=Old Rep.= Short for “Old Reprobate.”

=Old Rowley.= A sobriquet of Charles II., from the name of his favourite

race-horse.

=Old Rye.= A United States term for old whisky distilled from rye.

=Old Salt.= An old sailor who has sniffed the brine of the ocean from

his youth.

=Old Scotland Yard.= See “Scotland Yard.”

=Old Soldiers.= An Americanism for cigar-ends, because they are the

remnants of the originals that have done good service.

=Old Sport.= An Americanism for a broken-down gambler.

=Old Tom.= The name first given to gin by Thomas Norris, who, after

having long been employed in the distillery of Messrs Hodges, opened

a gin palace in Covent Garden, and perpetuated the affectionate name

of “Old Tom Chamberlain,” his former master.

=Old Toughs.= The nickname of the 103rd Foot, merited during the Indian

Mutiny.

=Old Woman.= In stage parlance an actress who plays old women’s parts. A

fine distinction is, however, drawn between “old women” and what are

called “Aristocratic Old Women.”

=On the Tapis.= _Tapis_ is French for a carpet; expressive also of the

cloth or kind of tapestry which covered the table in the Council

Chamber when French was the language spoken at the English Court.

=On the Tenterhooks.= To have one’s curiosity fully aroused; on the

tiptop of expectation. The phrase has been derived from the mode of

tentering or stretching cloth upon hooks after it is woven.

=On the Tiptoe of Expectation.= A phrase derived from the crowds

awaiting a public procession. As soon as the music is heard everyone

stands on tiptoe, and looks in the direction whence the sounds

proceed.

=Oof.= A slang term for “money”; derived from the legendary “Oof Bird,”

which from the Latin, _ovum_, an egg, traces its origin to the goose

with the golden eggs.

=Olive Branches.= A man’s children are so designated from the Biblical

simile in Psalm cxxviii. 3: “Thy wife shall be as a fruitful vine by

the sides of thine house: thy children like olive plants round about

thy table.”

=Olla Podrida.= A Spanish term for a mixture of meat and vegetables

collected in a common pot for cooking as required. In a literary

sense it signifies a miscellany of short productions. The French

equivalent for the term is _pot-pourri_, which is also employed

figuratively.

=Omnibus.= The dative Latin plural of _omnes_, all. In a public vehicle

of this kind there is room for many, without class distinction.

=One-horse.= A term used adjectively for anything mean or insignificant.

This figure of speech is derived from agriculture.

=Oneida.= Indian for “people of the beacon stone.”

=Ontario.= From the Indian _Onontae_, which expresses “the village on

the mountain,” whence the tribe of the Onondagas derive their name.

=On this Side of Jordan.= An Americanism for “in this life” or “in this

world.”

=Opal.= From the Sanskrit _opula_, through the Latin _opalus_, a

precious stone.

=Oporto.= Portuguese for “the harbour.”

=Orange Lilies.= The 35th Foot, so called on account of the facings on

their uniform.

=Orangemen.= The Protestants in the northern provinces of Ireland, so

called on account of their adherence to William III., Prince of

Orange, in opposition to the “Jacobites” or the adherents of the

Stuart king, James II.

=Orange Peel.= One of the nicknames of Sir Robert Peel, owing to his

strong anti-Catholic spirit. See “Orangemen.”

=Orange River.= This, the largest river in South Africa, received its

name from the colour of its waters when in flood.

=Orange River Free State.= This name was given by the “Boers” to what is

now British territory in South Africa because its early settlers

were also emigrants from the principality of Orange in Holland. Its

new title is the Orange River Colony.

=Orange Street.= In compliment to William III., Prince of Orange.

=Orator Henley.= The sobriquet of John Henley, an English divine who in

1726 attracted large and fashionable congregations in a so-called

“Oratory” or chapel in Newport Market.

=Oratorio.= A term derived from the fact that the first sacred musical

dramas or cantatas were performed in the Church of the Oratorians,

which religious Order was founded by St Philip Nero at Rome in 1540.

=Orchard Street.= Off Portman Square, after Orchard Portman, one of the

country seats of the Portmans in Somersetshire. At Westminster, from

the ancient orchard belonging to the Abbey.

=Orchestra.= A Greek term applied to the place in the theatre allotted

to the chorus of the dancers. Among the moderns it expresses the

place assigned to the instrumentalists.

=Orchid.= From the Greek _orchis_, a testicle, which the root of this

plant resembles.

=Oregon.= From the Spanish _Oregano_, “wild majorum,” which grows

abundantly in this state.

=Orellana.= The original name of the “Amazon” River, after its

navigator.

=Oriel College.= This college at Oxford was built in 1326 by Adam de

Brome, the Almoner of Edward II., and called by him St Mary’s

College. A few years later Edward III. added to its revenues a rich

messuage hard by known as “Le Oriel,” from which circumstance the

foundation received the name which it now bears.

=Orinoco.= Indian for “coiling snake.”

=Orion Horne.= One of the sobriquets of Richard Horne, author of

“Orion,” which acquired an exceptional notoriety on account of its

being published at the low price of one farthing.

=Orkney Isles.= Under the name of _Orcades_ these are mentioned by the

ancient geographers. _Orkney_ is Gaelic for “Isle of Whales.”

=Orleans.= A corruption of _Aureliani_, after the Roman Emperor

Aurelian.

=Orloff Diamond.= This gem, weighing 194 carats, and purchased by

Catherine II. of Russia in 1775, preserves the family name of that

Empress.

=Orme Square.= After the name of a printseller of Bond Street who bought

the land and built upon it.

=Orrery.= After the Earl of Orrery, who first caused one to be made.

=Osnaburg Street.= Named in compliment to Frederick, Duke of York and

Albany, the last sovereign-bishop of Osnaburg in Hanover.

=Ossulton Street.= See “Lisson Grove.”

=Ostend.= Literally the east end of Flanders in Belgium.

=Ostler.= From the French _hostelier_, an innkeeper.

=Oswestry.= A corruption of Oswaldstry, the “place of Oswald,” where

Oswald, King of Northumbria, was slain in 642. Evidence of this is

afforded by the original name of Oswald’s Well, which yields a

spring of pure water.

=Ottawa.= Expresses the Indian for “traders.”

=Ottoman Empire.= That of the Turks, founded by Othman I. at the

commencement of the fourteenth century.

=Ouida.= The pseudonym of Louise de la Ramée. This was suggested to her

at the very commencement of her literary career by the infantile

perversion of Louise into “Ouida.”

=Ouse.= From the Celtic _uisg_, water.

=Out of Collar.= Out of harness and the working habit. A horse has the

collar slipped over its neck when put to work.

=Out of Sorts.= A technical phrase in the printing trade. “Sorts” are

the different sizes and kinds of type used by a compositor. At times

he runs short of “sorts,” so that the composition of the particular

work in hand has to be suspended until the required sorts are

obtained, either by distributing old matter put up in paper or

sending to the typefounder’s for a new supply. Hence a person

indisposed for work confesses to being “out of sorts.”

=Ovidius Naso.= See “Naso.”

=Oxford.= Cited in Domesday Book as _Oxeneford_. Literally a ford for

the passage of oxen across the River Isis.

=Oxford Blues.= The Royal Horse Guards, from their dark blue uniforms

and the circumstance that this regiment of horse was first raised by

Aubrey, Earl of Oxford, soon after the Restoration.

=Oxford Movement.= The great Catholic revival in England, which, midway

in the last century, resulted in the passing over of many of the

most eminent Oxford scholars to the Church of Rome.

=Oxford Street.= After Edward Harley, Earl of Oxford and Mortimer,

landlord of the estate north of this principal thoroughfare.

=Oyez, Oyez.= The old French ceremonial exclamation (“Hear ye, hear

ye!”) to enjoin silence. This obtained in our own country when

French was the language of the Court. In modern times it has been

corrupted by Court criers and town bellmen into “O yes, O yes.”

=Oyster Part.= In theatrical parlance a part which contains only one

line or speech; like an oyster, the actor opens his mouth but once.

P

=Pacha.= See “Pasha.”

=Pacific Ocean.= So called by Magellan, who, after a tempestuous passage

through the straits which bear his name, enjoyed a cruise of three

months and twenty-one days across this ocean in continuous fine

weather, and with the advantage of favourable winds.

=Pack Horse.= An inn sign denoting that the establishment provided

accommodation for “Packmen,” and also that pack horses were let out

on hire.

=Packmen.= The old name for commercial travellers, whose goods or

samples were carried in packs or sacks fastened to the saddle of a

pack horse.

=Paddington.= The ancient description of this parish was “Padynton,” the

settlement of the Pædings. Another branch of the same family gave

its name to “Padendene”--_i.e._ the wooded valley of the Pædings in

Surrey.

=Paddington Street.= Originally a narrow lane leading northward on to

the common known as Paddington Fields.

=Paddle your own Canoe.= Originally a Western phrase for self-reliance.

A canoe is an Indian boat affording room for one person. If he

cannot paddle it himself no one else is in a position to help him.

The expression became extremely popular in England through a song of

this title thirty years ago.

=Paddy.= The common name for an Irishman, being short for “Pat,” after

St Patrick, the patron saint of Ireland.

=Pagan.= This term had at first not the slightest connection with

religion. Derived from the Latin _pagus_, the country, a _paganus_

denoted a peasant or villager. Removed from the refinement of the

cities such a one had, of course, very little acquaintance with the

complicated system of Roman mythology. On this account only could it

be said that those who remained unconverted to Christianity were

Pagans.

=Page Green.= See “Seven Sisters’ Road.”

=Painted Hall.= The picture gallery of Greenwich Hospital received this

name on account of its superbly painted ceiling.

=Painter.= The rope by which the “Jolly Boat” or any other is attached

to a vessel, so called from the Latin _panther_, through the French

_pantier_, a drag net.

=Paint the Town.= An Americanism for a night’s drunken frolic; the

allusion is to a drunkard’s red nose.

=Palace Car.= An Americanism for a “Pullman” or Saloon car.

=Palaver.= From the Portuguese _palavra_, “a talk.”

=Pale Faces.= The name popularly bestowed upon the whites by the North

American Indians.

=Palestine.= From the Hebrew _Palæstina_, “the land of strangers.” This

was the ancient _Philistia_, the country of the Philistines, a term

derived like that of Palestine from the root _phalash_, to emigrate

or wander.

=Pall Mall.= From a species of croquet, called _Paille Maille_,

introduced by Charles II. after his involuntary exile in France, and

played by him and his courtiers here when the thoroughfare was open

to St James’s Park.

=Palmer.= The name bestowed upon a “Pilgrim” returning from the Holy

Land who carried a palm branch, usually affixed to his head-gear, as

a proof that he had actually accomplished his self-imposed task. On

arriving at the place whence he had set out he repaired to the

church or chapel, and offered the palm to the parish priest, who

laid it on the altar on his behalf.

=Palmetto City.= Augusta, the capital of the Palmetto State.

=Palmetto State.= South Carolina, from the palmetto-tree in her arms.

During the Civil War the soldiers of this state bore the name of

“Palmetto Boys.”

