo, and old miser, died, he buried the body secretly, and stole his money—bags. Being now rich, he became acquainted with the Marchioness Aldabella, with whom he passed his time in licentious pleasure. His wife Bianca, out of jealousy, accused him to the duke of being privy to the death of Bartoldo; and Fazio was condemned to death for murder. Bianca now tried to undo the mischief she had done, but it was too late; she went mad with grief, and died of a broken heart. (Dean Milman: Fazio.)

Fear Fortress

An hypothetical castle in a forest near Saragossa. It represents that terrible obstacle which fear conjures up, but which vanishes into thin air as it is approached by a stout heart and clear conscience. The allegory forms the third part of the legend of Croquemitaine.

“If a child disappeared, or any cattle were carried off, the trembling peasants said, `The lord of Fear—fortress has taken them.' If a fire broke out anywhere, it was the lord of Fear—fortress who must have lit it. The origin of all accidents, mishaps, and disasters was traced to the mysterious owner of this invisible castle.”— Croquemitaine, iii. 1.

“It sunk before my earnest face,

It vanished quite away,

And left no shadow on the place,

Between me and the day.

Such castles rise to strike us dumb;

But, weak in every part,

They melt before the strong man's eyes

And fly the true of heart.”

C. Mackay: The Giant (slightly altered).

Fearless

[Sans peur ]. Jean, Duke of Burgundy (1371—1419). (See Bayard.)

Feast of Reason

“There St. John [Sin—jn] mingles with the friendly bowl

The feast of reason and the flow of soul.”

Pope: Imitations of Horace, ii. 1.

Feasts

Anniversary days of joy. They are either immovable or movable. The chief immovable feasts are the four rent—days — viz. the Annunciation or Lady—Day (March 25th), the Nativity of John the Baptist (June 24th), Michaelmas Day (September 29th), and Christmas Day (December 25th). The Circumcision (New Year's Day, January 1st), Epiphany (January 6th), All Saints' (November 1st), All Souls' (November 2nd), and the several Apostles' days.

The chief movable feasts depend upon Easter Sunday. They are — Palm Sunday. The Sunday next before Easter Sunday.

Good Friday. The Friday next before Easter Sunday.

Ash Wednesday. The first day of Lent.

Sexagesima Sunday. Sixty days before Easter Sunday.

Ascension Day or Holy Thursday. Fortieth day after Easter Sunday. Pentecost or Whit—Sunday. The seventh Sunday after Easter Sunday. Trinity Sunday. The Sunday next after Pentecost, etc. etc.

Feather

Meaning species or kind. From the proverb, “Birds of a feather" — i.e. of the same plumage, and therefore of the same sort.

“I am not of that feather to shake off

My friend, when he must need me.”

Shakespeare: Timon of Athens. i.1.

Feather. A light, volatile person.

“A wit's a feather, and a chief a rod;

An honest man's the noblest work of God.” Pope: Essay on Man. 247—8.

A broken feather. (See Broken ...)

An oiled feather. Kindness of manner and speech. An oiled feather will do more to ease a stubborn lock than great force. (See Power's Tract called The Oiled Feather.)

Birds of a feather flock together.

Latin: Similes similibus gaudent. Pares cum paribus facile congregantur. Cicero says, “Deos novimus ornatu et vestitu.”

French: Qui se ressemble, s'assemble. In full feather. Flush of money. In allusion to birds not on the moult. In grand feather. Dressed to the nines.

In high feather. In exuberant spirits, joyous. When birds are moulting they mope about, but as soon as they regain their feathers their spirits revive.

Tickled with a feather. Easily moved to laughter. “Pleased with a feather, tickled with a straw,” is more usual; Rire de la moindre bagatelle.

Also annoyed by trifles, worried by little annoyances.

“From day to day some silly things

Upset you altogether;

There's nought so soon convulsion brings

As tickling with a feather.

`Gainst minor evils let him pray

Who Fortune's favour curries,

For one that big misfortunes slay,

Ten die of little worries.”

Sims: Ballads of Babylon (Little Worries).

Cut a feather. A ship going fast is said to cut a feather, in allusion to the ripple which she throws off from her bows. Metaphorically, “to cut a dash.”

“Jack could never cut a feather.” — Sir W. Scott: The Pirate, xxxiv.

To show a white feather. (See White...)

Feather in Your Cap

That's a feather in your cap. An honour to you. The allusion is to the very general custom in Asia and among the American Indians of adding a new feather to their head—gear for every enemy slain. The Caufirs of Cabul stick a feather in their turban for every Mussulman slain by them. The Incas and Caciques, the Meunitarris and Mandans (of America), the Abyssinians and Turcomans, etc., etc., follow the same custom. So did the ancient Lycians, and many others. In Scotland and Wales it is still customary for the sportsman who kills the first woodcock to pluck out a feather and stick it in his cap. In fact, the custom, in one form or another, seems to be almost universal.

When “Chinese” Gordon quelled the Taïping rebellion he was honoured by the Chinese Government with the “yellow jacket and peacock's feather.”

In Hungary, at one time, none might wear a feather but he who had slain a Turk. (Lansdowne MS. 775, folio 149.)

Feather One's Nest

He has feathered his nest well. He has made lots of money; has married a rich woman. The allusion is to birds, which line their nests with feathers to make them soft and warm.

Feather One's Oar

(To.)

To feather an oar is to turn the blade parallel with the surface of the water as the hands are moved forward for a fresh stroke. (The Greek pteron means both “an oar” and “a feather;” and the verb pteroö, to “furnish with oars” or “with feathers.”) The oar throws off the water in a feathery spray.

“He feathered his oars with such skill and dexterity.” Jolly Young Waterman.

Feather Stone A federal stone or stone table at which the ancient courts baron were held in the open air, and at which covenants were made. (Latin, foedus, a treaty.)

Feathers

(The). A public—house sign in compliment to Henry VI., whose cognizance it was.

Fine feathers make fine birds. (Latin, “Vestis virum facit, ” dress makes the man). The French proverb is “La belle plume fait le bel oiseau.”

The Prince of Wales' feathers. The tradition is, that the Black Prince, having slain John of Luxemburg, King of Bohemia, in the Battle of Cressy, assumed his crest and motto. The crest consisted of three ostrich feathers, and the motto was “Ich dien ” (I serve). John of Arden discovered a contemporary MS., in which it is expressly said that this was the case; but much controversy has arisen on the question. Dr. Bell affirms that the crest is a rebus of Queen Philippa's hereditary title — viz. Countess of Ostre—vant (ostrich—feather). Randall Holmes claims an old British origin; and the Rev. H. Longueville asserts that the arms of Roderick Mawe, prior to the division of Wales into principalities, was thus blazoned: — “Argent, three lions passant regardant, with their tails passing between their legs and curling over their backs in a feathery form.”

Feature

means the “make.” Spenser speaks of God's “secret understanding of our feature” — i.e. make or structure. It now means that part which is most conspicuous or important. Thus we speak of the chief feature of a painting, a garden, a book, etc., etc. (Norman, faiture; Latin, factura.)

February

The month of purification amongst the ancient Romans. (Latin, februo, to purify by sacrifice.)

The 2nd of February (Candlemas Day). It is said, if the weather is fine and frosty at the close of January and beginning of February, we may look for more winter to come than we have seen up to that time.

“Si sol splendescat Mari'a Purificantë,

Major erit glaciës post festum quam fuit ante.” Sir T. Browne: Vulgar Errors.

“If Candlemas Day be dry and fair,

The half O' winter's come and mair;

If Candlemas Day be wet and foul,

The half O' winter was gane at Youl.”

Scotch Proverb.

“The badger peeps out of his hole on Candlemas Day, and, if he finds snow, walks abroad; but if he sees the sun shining he draws back into his hole.” — German Proverb.

Fecit

(Latin, he did it). A word inscribed after the name of an artist, sculptor, etc., as David fecit, Goujon fecit; i.e. David painted it, Goujon sculptured it, etc.

Fecula

means sediment. Starch is a fecula, being the sediment of flour steeped in water. (Latin, fæces, dregs.)

Federal States

In the late American war the Unionists were so called — i.e. those northern states which combined to resist the eleven southern or Confederate states (q.v.).

Fee

Anglo—Saxon feoh, cattle, goods, money. So in Latin, pecunia, from pecus, cattle. Capital is capita, heads [of cattle], and chattels is a mere variant.

Fee—farm—rent

is where an estate is granted, subject to a rent in fee of at least one—fourth its value. It is rent paid on lands let to farm, and not let in recompense of service at a greatly reduced value.

Fee—penny A fine for money overdue. Sir Thomas Gresham often wrote for money “in order to save the fee—penny.”

Fee Simple

An estate free from condition or limitation. If restricted by conditions, the inheritance is called a `Conditional Fee.'

Fee—tail

(A). An estate limited to a person and his lawful heirs.

Feeble

Most forcible Feeble. A writer whose language is very “loud,” but whose ideas are very jejune. Feeble is a “woman's tailor,” brought to Sir John Falstaff as a recruit. He tells Sir John “he will do his good will,” and the knight replies, “Well said, courageous Feeble! Thou wilt be as valiant as the wrathful dove, or most magnanimous mouse ... most forcible Feeble.” (Shakespeare: 2 Henry IV., iii. 2.)

Feed of Corn

A quartern of oats, the quantity given a horse on a journey when the ostler is told to give him a feed.

Feet

How are your poor feet? This was the popular street mot in the year of the Great Exhibition of London in 1862. The immense labour of walking over the exhibition broke down all but the strongest athletes.

Fehm—gericht

or Vehmgericht (3 syl.). The secret tribunals of Westphalia, for the preservation of public peace, suppression of crime, and maintenance of the “Catholic” religion. The judges were enveloped in profound mystery; they had their secret spies through all Germany; their judgments were certain, but no one could discover the executioner. These tribunals rose in the twelfth century, and disappeared in the sixteenth. Sir Walter Scott, in Anne of Gierstein, has given an account of the Westphalian Fehmgericht. (Old German, fehmen, to condemn; Gericht, a tribunal.)

“This Vigilance Committee [of Denver city] is a modern reproduction of the famous Vehmgerict — The Times.

Felician

(Father). The priest and schoolmaster of Grand Pré, who accompanied Evangeline in her wanderings to find Gabriel, her affianced husband. (Longfellow: Evangeline.)

Felix

a monk who listens to the singing of a milk—white bird for a thousand years, which seemed to him “but a single hour,” so enchanted was he by the song. (Longfellow: The Golden Legend.)