=Palm it off.= A phrase derived from the usual procedure of a conjurer,

who is an adept at concealing in the palm of his hand that which he

pretends to have “passed” elsewhere.

=Palm Oil.= A bribe placed in the hand of a servant makes him the more

willing to throw open the apartment of the great man to whom one

wishes to gain access.

=Palm Sunday.= From the palms distributed to the congregation by the

Catholic Church in commemoration of Christ’s entry into the city of

Jerusalem, when the populace strewed palm branches and leaves in His

path.

=Palmy Days of the Drama.= The days of our greatest exponents of the

Drama, so called because, had such celebrated histriones as Garrick,

Mrs Siddons, the Keans, and the Kembles lived in the time of the

Romans, they would have been awarded a palm branch in recognition of

their genius.

=Palsgrave Place.= In honour of Frederick, King of Bohemia, Palsgrave of

the Rhine, married to the Princess Elizabeth, daughter of James I.

=Pam.= The popular name of Lord Palmerston.

=Pamphlet.= After Pamphilia, a Greek lady who kept a commonplace book

for the collection of anecdotes and literary memoranda.

=Panama.= Expresses the Carribean for “mud fish,” with which the shores

of this isthmus abound.

=Panama Hat.= A corruption of “Palmata Hat,” from the primitive head

covering in equatorial South America made out of the large leaf of

the _Cardulavia palmata_ tree.

=Pancake Tuesday.= From the pancakes eaten on this day. The custom arose

in Catholic days with a view to using up the eggs and lard that were

interdicted during Lent; also because pancakes were an excellent

stay to the appetite while the faithful had to wait long hours in

church to be _shrived_ by the priest in the confessional.

=Pancras Road.= From Old St Pancras parish church. New St Pancras church

is situated in the Euston Road.

=Panel Den.= An Americanism for a brothel, in which the rooms are

panelled off into small compartments.

=Pan-Handle State.= West Virginia, on account of its shape, rising up

like a wedge between Pennsylvania and Ohio.

=Panorama.= Expresses the Greek for “a view of the whole,” as would be

obtained from a monument or a natural eminence. This is the correct

description of a picture exhibited in a circular building, where the

spectators are placed in the centre; not at all of an old form of

picture entertainment at one end of a hall, which approximates to a

_Diorama_, because conformably to _di_, through, it is viewed

through the darkness.

=Pantaloon.= One of the characters of the Italian comedy or “Pantomime,”

so called because he was typical of the Venetians, wearing, like

them, originally a close-fitting garment made all in one piece,

known as a _pantaleone_. The Venetians were nicknamed _Pantaleone_

(“all lion”) from their common patron, St Mark, whose symbol was a

lion; hence the application of the term pantaloons to tight-fitting

knickerbockers or trousers.

=Pantaloonery.= An Americanism for trouser material. See “Pantaloon.”

=Pantechnicon.= A Greek word compounded out of _pan_, all, and _techne_,

art. The large vehicle of this name was first used exclusively for

the conveyance of pictures and art treasures to exhibitions.

=Pantheism.= From the Greek _pan_, all, and _theos_, God; the religion

which recognises the Spirit of God moving throughout all the

processes, works, and glories of His creation. The single doctrine

expressed by Pantheism is that “God is everything, and everything is

God.”

=Pantheon.= The Roman temple erected in honour of the gods collectively,

so called from the Greek _pan_, all, and _theos_, god.

=Pantomime.= In the modern sense a pantomime is an entertainment in

which current events or fashionable foibles are introduced by way of

burlesque. Formerly it denoted a performance of Italian comedy in

which the action took place in dumb show, so called from the Greek

_pantomimos_, an imitator of all or everything. The Roman _mimes_ or

_mimi_ were not theatrical performers, but mutes at funerals, whose

function it was to imitate the characteristic actions of the

deceased--_e.g._ the virtue of generosity.

=Panton Street.= After a noted gamester, Colonel Thomas Panton, whose

daughter became connected by marriage with the family of the ground

landlord, Lord Arundel of Wardour.

=Pants.= Short for “pantaloons,” an Americanism for trousers. See

“Pantaloon.”

=Panyer Alley.= This was an alley behind an ancient church facing

Cheapside, where the bakers stood with their bread paniers. The word

“panier” is French for a bread basket.

=Pan’s Pipes.= The primitive reed instrument named after Pan, the god of

shepherds.

=Pansy.= From the French “penseé,” which in the Language of Flowers

means “thoughts.”

=Papa.= See “Pope.”

=Papal Bull.= So called on account of the _bulla_, a seal embellished

with the symbol of St Peter.

=Paper.= From the Greek _papyros_, the Egyptian plant out of the reeds

of which the earliest writing material was made.

=Paper King.= John Law, the projector of the Mississippi Scheme, whose

prospectus promised fortunes that were never realised by the

luckless speculators.

=Papua.= Expresses the Portuguese for “frizzled.” This name was bestowed

upon the natives of New Guinea on account of their enormous heads of

frizzled hair.

=Parachute.= From the Greek _para_, “beyond,” and the French _chute_, “a

fall.”

=Paraquay.= Expresses the Brazilian for the country of the _Para_, or

“great river.”

=Parasol.= This term is now obsolete, having been superseded by

“Sunshade.” Derived through the Italian _parasole_, from the Greek

_para_, beyond, and _sol_, the sun, its meaning was synonymous with

that of its modern substitute.

=Parchment.= From the Greek _pergamenos_, through the French

_parchemin_, so called after Pergamos, the city of Asia Minor where,

consequent upon Ptolemy’s prohibition of the exportation of the

Egyptian papyrus, dried goatskins were first utilised for a writing

material.

=Paris.= Called by the Romans _Lutetia Parisiorum_, a name signifying

the collection of mud huts inhabited by the _Parisii_, a Gallic

tribe conquered by them.

=Paris Garden.= A notorious bear-baiting establishment in South London

for several centuries, so called after Robert de Paris in the reign

of Richard I. The entrance thereto is fixed by what bears the name

of Bear Garden at the corner of Sumner Street, Borough.

=Park Lane.= Originally a narrow lane skirting the east side of Hyde

Park; it is now one of the most fashionable streets in the West End

of London.

=Park Street.= Leads westward from Camden Town to Regent’s Park.

=Parker Street.= In honour of Archbishop Parker, who founded two

fellowships and five scholarships at Corpus Christi College,

Cambridge, in addition to presenting it with a valuable library of

ancient manuscripts. This street was at one time called Bennet

Street, after the original name of the college, from the adjacent

church of St Benedict.

=Parliament.= From the French _parlerment_, founded on the Latin verb

_parler_, to speak. See “Parlour.”

=Parliamentarians.= The forces under the Parliament of the Commonwealth

under Cromwell during the Civil War with Charles I. and the

Royalists.

=Parliamentary Whip.= One whose duty it is to hunt up Members of the

House of Commons when questions of grave import are being put to the

vote.

=Parliament of Dunces.= That convened at Coventry by Henry IV. in 1404

because it did not number among its members a single lawyer. Sir

Edward Coke styled this the “Unlearned” and also the “Lawless

Parliament.”

=Parlour.= Originally the apartment reserved for visitors where

conversation could be indulged undisturbed. See “Parliament.”

=Parnellites.= The Home Rule party in Ireland during the lifetime of

their political leader, Charles Stewart Parnell.

=Parry Islands.= Discovered by Rear-Admiral Sir William Parry in the

course of his search for the North-West Passage.

=Parsees.= The modern designation of the Zoroastrians or Fire

Worshippers in Persia and India. The Parsees were the original

inhabitants of Persia, a wild Ayrian family called the _Parsa_,

meaning “The Tigers.” By the Greeks the territory they overran was

styled _Perseus_, on account of their chief stronghold,

_Persipolis_, “the city of the Parsa,” the ruins of which may yet be

seen. The modern Parsees are therefore descendants of those who

refused to embrace Mohammedanism.

=Parsons Green.= Prior to the year 1740 the parsonage of Fulham Parish

Church stood facing this green. On its roof was a cross which bore

the name of “Parson’s Cross,” afterwards corrupted into “Percy

Cross.”

=Partridge Day.= The first of September, when partridge shooting

commences.

=Pasha.= A Western corruption of the Turkish “Pashaw,” from the Persian

_bâshâ_, a governor or ruler of a province under the _Shah_ or King.

=Passenger Pigeon.= So called on account of its migratory habits. This

species is found chiefly in America.

=Passing Bell.= That rung at the parish church to announce publicly that

the soul of a parishioner has just passed away.

=Passion Flower.= The traditional reverence for this favourite flower is

due to a fancied resemblance of its tints and various parts to the

instruments of Christ’s Passion; also because it remains open for

three days, corresponding to the period between the Last Supper and

the Resurrection.

=Passionists.= A missionary Order founded by St Francis de Paulo,

otherwise “St Paul of the Cross,” for the preaching of “Christ’s

Passion and Him Crucified.”

=Passion Play.= An alfresco sacred drama based upon the incidents of

Christ’s Passion and Death; that performed every tenth year at

Oberammergau is world famous.

=Passion Sunday.= Although this should properly be the first day of what

is called Passion Week, Palm Sunday is in a sense a feast day, in

allusion to the triumphant entry of Christ into Jerusalem. The

Sunday previous is therefore set apart for a general commemoration

of the Passion--all crosses, statues, and paintings in the churches

being draped in purple, with a view to concentrating the attention

of the worshippers on the sufferings of the Redeemer.

=Passion Week.= The week in which Good Friday occurs, in commemoration

of Christ’s Passion.

=Passive Resister.= One who in our own day passively resists the

imposition of the Education Rate by allowing his goods to be seized

or going to prison instead of resorting to active measures of

violence.

=Passover.= The great Jewish festival commemorative of the Destroying

Angel having passed over or spared the houses of the Israelites

whose doorposts were sprinkled with the blood of the lamb slain

overnight by Divine command. The Hebrew term for this festival is

_Pesach_, whence “Pasch” has been derived.

=Pastoral Letter.= One addressed by a bishop to his flock. As his title

implies, he is an overseer, and his crook is symbolical of a

shepherd.

=Pat.= See “Paddy.”

=Patagonia.= This name, from the Spanish _patagon_, a large, clumsy

foot, was given by Magellan to the country because, seeing the

impressions of the great shoes worn by the natives, he imagined them

to be giants.

=Paternoster Row.= Two reasons are assigned for this designation. The

Row was the locale of the makers of “Pater Nosters,” or rosary

beads, so called from the name of the first large bead, and the

sellers of religious texts and prayer-books. Also because on great

festival days the monks went in solemn procession to St Paul’s, the

recital of the Pater Noster being commenced at the eastern corner of

the lane, outside the churchyard, and concluded at the western

extremity, where the Ave Maria was then taken up. See “Amen Corner.”

=Pathfinder.= The surname of General John Charles Fremont, the leader of

four exploring expeditions across the Rocky Mountains.

=Patricians.= See “Plebeians.”

=Paul’s Chain.= This lane, on the south side of the Paul’s Churchyard,

formerly had a chain drawn across it during divine service; hence

its name.