Felixmarte

(4 syl.). The hero of a Spanish romance of chivalry by Melchior de Orteza, Caballero de Ubeda (1566). The curate in Don Quixote condemned this work to the flames.

Fell

(Dr.). (See Doctor Fell .)

Fellow Commoner

A wealthy or married undergraduate of Cambridge, who pays extra to “common” (i.e. dine) at the fellows' table. In Oxford, these demi—dons are termed Gentlemen Commoners.

Fellow commoner or gentleman commoner. An empty bottle; so called because these sort of students are, as a class, empty—headed.

Felo de Se The act of a suicide when he commits self—murder. Murder is felony, and a man who murders himself commits this felony — felo de se.

“A felo—de—se, therefore, is he that deliberately puts an end to his own existence.” — Blackstone: Commentaries, book iv. chap. xiv. p. 189.

Feme—covert A married woman. This does not mean a woman coverte by her husband, but a woman whose head is covered, not usual with maidens or unmarried women. In Rome unmarried women wore on their heads only a corolla (i.e. a wreath of flowers). In Greece they wore an anadema, or fillet. The Hungarian spinster is called hajadon (bare—headed). Married women, as a general rule, have always covered their head with a cap, turban, or something of the same sort, the head being covered as a badge of subjection. Hence Rebekah (Gen.

xxiv. 65), being told that the man she saw was her espoused husband, took a veil and covered her head. Servants wear caps, and private soldiers in the presence of their officers cover their heads for the same reason. (See Eph. v. 22, 23.)

Women do not, like men, uncover their heads even in saluting, but bend their knee, in token of subjection. (See Salutations.)

Feme—sole

A single woman. Feme—sole merchant. A woman who carries on a trade on her own account.

Femme de Chambre

(French.) A chambermaid.

Femynye

(3 syl.). A mediæval name for the kingdom of the Amazons. Gower terms Penthesile'a “queen of Feminee.”

“He [Thessus] conquered al the regne of Femynye.” Chaucer: Canterbury Tales. 868.

Fen Nightingale

A frog, which sings at night in the fens, as nightingales sing in the groves. (See Arcadian Nightingale.)

Fence Month

The close time of deer, from fifteen days before Midsummer to fifteen days after it. This being fawning time, deer—hunting is forbidden.

Fenchurch Street

(London). The church in the fens or marshy ground by the “Langbourne” side.

Fencible Regiments

A kind of militia raised in 1759, again in 1778—9, and again in 1794, when a force of 15,000 was raised. The force was disbanded in 1802.

Fenella

A pretended deaf and dumb sylph—like attendant on the Countess of Derby, in Scott's Peveril of the Peak.

Fenians An anti—British association of disaffected Irishmen, called the Fenian Brotherhood, after the ancient Fenians of Ireland: formed in New York, in 1857, to overthrow the domination of England in Ireland, and make Ireland a republic. The word means a hunter — Gaelic, fianna, from feadhach (pronounced fee—agh), a hunt. Before the Germanic invasion, a Celtic race so called occupied not only parts of Ireland and Scotland, but also the north of Germany and the Scandinavian shores. Oisin (Ossian) refers to them, and one passage is thus rendered in The Antiquary “Do you compare your psalms to the tales of the bare—armed Fenians?” Oisin was the grandson of Fionn, the “fair—haired righ (chief) of the Fenians,” and all the high officers of this volunteer association were men of rank. It appears that the Fenians of Ireland (Eirin), Scotland (Alba), England (Socring), and Scandinavia, had a great civil battle at Gabhra, in Ireland, and extirpated each other. Oisin alone escaped, and he had slain “twice fifty men with his own hand.” In the great Fenian outbreak of Ireland in 1865, etc., the leaders were termed “head centres,” and their subordinates “centres.” (See Clan—Na—Gael.)

Fennel

Said to restore lost vision and to give courage.

“Above the lowly plants it towers,

The fennel with its yellow flowers,

And in an earlier age than ours,

Was gifted with the wondrous powers

Lost vision to restore;

It gave new strength and fearless mood,

And gladiators fierce and rude

Mingled it in their daily food;

And he who battled and subdued

The wreath of fennel wore.”

Longfellow: The Goblet of Life, stanza 6.

Fenrir

or Fenris. The wolf of sin [i.e. of Loki], meaning the goading of a guilty conscience. The “wolf” was the brother of Hel (q.v.). When he gapes, one jaw touches earth and the other heaven. In the Ragnarok he swallows the sun and conquers Odin; but being conquered by Vidar, he was cast into Niflheim, where Loki was confined.

Fenton

One who seeks to mend his fortune by marriage. He is the suitor of Anne Page. Her father objects to him, he says, because

“I am too great of birth;

And that, my state being gall'd with my expense, I seek to heal it only by his wealth.”

Shakespeare: Merry Wives of Windsor. iii. 4.

Feræ Naturæ

Applied in law to animals living in a wild state, as distinguished from animals which are domesticated.

Feramorz

The young Cashmerian poet, who relates poetical tales to Lalla Rookh, in her journey from Delhi to Lesser Bucharia. Lalla Rookh is going to be married to the young sultan, but falls in love with the poet. On the wedding morn she is led to her future husband, and finds that the poet is the sultan himself, who had gallantly taken this course to win the heart of his bride and beguile her journey. (T. Moore.)

Ferdinand

Son of the King of Naples, and suitor of Miranda, daughter of Prospero, the banished Duke of Milan. (Shakespeare Tempest.)

In Love's Labour's Lost, the same name is given to the King of Navarre.

Ferdinando

A brave soldier who obtained a complete victory over the King of Morocco and Grenada, near Tarifa, in 1340. Being in love with Leonora de Guzman, Alfonso XI., whose life he had saved in the battle, created him Count of Zamora and Marquis of Montreal, and gave him the hand of Leonora in marriage. No sooner was this done, than Ferdinando discovered that Leonora was the king's mistress; so he restored his ranks and honours to the king, repudiated his bride, and retired to the monastery of St. James of Compostella. Leonora entered the same monastery as a novice, obtained the forgiveness of Ferdinando, and died.

(Donizetti's opera of La Favorita.)

Ferdosi

A Persian poet, famous for the copious flow of his diction. He wrote in verse the Shah—Nâmeh, or history of the Persian kings, which took thirty years, and contains 120,000 verses.

Ferguson

It's all very fine, Ferguson; but you don't lodge here. Capt. Ferguson was the companion of the Marquis of Waterford, when that young nobleman made himself notorious for his practical jokes in the middle of the nineteenth century. In one of their sprees the two companions got separated, and the marquis found his way home to the house of his uncle, the Archbishop of Armagh, Charles Street, St. James's Square. The marquis had gone to bed, when a thundering knock came at the door. The marquis, suspecting who it was that

knocked, threw up the window and said, “It is all very fine, Ferguson, but you don't lodge here;” and for many years the saying was popular. (See Notes and Queries, Jan. 16, 1886, p. 46.)

Fern

(See Fanny Fern .)

Fern Seed

We have the receipt of fern seed, we walk invisible (1 Henry IV., act iv. 4). The seed of certain species of fern is so small as to be invisible to the naked eye, and hence the plant was believed to confer invisibility on those who carried it about their person. It was at one time believed that plants have the power of imparting their own speciality to their wearer. Thus, the herb—dragon was said to cure the poison of serpents, the yellow celandine the jaundice; wood—sorrel, which has a heart—shaped leaf, to cheer the heart; liverwort to be good for the liver, and so on.

“Why did you think that you had Gyges' ring,

Or the herb that gives invisibility?”

Beaumont and Fletcher: Fair Maid of the Inn, i. 1.

“The seeds of fern, which, by prolific heat

Cheered and unfolded, form a plant so great, Are less a thousand times than what the eye Can unassisted by the tube descry.”

Blackmore: Creation.

Fernando Florestan

A state prisoner of Seville, married to Leonora, who, in man's disguise, and under the name of Fidelio, became the servant of Rocco, the jailor. Pizarro, governor of the prison, conceived a hatred to Fernando, and resolved to murder him. Rocco and Leonora were sent to dig his grave, and when Pizarro entered the dungeon, Leonora intercepted his purpose. At this juncture the minister of State arrived, and ordered the prisoner's release. (Beethoven: Fidelio. )

Ferney

The patriarch of Ferney. Voltaire; so called because he retired to Ferney, a small sequestered village near Geneva, from which obscure retreat he poured forth his invectives against the French Government, the Church, nobles, nuns, priests, and indeed all classes.

“There are in Paris five or six statues of the patriarch of Ferney.” — The Times.

Ferohers

The guardian angels of Persian mythology. They are countless in number, and their chief tasks are for the well—being of man.

Ferracute

[sharp iron ]. A giant in Turpin's Chronicle of Charlemagne. He had the strength of forty men, and was thirty—six feet high. Though no lance could pierce his hide, Orlando slew him by Divine interposition.

(See Ferrau.)

Ferragus

The giant of Portugal, who took Bellisant under his care after she had been divorced by Alexander, Emperor of Constantinople. (Valentine and Orson..)

The great “Brazen Head,” that told those who consulted it whatever they required to know, was kept in the castle of this giant. (Valentine and Orson. (See Ferrau.)

Ferrara

An Andrew Ferrara. A broadsword or claymore of the best quality, bearing the name of Andrea Ferrara, one of the Italian family whose swords were famous in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Genuine “Andrea Ferraras” have a crown marked on the blade.

My father had an Andrea Ferrara, which had been in the family about a century. It had a basket—hilt, and the name was distinctly stamped on the blade.

“We'll put in bail, boy, old Andrew Ferrara shall lodge his security.” — Scott: Waverley, chap.

1.

Ferrau

(in Orlando Furioso). Ferraute, Ferracute, or Ferragus, a Saracen, son of Lanfusa. He dropped his helmet in the river, and vowed he would never wear another till he had won that worn by Orlando. Orlando slew him with a wound in the navel, his only vulnerable part.

Ferrex and Porrex

Two sons of Gorboduc, a mythical British king. Porrex drove his brother from Britain, and when Ferrex returned with an army he was slain, but Porrex was shortly after put to death by his mother. One of the first, if not the very first, historical play in the English language was Ferrex and Porrex, by Thomas Norton and Thomas Sackville.

Ferumbras

(See Fierabras .)