=Paul Veronese.= The better-known name of the celebrated Italian painter

Paulo Cagliari, who was born at Verona.

=Pawn.= In relation to the game of chess. The ordinary piece or “man”

bears this name from the French _peon_, a walker or foot soldier,

the superior pieces being kings, queens, knights, castles, and

bishops. An article left in the charge of a pawnbroker is called a

pawn, from the French _pan_, a pledge.

=Pawnbroker.= See “Pawn” and “Broker.”

=Peabody Buildings.= After George Peabody, the American philanthropist,

who left a huge fortune in trust for the building of “model

dwellings” for the poorer classes. His statue, at the back of the

Royal Exchange, was unveiled 23rd July 1869.

=Peach.= A schoolboy term for to inform against another. In allusion to

the fruit of this name, it means to turn soft-hearted, and betray.

In American the word is used to denote a pretty woman or anything

soft and beautiful.

=Peacock.= An inn sign dating from the Crusades, when, the flesh of the

peacock being deemed incorruptible, this bird was adopted by many a

knight as a crest, typical of the Resurrection. “By the peacock” was

a common oath in those days.

=Pearl Bible.= So called from the name of the printing type employed in

its composition.

=Peckham.= A corruption of _Beckham_, a home or settlement among the

becks or brooks.

=Peckham Rye.= In its application to common, the word “Rye” comes from

the Anglo-Saxon _ree_, a watercourse.

=Peculiar People.= Originally those who believed that disease was the

direct consequence of sin, and that by prayer alone could it be

removed. See “Faith Healers.”

=Pedlar.= An itinerant trader, so called in conformity with the Latin

_pedes_, the feet.

=Pedro the Cruel.= The surname of the King of Castile and Leon, who,

midway in the fourteenth century, murdered his two brothers and

poisoned his queen. How he meted out punishment to those outside his

own family may be guessed.

=Peeler.= The old name for a policeman, after Sir Robert Peel, to whom

the introduction of the modern system of Watch and Ward was due.

=Peep O’Day Boys.= Irish insurrectionists who broke into the houses of

the people at peep of day in search of arms. They were not averse to

carrying off other plunder at the same time.

=Peewit.= This bird is so called from its characteristic notes.

=Peg Away.= Originally a camping phrase. When a tent is being put up it

is necessary to secure its ropes to the ground on all sides before

the work can be left, lest the whole structure, caught by the wind,

should be blown down.

=Pekin.= Chinese for “northern capital.”

=Pelican State.= Louisiana, from the pelican in her arms.

=Pembroke.= Called by the Welsh “Penbroshire,” signifying the _pen_ or

head of the _bro_ or country; literally the Land’s End.

=Pembroke College.= Founded at Cambridge in 1348 by the widow of Aylmar

de Valence, Earl of Pembroke.

=Peninsula State.= Florida.

=Penitentiary.= The modern name for a “Magdalen Hospital,” designed as a

home or refuge for fallen women who are penitent. This term was

adopted also by the Quakers of Philadelphia in 1786 for a prison.

=Penknife.= A small pocket-knife intended primarily for cutting quill

pens. Though quills are no longer in fashion, save among lawyers and

bankers, and the penknife is serviceable only for trimming one’s

finger nails, its original name survives.

=Pennsylvania.= From the Latin _sylva_, a wood; expresses the colony in

the wood founded by William Penn.

=Penny.= From the Danish _pennig_ and German _pfennig_, a copper coin of

full value. This was originally nicked across to admit of being

broken into halves and quarters.

=Penny Blood.= The modern substitute for the “Penny Dreadful.” The term

“Blood” is short for a blood-curdling relation.

=Penny Gaff.= The term applied to a low-class theatre, in allusion to

the first Drury Lane Theatre, built on the site of a famous cockpit.

_Gaff_ was but another name for a cockpit, expressing as it did in

various languages the iron hook, fork, or spur with which the cocks

were goaded when they showed a reluctance to fight.

=Penny Wedding.= One to which all the villagers are invited, each

contributing his or her quota to the expenses of the feast amounting

to less than a shilling, while children uniformly bring a penny.

=Pennyweight.= Anciently, before standard weights came into use, the

weight of a Norman silver penny.

=Penrith.= A corruption of “Perith,” from Perith Hill, at the foot of

which the town is situated. The name is Celtic for “red hill,” in

allusion to the red stone quarried on the spot.

=Pensioner Parliament.= That of Charles II., which, though it lasted

sixteen years and a half, was more remarkable for the bestowal of

pensions upon the adherents of the King than for the framing of new

laws.

=Pentateuch.= A Greek word compounded out of _penta_, five, and

_teuchos_, an implement, tool. This name was given to the first five

books collectively of the Old Testament, its second portion being

applicable in the sense of an instrument of direct communication

between God and His people.

=Pentecost.= From the Greek _pentekoste_, the fiftieth day; relative to

the gift of the Law to the Israelites fifty days after their

deliverance out of the Land of Bondage. This great festival,

corresponding to the Whitsuntide of the Christians, is celebrated by

the Jews on the fiftieth day after the “Passover.”

=Penton Street.= See “Pentonville.”

=Pentonville.= Prior to 1773 the whole of this neighbourhood north of

the New Road was open fields. It was then acquired for building

purposes by Henry Penton, M.P., one of the Lords of the Admiralty,

and received its name from “Penton Villa,” his residence, on the

site of what is now Penton Street.

=Penzance.= Expresses the Celtic for “Saint’s Headland,” in allusion to

St Michael’s Mount.

=People’s Friend.= The surname of Dr William Gordon of Hull, merited by

his kindly disposition and unfailing generosity. When he died in

1849 the whole town followed his body to the grave, and the name by

which he had always been known was subsequently chiselled on his

tombstone.

=Percy Cross.= See “Parsons Green.”

=Pere La Chaise.= This, the principal cemetery of Paris, originally

constituted the land attached to a beautiful mansion built by a

grocer named Regnault. After his death the property passed into the

hands of a lady, who made it over to the Jesuits of the Rue St

Antoine. Thenceforth the Maison Regnault became the recognised seat

of the Jesuits. In 1705 Pere La Chaise, the confessor of Louis XIV.,

was made Superior to the Order, and by the King’s desire the house

received his name. The eventual suppression of the Order caused the

property to be sold and the land converted into a cemetery.

=Perfectionists.= An American sect of religionists who, relying on the

gift of the Spirit, dispense with civil laws so far as their own

community is concerned.

=Peripatetics.= The school of philosophy founded by Aristotle, who

taught his disciples in the colonnade or covered walk (styled the

_peripatos_, from _peripatem_, to walk) in the garden of Lyceus at

Athens.

=Pernambuco.= Expresses the Spanish for “the mouth of hell,” so called

on account of the violent surf, which is such an impediment to the

safe navigation of the mouth of its chief river, the San Francisco.

=Persia.= The country of the _Parsa_. See “Parsees.”

=Peru.= From its principal waterway, the Rio Paro, on the banks of which

the ancient city of Paruru is situated. All these names are

modifications of the native _Para_, water or river.

=Perugino.= See “Il Perugino.”

=Peter.= A word employed in America for running up the prices at an

auction. It is derived from the Dutch _pethur_, to run, to hurry.

The common name for a confederate of the auctioneer at a mock

auction is a “Peter Funk,” that of the fictitious person to whom the

goods are knocked down.

=Peter Boat.= One built alike at both ends, so that it can be run out

quickly. See “Peter.”

=Peterborough.= From the great Benedictine monastery built and dedicated

to St Peter by Oswy, King of Northumbria, in the seventh century.

=Peterhouse College.= Founded at Cambridge in connection with a hospital

dedicated to St Peter by Hugh de Balsham in 1280.

=Peterloo Massacre.= The name given to the dispersal of Lancashire

operatives assembled to discuss Parliamentary reform in St Peter’s

Field, Manchester, by an armed force, 10th July 1819. In this melee

many were wounded and several killed. The term was a fanciful one,

suggested by the battle of Waterloo of five years previous to this

event.

=Peter’s Pence.= An annual contribution throughout the Roman Catholic

world for the upkeep of the vast establishment of the Vatican and

the Papal Court. Since the loss of the Papal States in Italy this

constitutes the sole revenue of the Pope. Anciently it was a tax of

a silver penny in respect of every member of a household.

=Petrel.= See “Stormy Petrel.”

=Petticoat.= A smaller or shorter coat, which was the ancient

description of a woman’s outer garment; derived from the Norman

_cotte_.

=Petticoat Lane.= Another name for “Rag Fair,” the old clothes mart of

the Jews in the East End. Its modern name is Middlesex Street.

=Petty.= Provincial for an out-house, because its accommodation is

restricted to one person; also called a “Privy,” short for private.

=Petty Sessions.= A criminal court for the disposal of petty or lesser

felonies, as distinguished from the usual “Quarter Sessions,” where

all graver charges, short of those meriting capital punishment, are

dealt with.

=Phaeton.= A name derived from the Phaeton of ancient mythology, who,

having received permission to drive the sun car of Helios, his

father, for a day, had the ill fortune to cause it to be overturned,

and thereby almost set the world on fire.

=Pharmacist.= An Americanism for a chemist; derived, of course, from

“Pharmaceutist,” one who keeps a _pharmacy_ or drug store.

=Pharisees.= Those of the Jews who affected a greater degree of holiness

than their neighbours, and were consequently regarded as a separate

people. The word is from the Hebrew _pharash_, “separated.”

=Philadelphia.= Expresses the Greek for “city of brotherly love.” This

name was happily chosen by William Penn for the capital of his

Quaker colony in the New World.

=Philippe Egalité.= See “Egalité.”

=Philippi.= A ruined city of Macedonia, named after Philip II. of

Macedon, who conquered it. It was to the _Philippians_, the people

of this city, that St Paul addressed one of his Epistles.

=Philippic.= A powerful invective or denunciation. So called from a

famous oration of Demosthenes against Philip of Macedon with a view

of arousing the Athenians to repel his ambitious designs.

=Philippine Islands.= Discovered by Magellan in 1521, he named them in

honour of Philip II. of Spain.

=Philistines.= The inhabitants of ancient Philistia, or “Palestine.”

Because these were continually at war with the Jews, the term has

been applied by university students to the citizens generally, and

to the preservers of law and order more particularly. “A battle with

the Philistines” is but another name for “a town row.” By the people

of Norfolk too, policemen and bailiffs, likewise earwigs and such

tiny tormentors, are called Philistines.

=Philistinism.= The name given to that cynicism which sneers at

religion. This arose out of the scorn with which the Philistines of

Palestine regarded the rites and ceremonies of the Israelites.

=Phiz.= Slang for the face; derived from “Physiogomy.”

=Phœnicia.= Called by the Greeks _Phoinike_, from _phoinos_, purple,

which colour was discovered by the Tyrians and manufactured by them

for the supply of all the then known Eastern nations.

=Photograph.= From the two Greek words _photos_, light, and _graphein_,

to write. Accordingly a picture obtained by the action of light and

transferred to paper chemically prepared.

=Phyrric Dance.= The famous war dance of the ancient Greeks, so called

after Phyrrichos, a flautist of great skill and renown.