Fescennine Verses

Lampoons, so called from Fescennia in Tuscany, where performers at merry—makings used to extemporise scurrilous jests of a personal nature to amuse the audience.

Fess

(Latin, fascia, a band or covering for the thighs). In heraldry, the fess is a band drawn horizontally across the shield, of which it occupies one — third. It represents the band which was worn by knights low down across the hips.

Fest

A pledge, Festing—man, a surety to another. Festing—penny, a penny given in earnest to secure a bargain. (Anglo—Saxon, festing, an act of confidence, an entrusting.)

Fetch

A wraith — the disembodied ghost of a living person. (See Fetiche.)

“Fetches ... most commonly appear to distant friends and relations at the very instant preceding the death of those they represent ” — Brand: Popular Antiquities (Death Omens).

Fetches

Excuses, tricks, artifices. (Saxon.)

“Deny to speak with me? They are sick? they are weary?

They have travelled all the night? Mere fetches.” Shakespeare: King Lear, ii:4.

Fetiche

or Fetish. The African idol, the same as the American Manitou. The worship of this idol is called Fetichism or Fetishism. (Portuguese, fetisso, magician, fairy, oracle.)

Almost anything will serve for a fetiche: a fly, a bird, a lion, a fish, a serpent, a stone, a tree struck by lightning, a bit of metal, a shell; but the most potent of all fetiches is the rock Tabra.

The fetiche or fetish of the bottle. The imp drunkenness, or drunkenness itself.

Fetter Lane is probably feuterer—lane. A feuterer is a keeper of dogs, and the lane has always been famous for dog—fanciers. Howel, with less probability, says it is Fewtor Lane, i.e. the lane of fewtors or worthless fellows who were for ever loitering about the lane on their way to the gardens. Faitour is an archaic word for a worthless fellow, a lazy vagabond, from the Norman—French.

Fettle

as a verb, means to repair; to smoothe; as an adjective, it means well—knit, all right and tight. It is connected with our word feat, the French faire, the Latin facere.

Fettled ale, in Lancashire, means ale warmed and spiced.

Feu de Joie

(French). A running fire of guns on an occasion of rejoicing.

Feud

meaning “hatred,” is the Saxon fæhth (hatred); but feud, a “fief,” is the Teutonic fee—odh (trust—land). (See below.)

Feudal or Feodal (2 syl.) In Gothic odh means “property,” hence odh—all (entire property); Flemish, udal. By transposition we get all—ohd, whence our allodium (absolute property claimed by the holders of fiefs); and by combining the words fee and odh we get fee—odh, feodh, or feod (property given by way of fee for services conferred). (Pontoppidan.)

Feudal System (The). A system founded on the tenure of feuds or fiefs, given in compensation for military service to the lord of the tenants.

Feuillants

A reformed Cistercian order instituted by Jean de la Barrière in 1586. So called from the convent of Feuillans, in Languedoc, where they were established in 1577.

The club of the Feuillants, in the French Revolution, composed of moderate Jacobins. So called because the convent of the Feuillants, near the Tuileries, was their original club—room (1791—2).

Feuilleton

[feu—ye—ton ]. A fly—sheet. Applied to the bottom part of French newspapers, generally devoted to a tale or some other light literature.

“The daily [French] newspapers all had feuilletons with continued stories in them.” — Hale: Ten—times One, chap. viii. p. 125.

Fever—Iurdan

or Fever—lurgan. A fit of idleness. Lurden means a block—head. (French, lourd, heavy, dull, thick—headed; lourdand, a blockhead.)

Fever—lurk

A corruption of Feverlurg, as “Fever—lurgan” is of Fever—lurdan. The disease of laziness.

“Fever—lurk,

Neither play nor work.”

Fey

Predestined to early death. When a person suddenly changes his wonted manner of life, as when a miser becomes liberal, or a churl good—humoured, he is said in Scotch to be fey, and near the point of death.

“She must be fey (said Triptolemus), and in that case has not long to live.” — Sir W. Scott: The Pirate, chap.v.

Fezon

Daughter of Savary. Duke of Aquitaine, demanded in marriage by a pagan, called the Green Knight; but Orson, having overthrown the pagan, was accepted by the lady instead. (Valentine and Orson. )

Fi or Fie! An exclamation indicating that what is reproved is dirty or indecent. The dung of many animals, as the boar, wolf, fox, marten, and badger, is called fiants, and the “orificium anale" is called a fi, a word still used in Lincolnshire. (Anglo—Norman, fay, to clean out; Saxon, afylan, to foul: our defile or file, to make foul; filth, etc.)

The old words, fie—corn (dross corn), fi—lands (unenclosed lands), fi—mashings (the dung of any wild beast), etc., are compounds of the same word.

“I had another process against the dungfarmer, Master Fifl.” — Rabelais: Pantagruel, book ii.

17.

Fi. Fa.

A contraction of the two Latin words, fieri facias (cause it to be done). A judicial writ for one who has recovered damages in the Queen's courts, being a command to the sheriff to see the judgment of the court duly carried out.

Fiacre

A French cab or hackney coach. So called from the Hotel de St. Fiacre, Paris, where the first station of these coaches was established by M. Sauvage, about 1650.

According to Alban Butler, Fiacre was the son of an Irish king, born in 600, to whose tomb pilgrimages were made in the month of August. His day is August 30th. (Lives of the Saints, vol. ii. p. 379.)

Fian

(John), a schoolmaster at Saltpans, near Edinburg, tortured to death and then burnt at the stake on the Castle Hill of Edinburgh, Saturday, January, 1591, because he refused to acknowledge that he had raised a storm at sea, to wreck James I. on his voyage to Denmark to visit his future queen. First, his head was crushed in upon his brain by means of a rope twisted tighter and tighter; then his two legs were jammed to a jelly in the wooden boots; then his nails were pulled out and pins inserted in the raw finger tips; as he still remained silent, he was strangled, and his dead body burnt to ashes.

Fiars

Striking the fiars. Taking the average price of corn. Fiars is a Gothic word, still current in Ireland. (Scotch law.)

Fiasco

A failure, a mull. In Italy they cry Olà, olà, fiasco! to an unpopular singer. This word, common in France and Germany, is employed as the opposite of furore.

The history of the word is as follows: — In making Venetian glass, if the slightest flaw is detected, the glass—blower turns the article into a fiasco—that is, a common flask.

A gentleman from North America (G. Fox, “the Modern Bathylus") furnishes me with the following anecdote: “There was once a clever harlequin of Florence named Dominico Biancolelli, noted for his comic harangues. He was wont to improvise upon whatever article he held in his hand. One night he appeared holding a flask (flasco; but failing to extract any humour whatsoever from his subject he said. `It is thy fault fiasco,' and dashed the flask on the ground. After that a failure was commonly called in Florence a `fiasco'.” To me it appears incredible that a clever improvisator could draw no matter from an empty bottle, apparently a subject rife with matter.

Fiat

I give my fiat to that proposal. I consent to it. A flat in law is an order of the court directing that something stated be done. (Latin, fiat, let it be done.)

Fib

An attendant on Queen Mab in Drayton's Nymphidia. Fib, meaning a falsehood, is the Latin fabula, a fable.

Fico

(See Fig .)

“Fico for the phrase.”

Shakespeare: Merry Wives of Windsor, i.3.

“I see contempt marching forth, giving me the fico with his thombe in his mouth.” — Wit's Miserie (1596).

Fiddle

(Latin, fidis or fides). He was first fiddle. Chief man, the most distinguished of the company.

To play second fiddle. To take a subordinate part. The allusion is to the leader of concerts, who leads with a fiddle.

The Scotch fiddle or Caledonian Cremona. The itch. As fiddlers scratch with a bow the strings of a fiddle, so persons suffering from skin—irritation keep scratching the part irritated.

Fiddle About

(To). To fiddle about a thing means to “play” business. To fiddle with one's fingers is to move them about as a fiddler moves his fingers up and down the fiddle—strings.

“Mere trifling, or unprofitable fiddling about nothing.” — Barrow: Sermons, vol.i. sermon 7.

Fiddle—de—dee!

An exclamation signifying what you say is nonsense or moonshine. Fiddle—de—dee is meant to express the sound of a fiddle—string vocalised. Hence “sound signifying nothing.”

Fiddle—faddle

It is all fiddle—faddle. Rubbishy nonsense; talk not worth attention. A ricochet word, of which we have a vast number, as “flim—flam,” “helter—skelter,” “wishy—washy,” etc. To fiddle is to waste time in playing on the fiddle, and hence fiddle means a trifle, and fiddle—faddle is silly trifle or silly nonsense.

“Pitiful fool that I was to stand fiddle—faddling in that way.” Clough: Amours de Voyage, canto iv. stanza 3.

Fiddleback

The name of Oliver Goldsmith's poor unfortunate pony, on which he made his country excursions.

Fiddler

Drunk as a fiddler. Fiddlers at wakes and fairs were allowed meat and drink to their heart's content, and seldom left a merry—making sober.

Oliver's Fiddler. Sir Roger L'Estrange (1616—1704). So called because he, at one time, was playing a fiddle or viole with others in the house of John Hingston when Cromwell was one of the guests.

Fiddler is a slang word for sixpence.

Fiddler's Fare

or Fiddler's Pay. Meat, drink, and money.

Fiddler's Green

The land of the leal or “Dixie Land” of sailors; where there is perpetual mirth, a fiddle that never ceases to untiring dancers, plenty of grog, and unlimited tobacco.

Fiddler's Money

A silver penny. The fee given to a fiddler at a wake by each dancer.

Fiddler's News

Stale news carried about by wandering fiddlers.

Fiddlestick

In the Great German epic called The Nibelungen—Lied, this word is used six or eight times for a broadsword.

“His fiddlestick he grasped, `twas massy, broad, and long,

As sharp as any razor.” Stanza 1,841.

“My fiddlestick's no feather; on whom I let it fall,

If he has friends that love him, 'twill set them weeping all.” Stanza 1,880.

“His fiddlestick, sharp—cutting, can hardest steel divide,

And at a stroke can shiver the morion's beamy pride.” Stanza 2,078.

Fiddlesticks!

An exclamation signifying what you say is not worth attention. To fiddle about is to waste time, fiddling. A fiddlestick is the instrument used in fiddling, hence the fiddlestick is even less than the fiddle.

Fidele (3 syl.). The name assumed by Imogen in Shakespeare's Cymbeline. Collins has a beautiful elegy on Fidele.

Fidelio

Beethoven's only opera. (See Leonora .)