=Pianoforte.= A modern development of the old harpsichord and

clavichord, so called because it was the first musical instrument

which, by means of pedals, admitted the alternations of _piano_,

soft, and _forte_, loud.

=Piccadilly.= After “Piccadilla Hall,” a once famous mart for the sale

of “piccadilly lace,” having _pica_, or spearlike points. Of this

_pica_, the word _piccadilly_ expressed the diminutive. So

fashionable was this lace during the time of Elizabeth that when in

the succeeding reign of James I. the high ruff came into vogue, it

bore the name of a _piccadilly_, though shorn of its lace edging.

“Piccadilla Hall” must have stood somewhere about the modern circus

of the same name, since there were no houses further afield.

=Pickaninny.= From the Spanish _pegueno nino_, a little child.

=Pick-me-up.= A stimulating beverage or a medicinal tonic as a remedy

for languor or lowness of spirits.

=Pick up.= An Americanism for a cold dinner composed of the fragments of

the previous day’s joint. Sometimes such a one is called a “Pick-up

Dinner.”

=Picts.= The Lowlanders of Scotland, called by the Romans _picti_, or

painted men, because, they stained their skins with woad.

=Pie Corner.= It has been considered curious that the Great Fire of

London should have broken out in “Pudding Lane” and ended at Pie

Corner. Scarcely less curious was it that this Pie Corner was an

eating-house. Its sign was “The Pie,” a corruption of “Magpie.”

=Piedmont.= Expresses the French for “mountain foot.”

=Pierrot.= French for “Little Peter.”

=Pig and Whistle.= A tavern sign corrupted from “Piggen Wassail.” Piggen

expressed the Anglo-Saxon for a milking pail, of which _pig_ was the

diminutive. When a large party frequented the alehouse the liquor

was set before them in a _piggen_, each helping himself from it with

his _pig_, or mug. “Wassail” was, of course, the Anglo-Saxon _Was

hæl_ (“Be in health”). See “Hail.”

=Pigeon English.= That employed by the Chinese in their commercial

relations with Europeans. The word _pigeon_ is a native corruption

of “business,” which it seems impossible for a Chinaman to pronounce

correctly. Their business English is therefore a jargon of many

languages heard by him in the “Open Ports.”

=Pig in a Poke.= See “Buy a Pig in a Poke” and “Let the Cat out of the

Bag.”

=Piggott Diamond.= One of the smaller diamonds of celebrity, weighing

82¼ carats. This was brought to England from India by Lord Piggott

in 1818, when it passed into the hands of Messrs Rundell & Bridge.

=Pigtails.= The European nickname for the Chinese on account of their

shaven heads and braided pigtails.

=Pikes.= The name given in California to the poor southern whites, most

of whom came from Pike County, Missouri. See “Pukes.”

=Pilgrim.= From the Italian _pellegrino_, “a visitor to foreign lands.”

Since the days of Peter the Hermit and the Crusades this term has

been confined to one who travels on foot to worship at a holy

shrine, whether he be a Christian, Mohammedan, or Buddhist. See

“Palmer.”

=Pillow Lace.= So called because produced by twisted threads around rows

of pins arranged on a cushion or pillow.

=Pilot Jack.= The name given to the “Union Jack” when flown from the

mast-head in the merchant service as a signal for a pilot.

=Pimlico.= This was originally a district of tea gardens for holiday

folk, with a _specialité_ for nut-brown ales. It received its name

from Ben Pimlico, the owner of a noted resort in Hoxton on the site

of what is now the Britannia Theatre. The nut-brown ale was first

popularised by this worthy, who could not have regarded the

application of his name to ales purveyed elsewhere with much favour.

From “Pimlico Ales,” the neighbourhood itself soon came to be known

as Pimlico.

=Pimlico Walk.= It is hard to believe that this was once a regular

holiday promenade for the citizens of London. On Sundays and on

week-day evenings it was thronged, skirting as it did the famous tea

gardens of Ben Pimlico, in whose retired arbours courting couples

softly murmured “sweet nothings.” This resort was to Londoners of a

bygone day what Rosherville is in our own time. From a tea garden it

developed into what was styled a “saloon,” and eventually into a

regular theatre.

=Pinafore.= Literally an apron pinned on the bosom and at the hips of

the wearer. The modern example of a pinafore with armholes is pinned

or buttoned behind.

=Pinchbeck.= A mixture of copper, zinc, and tin, out of which metal

watch cases and cheap jewellery were formerly made. So called after

its inventor, Christopher Pinchbeck of Fleet Street.

=Pindaric Verse.= A style of verse, irregular in regard to metre,

imitative of the Odes of Pindar, the Roman poet.

=Pine-tree State.= Maine, from the pine-tree distinguished in her arms,

symbolical of her glorious forests.

=Pin Money.= The allowance made by a husband to his wife in order to

purchase pins for the current year. Such articles were at one time

neither abundant nor cheap.

=Pin your Faith on it.= An expression derived from the days of

feudalism, when all the dependents of a baron or feudal lord

displayed his badge pinned on the sleeve. Sometimes while on a

predatory expedition of their own these vassals exchanged the badge

for another to prevent recognition. This gave rise to the saying:

“You may wear the badge, but I cannot pin my faith on your sleeve. I

require some further evidence whence you came.”

=Pipeclay.= The fine white clay out of which clay pipes are made.

=Pistol.= From _Pistoja_ in Italy, where this kind of small firearm was

first introduced in 1545.

=Pit.= The floor of a theatre bears this name because the original Drury

Lane Theatre was built by Killigrew on the site of the famous

cockpit in Drury Lane.

=Pitcairn Island.= Discovered by Captain Cartaret in 1767, and named by

him after one of his officers.

=Pitchfork.= A fork for pitching hay; also one for determining the

correct pitch of a musical note.

=Pitt Diamond.= After Thomas Pitt, grandfather of the first Lord

Chatham, who, while Governor of Fort St George in India, purchased

it for £24,000. On coming to England he sold this gem, weighing 136¾

carats in its cut state, to the Duke of Orleans, Regent of France,

for £130,000, on which account it bears the name also of the “Regent

Diamond.” It decorated the sword hilt of Napoleon I., and after the

battle of Waterloo passed into the hands of the Prussians.

=Pittsburg.= This city was built on the site of the French Fort

Duquesne. When, after a sanguinary engagement, it was taken from the

allied French and Indians in 1758 by General Forbes, he gave it the

name of Fort Pitt, after the English statesman, William Pitt, Earl

of Chatham.

=Pius X.= The Vatican Journal _Voce Della Verita_ recently gave an

authorised explanation as to why the present Pope chose to be styled

“Pius the Tenth.” It said: “The Holy Father preferred a name that

would emphasise the undying struggle of the Holy See against the

Revolution. From the very beginning _Pius_ has been the name of

predilection assumed by our most illustrious Pontiffs. His present

Holiness, whose Pontificate opens under a hostile Government, and at

a time when both Pope and State are the victims of imperious

revolution, was determined to adopt the title of ‘Pius the Tenth.’”

=Plain.= The name given to the Girondist party on the floor of the

French House of Assembly during the Revolution, as opposed to the

“Mountain” party.

=Plantagenet.= The family name of the House of Anjou, which succeeded to

the throne of England at the extinction of the Norman dynasty. It

was assumed by Fulke Martel, the first of this line, as a perpetual

reminder of the incident of having allowed himself to be scourged by

two attendants with branches of the _genista_, or broom plant, while

on a pilgrimage to the Holy Sepulchre, as an atonement for his

murder of the Earl of Brittany.

=Platonic Affection.= The kind of mutual esteem between persons of

opposite sexes free from carnal desires or love in an earthly sense,

as advocated by Plato and his school of philosophers.

=Platonists.= The disciples of Plato. See “Academy.”

=Play Fast and Loose.= An expression derived from a very old cheating

game called “Pricking the Belt,” which in the modified form of

“Prick the Garter,” may yet be met with at fairs and race meetings.

The victim was invited to stick a skewer through a folded belt so as

to pin it to the table; whereupon the other, taking the two ends,

proved that the belt had not been made fast at all; hence to “play

fast and loose with a man.”

=Playhouse Yard.= Marks the site of the “Fortune Theatre,” the second

regular playhouse opened in the city of London.

=Please the Pigs.= A corruption of “Please the Pixies,” or woodland

fairies, still common in many rural districts.

=Plebeians.= The ordinary citizens among the Romans, so called from

_plebs_, the people, as distinguished from the “Patricians,” or

fathers of the State.

=Plough Monday.= The first Monday after the Epiphany, when, the

Christmas festivities having come to an end, farm labourers were

supposed to return to the plough. Instead of which they dragged a

plough round the parish, begging for “plough money” from door to

door, and spent the evening at the alehouse.

=Plume and Feathers.= An inn sign, corrupted from “The Plume of

Feathers,” in allusion to the plume of ostrich feathers adopted as

his crest by Edward the Black Prince. See “Ich Dien.”

=Plunger.= A gambler who plunges into bets without considering the risks

he incurs. Recklessness is his characteristic. To retrieve his

losses he plays for high stakes, which make or break him in a very

short time.

=Plymouth.= The seaport town at the mouth of the Plym.

=Plymouth Brethren.= A sect which sprang into existence at Plymouth in

1830. It has extended far and wide, both on the Continent of Europe

and in America. Its chief tenet is the utter rejection of priestly

or ministerial organisation.

=Pocket Borough.= An old Parliamentary term for a borough in which the

votes at an election could generally be commanded by one influential

person.

=Poet Laureate.= The officially appointed poet of any nation, so called

from the Roman custom of crowning a favourite poet with laurel,

symbolical of Apollo, the god of poetry.

=Pogrom.= Expresses the Slavonic for “devastation” or “desolation.” The

word is allied to _grom_, thunder, thunder clash, and _gromit_, to

thunder, batter down, as with a thunderbolt; utterly overthrow,

destroy without mercy.

=Pointer.= This dog is so called on account of its remarkable instinct

for pointing out or indicating to sportsmen the presence of game.

=Point Lace.= So called because it is worked with the point of a needle.

=Poke Bonnet.= One which poked out beyond the face on all sides. See

“Kiss-me-Quick.”

=Poland.= From the Slavonic _poln_, “a country of plains.” Its original

settlers were a tribe called the _Polnali_, “men of the plains.”

When this country was an independent kingdom it bore the name of

“Polska,” and its people “Polacks.” Shakespeare mentions “the

sledded Polacks on the ice” in _Hamlet_ Act i. sc. i.

=Poland Street.= From the Polish refugees who congregated in it soon

after this street was built.

=Police.= The appropriate designation of civil guardians of the peace,

from the Greek _polis_, city.

=Polka.= Originally a Bohemian dance, so called from the native word

_pulka_, a half, on account of the half step peculiar to it.

=Polynesia.= Greek for “many islands.”

=Polytechnic.= An institute or academy of the Arts, so called from the

Greek _polys_, many, and _techne_, art.

=Pompeii.= So called by the Romans in honour of Pompeius Magnus, or

Pompey the Great.