Fides

The goddess of Faith, etc.

Fides

(2 syl.). Mother of John of Leyden. Not knowing that her son was the “prophet” and ruler of Westphalia, but thinking that the prophet had caused his death, she went to Munster to curse the

new—crowned monarch. The moment she saw him she recognised him, but the “prophet—king,” surrounded by his courtiers, pretended not to know her. Fides, to save her son annoyance, declared she had made a mistake, and was confined in the dungeon of the palace at Munster, where John visited her and was forgiven. When her son set fire to his palace, Fides rushed into the flames and perished with him. (Meyerbeer's opera of Le Prophète.)

Fides Carbonarii

Blind faith, faith of a child. A carbonaro being asked what he believed, replied, “What the Church believes;” and, being asked again what the Church believes, made answer, “What I believe.” (See Carbonari.) (Roux: Dictionnaire Comique.)

Field

(Anglo—Saxon, feld.)

In agricultural parlance, a field is a portion of land belonging to a farm. In huntsman's language, it means all the riders.

In heraldry, it means the entire surface of the shield.

In military language, it means a battle; the place where a battle is fought, or is about to be fought; a campaign.

In sportsmen's language it means all the horses of any one race.

Against the field. In horse—racing, to bet against the field means to back a particular horse against all the rest entered for the race.

In the field. A competitor for a prize. A term in horse—races, as, so—and—so was in the field. Also in war, as, the French were in the field already.

Master of the field. In military parlance, means the conqueror in a battle. To keep back the field, is to keep back the riders.

To take the field. To move the army preparatory to battle. To win the field. To win the battle.

Field—day

Day of business. Thus, a clergyman jocosely calls a “kept festival” his field—day. A military term, meaning a day when a regiment is taken to the fields for practice.

Field Marshal

A general officer of the highest rank, who commands an army, or, at any rate, more than one corps.

Field Officer

Any officer between captain and a general officer. A major or a lieutenant—colonel may be a field officer, being qualified to command whole battalions, or a “field.”

Field Pieces

Small cannon carried into the field with an army.

Field Works

Works thrown up by an army in besieging or defending a fortress, or in strengthening its position.

“Earth—forts, and especially field works, will hereafter play an important part in wars.” — W.T. Sherman: Memoirs, vol.ii. chap. xxiv. p. 398.

Field of Blood Aceldama, the piece of land bought by the chief priests with the money which Judas threw down in the temple; so called because it was bought with blood—money. (Matt. xxvii. 5; Acts i. 19.)

The battle—field of Cannæ (B.C. 216) is so called because it was especially sanguinary.

Field of Ice

A large body of floating ice.

Field of Vision

or Field of View. The space in a telescope, microscope, stereoscope, etc., within which the object is visible. If the object is not distinctly visible, it must be brought into the field by adjustment.

Field of the Cloth of Gold

The plain, near Guisnes, where Henry VIII. had his interview with Francois I. in 1520; so called from the splendour and magnificence displayed there on the occasion.

Field of the Forty Footsteps

At the back of the British Museum, once called Southampton Fields. The tradition is that two brothers, in the Duke of Monmouth's rebellion, took different sides and engaged each other in fight. Both were killed, and forty impressions of their feet remained on the field for many years, where no grass would grow. The encounter took place at the extreme north—east of Upper Montague Street. The Misses Porter wrote a novel on the subject, and the Messrs. Mayhew a melodrama.

Fielding

The Fièlding of the drama. George Farquhar, author of the Beaux' Stratagem, etc. (1678—1707.)

Fierabras

(Sir), of Alexandria, son of Balan, King of Spain. The greatest giant that ever walked the earth. For height of stature, breadth of shoulder, and hardness of muscle he never had an equal. He possessed all Babylon, even to the Red Sea; was seigneur of Russia, Lord of Cologne, master of Jerusalem, and even of the Holy Sepulchre. He carried away the crown of thorns, and the balsam which embalmed the body of Our Lord, one drop of which would cure any sickness, or heal any wound in a moment. One of his chief exploits was to slay the “fearful huge giant that guarded the bridge Mantible,” famous for its thirty arches of black marble. His pride was laid low by Olivier, one of Charlemagne's paladins. The giant then became a child of God, and ended his days in the odour of sanctity, “meek as a lamb and humble as a chidden slave.” Sir Fierabras, or Ferumbras, figures in several mediæval romances, and is an allegory of Sin overcome by the Cross. (See Balan.)

Fifteen decisive Battles

(The), according to Sir E.S. Creasy, were: 1. The battle of MARATHON (Sept., 490 B.C.), when Miltiades, with 10,000 Greeks, defeated 100,000 Persians under Datis and Artaphernes.

2. The naval battle at SYRACUSE (Sep., 413 B.C.), when the Athenians under Nicias and Demosthenes were defeated with a loss of 40,000 killed and wounded, and their entire fleet.

3. The battle of ARBE'LA (Oct., 331 B.C.), when Alexander the Great overthrew Darius Codomanus for the third time.

4. The battle of METAURUS (207 B.C.), when the consuls Livius and Nero cut to pieces Hasdrubal's army, sent to reinforce Hannibal.

5. In A.D. 9 Arminius and the Gauls utterly overthrew the Romans under Varus, and thus established the independence of Gaul.