=Pomeranian.= A valuable breed of dog from Pomerania in Prussia.

=Pomeroy.= From _pomme roi_; expresses the French for “King’s Apple.”

=Pommery.= After Madame Pommery, mother of the Duchess de Polignac, and

owner of the estate near Rheims where this fine brand of champagne

is produced.

=Pompadour.= Both the puce colour and the dress material of this name

were first popularised by Madame le Pompadour, the mistress of Louis

XV.

=Pompadours.= The nickname of the 56th Foot on account of their claret

or Pompadour facings.

=Pontac.= From the town of the same name in the south of France.

=Pontefract.= Literally “broken bridge.” The popular corruption of this

name is “Pomfret.”

=Pontiff.= The Pope of Rome bears this name conformably to the Latin

_pons_, bridge, and _facere_, to make, because the earliest bridge

over the Tiber was constructed at the sole cost of the High Priest

of the Romans.

=Pontius Pilate’s Bodyguard.= The first regiment of Foot, the oldest in

the service.

=Poole.= From the pool or inlet of the sea on which this Dorsetshire

port is situated.

=Pope.= From the Greek _papas_, and Latin _papa_, father.

=Poplar.= From the poplar-trees formerly abounding in this district.

=Poppin’s Court.= A corruption of “Poppingay Court”; originally, in the

reign of Elizabeth, “Poppingay Alley,” so called because it marked

the site of an ancient inn or mansion owned by the Abbots of

Cirencester, and displaying the sign of “the Poppinjaye” or parrot.

=Pop the Question.= A corruption of “Propose the question of marriage.”

=Porkopolis.= The nickname of Chicago and Cincinnati, both

world-renowned cities in relation to the pork-packing industry.

=Port.= The native wine of Portugal, shipped from Oporto.

=Porte.= The official designation of the Government of Turkey, because

anciently justice was administered at the _porta_, or gate, of the

Sultan’s palace.

=Porter.= Another name for “Entire,” which was first retailed at “The

Blue Last” in Curtain Road, Finsbury. Finding that it was in great

request by the porters who frequented that house of call, the

publican dropped the name of “Entire” and called it “Porter.”

=Portland Place.= After William Bentinck, second Duke of Portland, the

owner of the estate.

=Portman Square.= After Edward Berkeley Portman, Viscount Portman of

Bryanstone, Dorsetshire, the great ground landlord.

=Portmanteau.= From the French _porter_, to carry, and _manteau_, a

cloak; literally a receptacle for a cloak on a journey.

=Porto Rico.= Express the Spanish for “rich port.”

=Portsmouth.= The seaport town built at the mouth of the harbour.

=Portsoken Ward.= One of the wards of the city of London, so called

because anciently the thirteen knights styled the “English Knighten

Guild,” claimed the _soken_, or franchise, at the _porta_, or gate,

to their ward in return for services rendered to King Edgar by their

ancestors.

=Portugal.= From the ancient name of the capital city, _Portus Cale_,

“the gate of Gaul.”

=Portugal Street.= In compliment to Catherine of Braganza, queen of

Charles II.

=Portuguese Hymn.= The “Adesta Fidelis,” so called from the erroneous

assumption of the Duke of Leeds that it was part of the regular

service in Catholic Portugal, since he first heard it sung in the

private chapel of the Portuguese Ambassador in London.

=Portway.= The name given to that portion of a great Roman highway in

this country wherever it was crossed by an arch or within sight of a

walled city; from _porta_, gate.

=Poser.= A corruption of “Opposer”; derived from collegiate

argumentative examinations.

=Poses Plastiques.= French for “statuesque attitudes.”

=Poster.= So called because auction, play, and other public

announcements were first exhibited on the posts separating the

roadway from the side walk. Being stuck on these posts, the bills

were said to be “posted.”

=Post Paper.= So called from the original watermark, a post horn, which

it bore.

=Pot Boilers.= Specifically pictures painted by a poor artist for ready

sale to a dealer in order to “Keep the pot boiling.” The term is

also employed by authors and journalists in the same sense.

=Pothooks.= The nickname of the 77th Foot, owing to the fancied

resemblance of these two figures to pothooks.

=Pot Luck.= Anything ready at hand for a meal. The allusion is to the

primitive stock pot, into which meat and vegetables were thrown at

any time for boiling up as required.

=Potomac.= Indian for “place of the burning pine.”

=Poultry.= Where the scorchers and stuffers of poultry in connection

with the old Stocks Market on the site of the Mansion House had

their shops.

=Pouter Pigeon.= So called on account of its pouting or bulging breast.

=Powis Place.= Marks the site of the town house of William Herbert,

Marquis of Powis, _temp._ Charles I.

=Prairie State.= Illinois, which for the most part consists of prairie

lands.

=Praise-God Barebone.= A fanatical leader of the time of the

Commonwealth, and a prominent member of the “Barebone Parliament,”

who was addicted to praising God and damning his neighbours. This

kind of hypocrisy was characteristic of the Puritans.

=Pratt Street.= After one of the family names of the Earl of Brecknock,

Marquis of Camden, landlord of the estate.

=Presbyterians.= From the Greek _presbuteros_, an elder. The National

Church of Scotland is governed not by prelates, as in England, but

by elders, equal in office and power.

=Press Yard.= The open courtyard between the Sessions House and Newgate

Prison. Those who refused to plead when put upon their trial were

pressed to death with heavy weights.

=Preston.= A corruption of “Priests’ Town,” so called on account of its

many ancient monastic establishments.

=Pretoria.= In honour of Pretorius, the first President of the Boer

Republic in South Africa.

=Pretty Kettle of Fish.= Save that the second word should be “Kiddle,”

expressive of a basket placed in a river for catching fish, this

expression is very old. During the time of the Plantagenets the

warder of the Tower claimed the right of trapping fish outside

Traitors’ Gate in this way for his own benefit; but the citizens of

London systematically made a raid upon his kiddles, and destroyed

them. “A pretty kiddle of fish indeed!” he was wont to exclaim to

the Beefeaters on discovering the damage done to his preserves.

=Primitive Methodists.= The original Methodists, those who resort to

open-air preaching and singing, after the style of Wesley and

Whitfield. On account of their “Camp Meetings” they are styled also

Ranters.

=Primrose.= So far from expressing the first or spring rose, the term is

a corruption of the Italian _primerola_, the first spring flower.

=Primrose Day.= The 19th of April bears this name because it is the

anniversary of the death of Lord Beaconsfield, 1881. When the body

of this great statesman was laid to rest his coffin was adorned by a

wreath sent by Queen Victoria, and superscribed “His favourite

flower.” This gave rise to the formation of the Primrose League and

the annual decoration of the Beaconsfield Statue at Westminster with

a wreath of primroses on this day.

=Prince of Wales’s Feathers.= See “Plume and Feathers.”

=Prince of Wales Island.= Named in compliment to the Prince Regent,

afterwards George IV.

=Princes Street.= Laid out on the site of the old Westminster Mews, and

so named on account of its proximity to King Street.

=Printer’s Devil.= When Caxton introduced printing into England many

people regarded it as an invention of the devil. This idea was also

fostered by his boys, whose hands and faces were besmeared with ink.

They were accordingly called “Imps” and “Devils.” Since his day the

boys engaged in feeding the printing press have not improved in

their personal appearance. Young devils they are, and young devils

they will remain until the end of time.

=Printing House Square.= This, the courtyard of _The Times_ office, was

formerly covered by the King’s Printing House, where King James’s

Bible was printed, and which for centuries had the monopoly of

turning out Bibles for the people.

=Priory.= This term denoted a lesser house or branch establishment of an

abbey, under the control of a Prior or Prioress, who had the prior

claim to election as Abbot or Abbess of the mother community.

=Private Boxes.= The idea of these adjuncts to a theatre auditorium was

derived from Spain, where plays were formerly performed in a public

square, the ordinary spectators being accommodated on the ground,

while the grandees looked on from the windows of the houses.

=Privy.= See “Petty.”

=Pro-Cathedral.= The beautiful Catholic Church in High Street,

Kensington, erected as a provisional cathedral at the time when the

present Westminster Cathedral was first mooted.

=Profile.= The outline of a side view, so called from the Italian

_profilo_, and Latin _filum_, a thread.

=Protectionist.= One who advocates the protection of home industries by

levying imposts on foreign merchandise.

=Protestants.= Those who, with the Lutherans of Germany, protested

against the decree of the Emperor Charles V. This decree was

ostensibly to invoke the aid of the German princes against the

Turks, but really to restore peace and order after the disturbances

caused by Martin Luther’s opposition to the Church of Rome. From

this protest the Reformers received the name of “Protestants.”

=Prussia.= A Western corruption of _Porussia_, which expresses the

Slavonic for “near Russia.”

=Prussian Blue.= After its inventor, Diesbach of Berlin, in 1710.

=Prussic Acid.= Originally the acid of “Prussian Blue,” but nowadays

obtained from cyanide of iron.

=Pye Street= (Old and New). See “New Way.”

=Pymmes Park.= This new suburban “lung” at Edmonton comprised the

grounds in connection with the lordly mansion built by William

Pymme, which was mentioned in 1593 as the residence of the great

Lord Burleigh, and in 1612 as that of Robert Cecil, Earl of

Salisbury.

=Pythagoreans.= The school of philosophy founded by Pythagoras.

=Public-house.= A house of public resort for refreshment and

conviviality. It may be either an inn or a tavern in the modern

sense.

=Pudding.= From Stow’s description of “Pudding Lane” it would seem that

the puddings of his day were scarcely edible productions. The word

is derived from the Celtic _poten_, a bag, and was applied

originally in the sense of a modern hog’s pudding or black

pudding--to wit, a sausage.

=Pudding Lane.= Whether or not the Great Fire of London broke out in the

house of the King’s baker, as generally stated, the lane did not

receive its name from the royal bakery. Old Stow tells us it was so

called “because the butchers of Eastcheap have their scalding-house

for hogs there, and their puddings with other filth of beasts are

voided down that way to their dung boats on the Thames.”

=Pudding-time.= The old name for “dinner-time,” because, as still is the

custom in some parts of the country, the pudding was served before

the meat.

=Pueblo Indian.= One who in the western states has been brought under

Catholic influences, and lives in a village, where he subsists by

agriculture. The word _Pueblo_ is Spanish for village.

=Pukes.= A corruption of Pikes, generally applied to the natives of

Missouri, who originally settled in Pike County of that state.

=Pullman Car.= After its inventor, Pullman of Chicago.

=Pull up Stakes.= An Americanism for to pack up one’s belongings and

remove elsewhere. The expression has, of course, reference to

dismantling a tent among a mining community.

=Pumps.= Dancing shoes bear this name in allusion to the fashionable

assemblies in the pump-room at the Western Spas when Beau Nash,

styled “King of Bath,” presided over the ceremonies.

=Punch.= From the Hindoo _panch_, five, this beverage being composed of

five ingredients: spirit, sugar, lemon juice, spice, and water.

=Punch and Judy.= A hybrid form of entertainment evolved out of an old

mystery play, _Pontius cum Judæis_ (“Pontius Pilate and the Jews”).

=Punic Wars.= Those waged between Rome and Carthage. By the Romans the

Carthaginians were called the _Puni_, a corruption of _Phœni_, in

allusion to their descent from the Phœnicians.

=Punitive Expedition.= A petty war with the set purpose of inflicting a

well-merited punishment upon a rebellious tribe. The word “punitive”

is derived from the Latin _pœna_, penalty.

=Punjab.= Expresses the Persian for “five rivers.”

=Punkah.= From the Hindoo _pankha_, a fan.

=Puritans.= Those who affected a greater degree of holiness or purity

than their neighbours. They were to the Anglicans and Roman

Catholics of the time of Charles I. and the Commonwealth what the

Pharisees were to the Jews.

=Purple.= This dye, in which the people of Tyre excelled, was discovered

in the following manner:--One day a favourite dog of Hercules of

Tyre ate a species of fish known to the ancients by the name of

_purpura_, and on returning to his master his lips were found to be

tinged with the colour, which, after a few experiments, Hercules

successfully imitated.

=Purse Strings.= In the days of our grandfathers, when hasp and clasp

purses were unknown, the only kind of purse was a small money bag

secured round its mouth by a tape or string. To “tighten one’s purse

strings” was therefore to be proof against almsgiving or

money-lending.

=Putney.= Described in ancient documents as _Puttaney_, or “Putta’s

Isle.”

Q

=Quack.= The name borne by an itinerant trader, who makes a great noise

in open market, quacking like a duck in his efforts to dispose of

wares that are not genuine; hence anyone nowadays who follows a

profession which he does not rightly understand. A “Quack Doctor”

was formerly styled a _Quack Salver_, from the salves, lotions, and

medicines he dispensed to the crowd at the street corners.

=Quadragesima Sunday.= The first Sunday of Lent, expressing in round

numbers forty days before Easter.

=Quadrant.= The Piccadilly end of Regent Street, so called because it

describes a quarter of a circle.

=Quadrille.= Expresses the French for “a little square,” in allusion to

the positions taken up by the dancers.

=Quadroon.= A Mulatto being half-blooded, like a mule, the offspring of

such a woman by a white man is black-blooded to the degree of

one-fourth.

=Quaker City.= Philadelphia, the seat of the Quaker colony founded by

William Penn.

=Quaker Poet.= The sobriquet of Bernard Barton.

=Quakers.= The origin of this designation of the “Society of Friends” is

thus given by George Fox, the founder of the sect in his _Journal_:

“Justice Bennet of Derby was the first to call us ‘Quakers,’ because

I bade him quake and tremble at the word of the Lord.” This occurred

in 1650.

=Quarantine.= Agreeably to the French _quarantaine_, the period of a

ship’s detention outside a port in the circumstances of infectious

disease should be forty days.

=Quarter Sessions.= See “Petty Sessions.”

=Quarto.= In the printing and stationery trades this term expresses a

sheet of paper which, when folded into quarters, makes four leaves

or eight pages.

=Quassia.= A tonic obtained from the bark of a tree of South America,

the virtues of which were discovered by a Negro of this name.

=Quatemala.= When the Indians who accompanied Alvarado into this region

discovered the ruins of an ancient palace of the kings beside an old

worm-eaten tree they assumed this to be the centre of the country,

and gave it the name of _Quahtemali_, “a decayed log of wood.”

=Quebec.= Indian for “take care of the rock.”

=Queen Anne’s Bounty.= A perpetual fund raised by the augmentation of

the tithes and first-fruits at the instance of Queen Anne for the

benefit of the poor clergy whose incomes are insufficient for their

proper maintenance.

=Queen Anne’s Square.= Like the gate and the street further west of the

same name, this was built during the reign of Queen Anne.

=Queen Charlotte Island.= In honour of Queen Charlotte, the consort of

George III.

=Queen City of the Lakes.= Buffalo, in the state of New York, situated

at the junction of the Erie Canal with Lake Erie.

=Queen City of the Mountains.= Knoxville (Tennessee), admirably situated

on the hills overlooking the Upper Tennessee River.

=Queen City of the Plains.= Regina, in the north-western territory.

=Queen City of the West.= Cincinnati (Ohio), so called in virtue of its

fine situation, beautiful parks, and noble architectural features.

Also styled “The Queen City” and “Queen of the West.”

=Queen Elizabeth’s Walk.= In compliment to Queen Elizabeth, who often

visited the Earl of Leicester when he resided in this portion of

Stoke Newington.

=Queenhithe.= So called because the tolls collected at this _hithe_, or

wharf, were appropriated by Eleanor, Queen of Henry II., for her pin

money.

=Queen of Hearts.= Elizabeth, Queen of Bohemia, the daughter of James

I., who by her amiable disposition endeared herself to all hearts.

=Queen of Watering-places.= Scarborough.

=Queen’s College.= At Oxford, founded by Robert de Eglesfield, the

confessor of Philippa, queen of Edward III., in her honour. At

Cambridge, founded by Margaret of Anjou, queen of Henry VI.

=Queen’s Hall.= Built on the site of the Langham Hall, and opened in

1893, this high-class concert hall was named after the late Queen

Victoria.

=Queen’s Head Street.= From the ancient inn, “The Queen’s Head,” now

modernised, at its juncture with Essex Road. Queen Elizabeth is said

to have slept at this hostelry on several occasions.

=Queensland.= This portion of Australia received its name in honour of

Queen Victoria, when in 1859 it became an independent colony.

=Queen’s Square.= After Queen Anne, in whose reign it was laid out.

=Queen Street.= In Cheapside, from a permanent wooden balcony situated

between Bow Church and this corner for the accommodation of the

reigning queen and her ladies when jousts and tournaments were held

here. In Mayfair, after the queen of Charles II., in whose reign it

was built.

=Queen’s Tobacco Pipe.= The name given to the furnace at the London

Docks where contraband tobacco was formerly consumed. This custom

obtained down to within the last few years of the reign of Queen

Victoria.

=Queenstown.= Originally styled “The Cove of Cork,” this Irish seaport

received its present name on the occasion of the visit of Queen

Victoria in 1850.

=Queen’s Weather.= Throughout the long reign of the late Queen Victoria

it was remarkable that, whenever she appeared abroad on the occasion

of a public function, glorious weather favoured her invariably;

hence the expression “Queen’s Weather” came to be applied to a fine

day for a summer outing.

=Queen Victoria Street.= A modern thoroughfare, named after the late

Queen Victoria.

=Queue.= Expresses the French for a tail, like that of a periwig or

peruke. In the sense of a line of people waiting outside the doors

of a theatre the term has latterly become popular on both sides of

the English Channel.

=Quick Lunch.= An American stand-up luncheon served with expedition.

=Quicksilver.= Living or moving silver. _Quick_ is old English for

“living”; hence “The Quick and the Dead.”

=Quidnunc.= One who is always inquiring after news. “What news?” is the

literal interpretation of the term. As a personal designation, it

originated in the name of the chief character in Murphy’s farce,

“The Upholsterer, or What News?” A kind of political Paul Pry.

=Quid of Tobacco.= A corruption of “Cud,” because it is used for

chewing. The allusion is to the cud chewed by ruminating animals.

=Quids.= The slang term for cash, properly restricted to gold. A

sovereign is called a “Quid” in allusion to the Latin phrase, _Quid

pro quo_, something of equal value, which change for a sovereign

truly is.

=Quill-driver.= The popular designation of a clerk. Quill pens having

been supplanted by those of steel, it is scarcely appropriate in our

time.

=Quinquagesima Sunday.= The name given in the Church calendar to the

Sunday preceding Ash Wednesday or the commencement of Lent;

approximately fifty days before Easter.

=Quit Rent.= A rental anciently paid by a tenant to a baron with a view

of being relieved or quit of feudal service.

=Quod.= The slang term for prison; also “Quad.” See “In Quad.”

R

=Rabbi.= The title of a Jewish expounder of the Law. The word is Greek

for “My Master,” through the Hebrew _rabi_, from the root _rab_,

lord, chief.

=Rack.= From the Saxon _wrocan_ and German _recken_, to stretch. The

word is therefore correctly applied to the instrument of torture of

former days.

=Rack Rent.= A term expressing the actual full annual value of land as

paid from the earliest times, not modified by circumstances. See

“Rack.”

=Radcliffe Library.= Founded at Oxford by the celebrated physician, Dr

John Radcliffe, in Radcliffe Square, also named after him.

=Radicals.= That advanced section of the Liberal party, whose set

purpose it is to root out the evils, according to their view, of our

constitutional system which are systematically maintained by the

Conservatives. The term first came into notice in 1818, when a

strenuous effort was made to institute a radical change in the

Parliamentary representation of the country. This paved the way for

the Reform Act of 1832.

=Radnor.= The modern form of _Rhiadnwr-Gwy_, signifying “The Cataract of

the Wye.” This is in reference to the beautiful cascade, with a fall

of seventy feet, called “The Water-break-its-Neck,” the great

natural feature in the vicinity of the county town.

=Rag.= Theatrical slang for the curtain, having originally reference to

the green baize. Also military slang for the national flag, and the

members’ colloquial term for the Army and Navy Club.

=Rag Fair.= The name given to the old clothes mart in Petticoat Lane,

now Middlesex Street, Aldgate, on Sunday mornings.

=Ragged Regiment.= Dilapidated waxen effigies of several English

monarchs and persons of note that were borne through the streets at

the obsequies of the subjects represented. They are located in

Islip’s Chapel, Westminster Abbey.

=Ragging.= In military parlance this word expresses the system of

persecution by which an unpopular man suffers indignities at the

hands of his comrades. It has the same meaning as the North Country

“Rag,” to enrage or make angry, and “Bullyrag,” to administer a

severe scolding. The latter, however, of which the former is an

abbreviation, has not been derived from the Dutch _bulderen_, to

scold or bully, as is generally supposed, but from the custom of the

Spanish bullfighters of waving a red cloak in front of the bull in

order to excite him to fury. This is the _rag_ referred to. The

corresponding United States term for “ragging” is “Hazing.”

=Rag Money.= American slang for paper money.

=Rag Time.= An Americanism for a dancing frolic of the

“go-as-you-please” order, in which musical time and rhythm are, as

it were, torn into shreds; a ragged, loose, disconnected,

unconventional time. The term has been well explained by an

authoritative writer in _The Referee_ as follows:--“Rag time is the

outcome of ‘Rag Speech,’ a speech that casts tradition, balance,

beauty, elegance, and refinement to the winds, and that believes

that more effect can be made by punching certain syllables into the

brain of the listener. Technically speaking, ‘Rag Time’ shifts the

strong accent from the first to the second beat of the bar. Against

this there is a cross-rhythm with a kind of halting contrapuntal

ornamentation in the accompaniment, which sometimes brings a stress

on to the fourth beat of the bar. The result of this irregularity

and false quantity is to destroy the rhythm to an extent that often

makes it difficult to say whether the music is in duple or triple

measure. The musical consequence is the breaking down of symmetrical

form, and the tendency is to reduce the organised structure to its

component parts.”

=Railroad City.= Indianapolis, a junction of the great trunk lines.