6. The battle of CHALONS (A.D. 451), when Aetius and Theodoric utterly defeated Attila, and saved Europe from devastation.

7. The battle of TOURS (Oct., 732 A.D.), when Charles Martel overthrew the Saracens under Abderahmen, and thus broke the Moslem yoke from Europe.

8. The battle of HASTINGS (Oct., 1066), when William of Normandy slew Harold II., and obtained the crown of England.

9. The battle of ORLEANS in 1429, when Joan of Arc secured the independence of France.

10. The defeat of the Spanish ARMADA in 1588, which destroyed the hopes of the Pope respecting England. 11. The battle of BLENHEIM (13 Aug., 1704), when Marlborough and Prince Eugene defeated Tallard, and

thus prevented Louis XIV. from carrying out his schemes. 12. The battle of PULTOWA (July, 1709), when Czar Peter utterly defeated Charles XII, of Sweden, and thus established the Muscovite power.

13. The battle of SARATOGA (Oct., 1777), when General Gates defeated the British under General Burgoyne, and thus secured for the United States the alliance of France.

14. The battle of VALMY (Sep., 1792), when the French Marshal Kellerman defeated the Duke of Brunswick, and thus established for a time the French republic.

15. The battle of WATERLOO (18 June, 1815), when Napoleon the Great was defeated by the Duke of Wellington, and Europe was restored to its normal condition.

The battle of GETTYSBURG, in Pennsylvania (3 July, 1863), when the Confederates, under the command of General Lee, were defeated by the Northern army, was certainly one of the most important, if not the most important, of the American Civil War.

The battle of SEDAN (Sep., 1870). when Napoleon gave up his sword to William, King of Prussia, which put an end to the empire of France.

Fifth—Monarchy Men

A sect of English fanatics in the days of the Puritans, who maintained that Jesus Christ was about to come a second time to the earth, and establish the fifth universal monarchy. The four preceding monarchies were the Assyrian, the Persian, the Macedonian, and the Roman. In politics, the Fifth—Monarchy Men were arrant Radicals and levellers.

Fig

Full fig. Full dress. A corruption of the Italian in fiocchi (in gala costume). It was derived from the tassels with which horses were ornamented in state processions. Thus we read in Miss Knight's Autobiography, “The Pope's throne was set out for mass, and the whole building was in perfect fiocchi” (in full fig). Another etymology has been suggested by a correspondent in Notes and Queries, that it is taken from the word full fig. (figure) in fashion books.

“The Speaker sits at one end all in full fig, with a clerk at the table below.” — Trollope: West Indies, chap. ix. p. 101.

Fig

or Figo. I don't care a fig for you; not worth a fig. Anything at all. Here fig is fico — a fillip or snap of the fingers. Thus we say, “I don't care that for you,” snapping the fingers at the same time. (Italian, far le fiche, to snap the fingers; French, faire la figue; German, diefeigen weisen; Dutch, de vyghe setten, etc.) (See Fico.)

“A fig for Peter.”

Shakespeare: 2 Henry VI., ii. 9.

“The figo for thy friendship.”

Shakespeare: Henry V., iii. 6.

Fig Sunday

Palm Sunday is so called from the custom of eating figs on that day. The practice arose from the Bible story of Zaccheus, who climbed up into a fig—tree to see Jesus.

Many other festivals have their special foods; as, Michaelmas goose, Christmas, plum—pudding, Shrove Tuesday, pancake day; Ash Wednesday, salt cod; Good Friday, hot cross—buns; pasch—eggs, roast—chestnuts, etc., have their special days.

Fig—tree

It is said that Judas hanged himself on a fig—tree. (See Elder—Tree.)

“Quæret aliquis qua ex arborë Judas se suspenderit? Arbor ficus fuisse dicitur.” —Barradius.

Figs

I shan't buy my Attic figs in future, but grow them. Don't count your chickens before they are hatched. It was Xerxes who boasted that he did not intend any longer to buy his figs, because he meant to conquer Attica

and add it to his own empire; but Xerxes met a signal defeat at Salamis, and “never loosed his sandal till he reached Abdera.”

In the name of the Prophet, Figs!

“A burlesque of the solemn language employed in eastern countries in the common business of life. The line occurs in the imitation of Dr. Johnson's pompous style, in Rejected Addresses, by James and Horace Smith.

Figged out

(See Fig, Full Fig.)

Figaro

A type of cunning dexterity, and intrigue. The character is in the Barbier de Séville and Mariage de Figaro, by Beaumarchais. In the former he is a barber, and in the latter a valet; but in both he outwits every one. There are several operas founded on these dramas, as Mozart's Nozze di Figaro, Paisiello's Il Barbiere di Siviglia, and Rossini's Il Barbiere di Siviglia.

Fight (See Hudibras, Pt. iii. c. 3.)

“He that fights and runs away

May live to fight another day;

But he that is in battle slain

Can never rise to fight again.”

Sir John Mennes: Musarum Delictæ. (1656.)

Demosthenes, being reproached for running away from Philip of Macedon, at Chæronea, replied, “A man that runs away may fight again ('Aner o pheugon kai palin machesetai).” (See Aulus Gellius, xvii. 21.)

Fight Shy

(To). To avoid. A shy person is unwilling to come forward, and to fight is to resist, to struggle in a contest. To “fig