=Railway King.= The sobriquet of George Hudson, Chairman of the Midland

Railway Company, who amassed a huge fortune by successful

speculations in the early days of railway enterprise.

=Rains Cats and Dogs.= This expression is traceable to two distinct

sources--popular superstition and Scandinavian mythology. Witches

who rode the storm on broomsticks were believed to have the power of

transforming themselves into cats at will, while the dog or wolf is

represented as the attendant of Odin, the Storm King of the northern

nations.

=Rainy Day Smith.= John Thomas Smith, the antiquary, whose chatty

volume, “A Book for a Rainy Day,” brought him more money and

reputation than all his other works put together.

=Raise your Screw.= This expression arose out of the custom of masters

paying their employées’ wages screwed up in a tiny paper of uniform

size. The more money it contained the less tightly the paper could

be screwed; hence an advance of wages implied metaphorically giving

the screw one turn backwards.

=Rake the Pot.= An American gambling phrase meaning to seize the stakes.

=Ram and Teazle.= A tavern sign common to the woollen manufacturing

districts, this being the device of the Clothworkers’ Company.

=Ranch.= From the Spanish _rancho_, a hut of posts, covered with

branches or thatch, in which herdsman or farm labourers in the

western states of North America lodge by night.

=Rand.= Expresses the Dutch, specifically in South Africa, for a mining

district.

=Ranelagh Gardens.= This fashionable public resort, now built over,

occupied the site of Ranelagh House and its grounds, owned by an

Irish peer, whose title it bore.

=Ranters.= Another name for the “Primitive Methodists.”

=Rape.= The name given to a division under the Danes of the county of

Sussex, from the Norse _repp_, a district.

=Rapier.= This species of sword being eminently adapted for rapid

thrusting and withdrawing, its name, from the Latin _rapere_, to

snatch away, is appropriate.

=Rappahannock.= Indian for “quick-rising waters.”

=Rapparee.= The name given to an Irish plunderer, because he was armed

with a _rapera_, or half pike.

=Rascal.= From the French _racaille_, “the scum of the people.”

=Ratcliff Highway.= Originally a manor belonging to the parish of

Stepney, this highway for sailors ashore, where they found lodgings

and entertainment of a low class in days prior to the provision of

“Seamen’s Homes,” received its name from the multitudes of water

rats that congregated on the Thames wall by night. On account of the

evil reputation which this neighbourhood bore in former days, its

name was changed to “St George’s in the East.”

=Rathbone Place.= After Captain Rathbone, its builder, in 1718.

=Rat Hole.= A printers’ term for a non-society house. Since rats are

known to desert a sinking ship, so a journeyman who refuses to take

advantage of a trades union is stigmatised as a “Rat,” because he

forsakes the general cause of his craft. Hence also the term

“Rattening,” by which is meant the taking away of or destroying a

workman’s tools consequent upon his desertion of the union or

accepting work in a house opposed to its principles.

=Rationalism.= The kind of religion (if it deserved such a name) set up

during the French Revolution, when Reason took the place of Faith.

The worship of the “Goddess of Reason,” in the person of an actress

installed in the Cathedral of Notre Dame, was a fitting illustration

of the unreasoning tenet that public worship was opposed to the

natural instincts of mankind.

=Rattening.= See “Rat Hole.”

=Ray Street.= After the victim of an old-time Clerkenwell sensation,

Miss Ray, who, on becoming the mistress of Lord Sandwich, was shot

by her jilted lover, Hackman.

=Ready.= Short for ready money, cash always on hand, in readiness for

emergencies.

=Rechabites.= The name borne by total abstainers in the United States,

after the followers of Jonadab, the son of Rechab, who lived in

tents and abstained from the use of wine.

=Reckon without your Host.= When putting up at an inn the cost is often

greater than the traveller anticipates; therefore it is always wise

to be well prepared with funds, lest, when the host presents his

bill, discomfiture may arise.

=Recluse.= From the Latin _reclusus_, shut up; one who voluntarily cuts

himself off from communion with his fellow-men, a solitary.

=Rector.= A clergyman who enjoys a living in his own right, as

distinguished from a “Vicar,” who holds the appointment at the

pleasure of the Lord of the Manor. The former also receives the

tithes direct, whereas the latter passes them on to a layman, a

college, or a chapter, by whom he is paid a proportion thereout as a

stipend.

=Red Cent.= An Americanism for a copper coin.

=Redcross Street.= From the red stone cross anciently set up by the

Knights Hospitallers to define the limits of the land belonging to

them in the direction adjacent to that of the Knights Templars,

indicated by a white cross of stone in what is now “Whitecross

Street.”

=Red Dragon.= An inn sign, complimenting Henry VII., whose device it

was.

=Redemptorists.= Also called “Redemptorist Fathers.” See “Liguorians.”

=Red Eye.= The Far West term for fiery new whisky, which is well

calculated to make the eyes of the toper look red.

=Red-hot Time.= An Americanism for a jolly time, because the proceedings

were conducted with the utmost warmth.

=Red-Letter Day.= A phrase used to express a pleasurable event in one’s

past life. This had its origin in the old calendars and almanacks,

in which high Church festivals were printed in red ink, and all the

other days in black.

=Red Lion Court.= After an ancient tavern, “The Red Lion.”

=Red Lion Square.= After a famous old coaching-house, “The Red Lion.”

=Red Republicans.= The extreme Republican party of the French

Revolution, which adopted the red cap, the Roman symbol of Liberty.

The lower orders of the people, to whom the cap meant everything,

were likewise only too ready to follow the behest of their leaders,

and steep their hands in the blood of the aristocrats.

=Red Skins.= The name first given by the white settlers to the Indians

of North America.

=Red Rose.= An inn sign, in compliment to the Lancastrians during the

Wars of the Roses.

=Red Sea.= Three reasons are assigned for the name of this sea: the red

sandstone which forms its bottom, the red rocks which in some parts

border its shores, and the colouring imparted to its waters by coral

reefs, animaculæ, and sea-weed.

=Red Tape.= That leisurely officialism which refers a matter from one

department to another, until at length the highest authority is

reached to take it in hand. The term has been derived from the red

tape with which all legal and official documents are tied together.

=Reel.= A whirling dance by a single person, peculiar to the Scots, so

called in allusion to the winding of cotton on a reel.

=Reformed Presbytery.= See “Macmillanites.”

=Reform School.= An Americanism for an institution for the reformation

of juvenile offenders.

=Refresher.= The legal term for an extra fee paid to a barrister by a

client while the latter’s case is pending, in order to refresh the

former’s memory concerning the interests at stake.

=Regent Diamond.= See “Pitt Diamond.”

=Regent’s Park.= Part of the general scheme of John Nash, the royal

architect, when he projected the building of Regent Street, was to

provide a magnificent palace for his patron, the Prince Regent, in

the park named after him. This was not realised, and the site of the

intended palace was appropriated to the Zoological Gardens.

=Regent Street.= In honour of the Prince Regent, afterwards George IV.

=Regiomontanus.= The name assumed by Johann Müller, a celebrated German

mathematician of the fifteenth century, being a Latinised rendering

of “Konigsberg,” his native place.

=Regius Professor.= The professorial chair in various departments of

learning at Oxford and Cambridge Universities founded by Henry VIII.

=Regular Brick.= See “He’s a Brick.”

=Regular Clergy.= Those who in the Catholic Church are attached to

monasteries and friaries, living by rule; in contradistinction to

the “Secular Clergy,” who are appointed to parochial work by a

bishop, and move among the people.

=Regular Zantippe.= See “Zantippe.”

=Rehan.= See “Ada Rehan.”

=Rendezvous.= Literally an individual haunt or resort, and in no sense a

place of public meeting. The word is French for “betake yourself.”

=Republican Marriage.= The name given by the Red Republicans during the

French Revolution to their atrocious procedure, instigated by Jean

Baptiste Carrier, of tying a young man and woman together and

drowning them.

=Resurrection Men.= Body snatchers, who “resurrected,” as the Americans

say, bodies from the graves in order to sell them to the medical

faculty for dissection. Since the general institution of public

hospitals, the last refuge of so many “unknowns,” whose dead bodies

are never claimed, the demand for subjects snatched from the grave

has entirely ceased.

=Revolver.= The modern type of pistol, in which the breach which

contains the cartridges revolves. In the earlier stage of this

invention it was the barrel that revolved.

=Rheims.= The capital of the _Remi_, a Gallic people referred to by

Cæsar.

=Rhine.= From the Celtic _rhe_, “rapid.” This name was given by the

Swiss to rivers generally.

=Rhinoceros.= Greek for “nose-horned.”

=Rhode Island.= A corruption of “rood,” red, the name given to it by the

Dutch settlers on account of its reddish appearance.

=Rhodes.= From the Greek _rhodon_, a rose; expresses “the isle of

roses.”

=Rhododendron.= From the two Greek words _rhodon_, rose, and _dendron_,

tree.

=Rhody.= The American designation of Rhode Island on account of its

limited area; also called “Little Rhody.”

=Rhone.= Derived from the same root as “Rhine.”

=Ribbonmen.= The name borne by the members of a Catholic political

association in Ireland early in the last century on account of the

distinctive badge or ribbon worn in the button-hole. The Ribbonmen

were violently opposed to the “Orangemen.”

=Ribston Pippins.= The name given to a fine species of Normandy apple

grown at Ribstone, Yorkshire, from pips originally planted on his

estate by Sir Henry Goodriche.

=Richmond.= When Edward I. built himself a sumptuous palace on the south

bank of the Thames he gave it the name of _Sheen_, the Saxon for

“resplendent.” This being consumed by fire in 1479, Henry VI.,

rebuilt it, and then called it Richmond, after the beautiful seat in

Yorkshire whence he took the title of his earldom. _Richmond_

signifies a rich prospect from the hill occupied by its ancient

castle.

=Riding.= A Danish division of the county of Yorkshire corresponding to

the Lincolnshire _Trithing_, of which it is a corruption, signifying

a third part.

=Riff-raff.= Expresses the Anglo-Saxon, from the Danish _rip-raps_, for

“sweepings”; hence the scum of society.

=Right off the Reel.= To do a thing without stopping until it is

finished. The allusion is to unwinding the entire length of cotton

off a reel or bobbin.

=Right Foot Foremost.= A phrase derived from the old Roman superstition

that if a visitor crossed the threshold with the left foot foremost

he would be certain to bring ill luck upon the household.

=Rile.= A provincial corruption of “Rail,” to anger or tease.

=Ring.= A professional term for a charmed circle--_e.g._ “The Dramatic

Ring.”

=Ring him up.= A telephone phrase, really borrowed from the theatrical

profession, in which the prompter’s “Ring up” and “Ring

down”--_i.e._ the curtain--have obtained favour since the “Palmy

Days of the Drama.”

=Rink.= An American variant of “Ring.” In the sense of a skating rink

the term has become popular in England.

=Rio de Janeiro.= This city takes its name from the river discovered by

Alfonso de Sousa on the Feast of St Januarius, on which it stands.

=Rio de la Plata.= Spanish for “river of silver.”

=Rio Grande.= Spanish for “great river.”

=Rip.= A corruption of “Rep.” See “Old Rep.”

=Ritualists.= The extreme High Church party, who for many years past

have revived the ancient ritual to such a degree that they may be

said to be Roman Catholics in everything save in name.

=Riviera.= Literally “coast,” “sea-shore.”

=Robbing Peter to Pay Paul.= An expression derived from the following

circumstance:--By Royal Letters Patent, dated 17th December 1540,

the abbey church of St Peter, Westminster, was constituted a

cathedral, with a resident bishop. Ten years afterwards this order

was revoked, the diocese of Westminster being united to that of St

Paul’s Cathedral, and its revenues were granted towards the repairs

of the city fane; hence what was taken away from St Peter’s went to

benefit St Paul’s.

=Robert.= The generic name for a policeman, after Sir Robert Peel, who

introduced the modern constabulary system.

=Robert Street.= In the Adelphi, after the Christian name of one of the

three brothers Adam, its builders. In Camden Town, after one of the

family names of the Marquis of Camden, the ground landlord.

=Robert the Devil.= The surname of the first Duke of Normandy, the

father of William the Conqueror, merited by his outrageous cruelty

and daring in war.

=Robin Hood.= The proper name of this renowned leader of the Sherwood

Foresters was Robert Fitzooth. The first he euphonised into _Robin_

and the second into _Hood_, leaving out the _Fitz_, which is Norman

for “son,” altogether, since having been declared an outlaw, he was

not unwilling to renounce his claims to Norman descent. Whether or

not he was really Earl of Huntingdon, as some historians assert,

cannot be proved.

=Robinson.= The French popular name for an umbrella, in allusion to

Robinson Crusoe.

=Rob Roy.= The popular name of the Scottish outlaw Robert Macgregor,

meaning simply “Robert the Red” on account of his beard.

=Rochester.= From _Hrofoceaster_, after Hrop, a Saxon chieftain, who

built a castle on the site of a _castra_, or Roman encampment.

=Rochester Row.= A name which recalls the fact that, prior to the time

of George III., the Deanery of Westminster was included in the

Bishopric of Rochester.

=Rock Day.= Another ancient name for “Distaffs’ Day,” 7th January, the

word _rock_ being the Anglo-Saxon for a distaff.

=Rogation Days.= So called from the Latin _rogare_, to beseech, and also

from the Greek _litaneia_, supplication. These being the three days

preceding the Feast of the Ascension, the Litany of the Saints is

chanted by way of preparation and supplication for the joyful event.

=Rogation Sunday.= That which ushers in the “Rogation Days.”

=Roger de Coverley.= The correct description of this surname is Roger de

Cowley, or Roger of Cowley, near Oxford. The dance of this name was

invented by an ancestor of the country squire, Sir Roger de

Coverley, mentioned by Addison in _The Spectator_.

=Rogues’ Gallery.= The name given to the collection of criminals’

photographs in the State Prison of New York.

=Roland for an Oliver.= See “Gave him a Roland for an Oliver.”

=Roll Call.= The list of names called out in the army. The term “Roll”

is a survival of those far-off days when not only a list, but

writing of all kinds, was set forth on one long roll of paper. We

still speak of a “Burgess Roll,” while to belong to any society is

said to be “enrolled” among its members; hence also the phrase “Roll

of Honour.”

=Rolls Chapel.= This ancient edifice, now incorporated in the New Record

Office, was built by Henry III. for a number of Jewish rabbis who,

had been converted to Christianity. Into it Edward III. caused all

the accumulated rolls or records to be stored, and there they

remained in the custody of the Master of the Rolls, until in more

modern days they were overhauled and catalogued.

=Roman Catholic Church.= The ancient original fold of “The Holy Catholic

Church,” which acknowledges the authority of the Pope of Rome. The

recognised head of the English Catholic Church is the King,

represented by the Archbishop of Canterbury, just as that of “The

Greek Catholic Church” in Russia is the Czar, represented by the

Metropolitan of St Petersburg.

=Rome.= After Romulus, its mythical founder.

=Romeo Coates.= Robert Coates was a fashionable amateur actor during the

early part of the last century; surnamed Romeo Coates on account of

his very many appearances in the character of the ill-fated hero in

_Romeo and Juliet_.

=Romford.= The ford over the Bourne, anciently called the Rom, this

being the Roman highway between London and Colchester.

=Romney Street.= After Charles Marsham, Earl of Romney, the owner of the

estate.

=Rood Lane.= From an ancient holy rood or cross, on which was a figure

of the dying Saviour, that stood in this thoroughfare as a boundary

mark of the landed property of the nuns of St Helen’s. See “Mincing

Lane.”

=Rosary.= A string of beads, and also the prayers said in connection

therewith, so called because the Virgin appeared in a vision to St

Dominic, who instituted this Catholic devotion, holding out to him a

garland of red and white roses. The ancient rosaries, or

“pater-nosters” as they were called, bore an impression of a rose on

each bead.

=Rose.= An inn and tavern sign which, as a painted device, red or white,

displayed a partisanship for the Lancastrians or the Yorkists. After

the union of the two royal houses nothing was easier to quench the

former partiality for either the red or white rose than to exhibit

in place of the coloured design the name of “The Rose,” as a general

compliment to the Crown.

=Rose and Crown.= This inn and tavern sign symbolised the cessation of

the Wars of the Roses by the marriage of Henry VII. to Elizabeth,

the daughter of Edward IV.

=Rosebery Avenue.= After Lord Rosebery, the erstwhile leader of the

Liberal party in our time.

=Rosoman Street.= Perpetuates the memory of Mr Rosoman, who converted

Sadler’s Musick House into a regular theatre in 1765.

=Rosslyn Hill Park.= From Rosslyn House, the residence of Alexander

Wedderburn, Earl of Rosslyn, and Lord Chancellor of England.

=Rotherhithe.= Properly _Roth-hithe_, the Anglo-Saxon for “red haven.”

See “Rutland.”

=Rotten Row.= This name is a survival of the days when French was the

language of the Court. Properly _route du roi_, it is literally

“route of the King,” and meant the King’s drive across the park.

=Rouge et Noir.= French for “red and black,” the alternate colour of the

diamonds that distinguish the spaces on the gaming-table.

=Roughriders.= The name borne by expert horsemen in Natal, who dispense

with saddles.

=Roulette.= Expresses the French for “a little wheel.”

=Roumania.= As its name implies, this was anciently a Roman province.

=Roumelia.= A Turkish corruption of Roumania, “the country of the

Romans.”

=Roundheads.= The Parliamentary soldiers under Cromwell, so called from

the custom of the Puritans of cropping the hair close to the head,

as opposed to that of the Cavaliers, who wore it long.

=Rouser.= An Americanism for what we in this country style a

“Pick-me-up.”

=Rout.= A fashionable assembly, so called from the German _rotte_ and

Celtic “rhauter,” a crowd. The name is now never heard, but what are

called “Rout Seats,” generally requisitioned for such gatherings,

are still let out on hire.

=Rowton Houses.= The name given to large blocks of tenements exclusively

designed for the accommodation of unmarried clerks and others

employed in the city. The foundation of the late Lord Rowton.

=Roxburgh.= From the Celtic _ross_, a headland, the castle on the

promontory.

=Roxburghe.= A superior style of bookbinding, so called from that

uniformly adopted by the Roxburghe Club, a society established for

printing rare books, and named after John, Duke of Roxburghe, a

famous collector of works of art and literature.

=Royalists.= The adherents of Charles I. in the Civil War.

=Royal Maunds.= The name given to doles of money corresponding to the

years of life attained by the reigning monarch to the poor on

“Maundy Thursday.” This custom has been in vogue ever since the time

of Edward III.

=Royal Oak.= An inn sign which had its origin during the Restoration

period, in compliment to Charles II. See “Oak Apple Day.”

=Royal Oak Day.= Another name for “Oak Apple Day.”

=Rufus.= The surname of William II. on account of his florid complexion;

_rufus_ is the Latin for “ruddy.”

=Rugby.= A corruption of the Saxon _Rothby_, “red village,” in allusion

to its soil.

=Rum.= A West Indian word for spirit distilled from cane juice.

=Run.= An Americanism used as a verb for “finance,” whether in relation

to a person or a business enterprise. “Who’s running him?” means who

is it that keeps him going, or on his feet?

=Run Amuck.= To run foul of a person or thing. The phrase is derived

from the Malays, who, while under the influence of opium, rush

through the streets with drawn daggers, crying: _Amog! amog!_

(“Kill! kill!”), and threaten the lives of everyone they encounter.

=Running Footman.= A tavern sign in Mayfair, reminiscent of the days

when running footmen, carrying a short staff of office, preceded the

carriages of the wealthy. The object of this custom was to give

timely notice of the impending arrival of their masters. The tavern

in question, situated in Hayes’ Mews, was formerly the regular

resort of running footmen and sedan chairmen.

=Rupert’s Land.= After Prince Rupert, one of the founders of the

Hudson’s Bay Company.

=Rupert Street.= After Prince Rupert, who introduced his invention of

“Prince Rupert’s Drops,” or glass bubblers, into England.

=Russell Square.= After Lord William Russell, the patriot, whose wife,

Rachel, was the daughter of Thomas Wriothesley, Earl of Southampton,

Marquis of Tavistock, Duke of Bedford, the ancestor of the present

great ground landlord. The several streets of the same name are

included in the estate.

=Russell Street.= In Bermondsey, after Richard Russell, a noted

benefactor to the parochial charities during his life, and after his

death in 1784. For other streets so denominated on the Bedford

estate see “Russell Square.”

=Russia.= The country of the _Russ_, the tribe that first overran it.

=Rutland.= A corruption of the Anglo-Saxon _Rothland_, “red land,” so

called on account of the colour of its soil.

=Rutland Gate.= After the town mansion of the Dukes of Rutland.

=Rye Lane.= Leads to “Peckham Rye.”

=Ryot.= A Hindoo peasant or cultivator of the soil, so called from the

Arabic _raaya_, to pasture.

S

=Sabbatarians.= The followers of Brabourne, a Baptist minister, who held

that the real Sabbath was the seventh day of the week, as enunciated

in the Book of Genesis. This sect arose in 1628. Also known as

“Seventh Day Baptists.”

=Sabeans.= The first idolaters, worshippers of the sun, moon, and stars

as the visible representations of the Deity; so called after Sabi,

the son of Seth.

=Sack.= A dry wine of great repute in Elizabethan times, so called from

the French _sec_, dry.

=Sackville Street.= Built upon in 1679--that is, twenty years after “Air

Street”--this thoroughfare was named in honour of Charles Sackville,

Earl of Dorset, one of the favourites of Charles II.

=Sacramentarians.= The designation of the Calvinists, or those who

denied the Real Presence in the Eucharist.

=Sacrilege.= Literally the act of despoiling that which is sacred.

=Sadler’s Wells Theatre.= Originally a “Musick House” in connection with

a Spa opened by Mr Sadler, who, after digging for gravel in his

garden in 1683, discovered an ancient “holy well” that had been

stopped up since the Reformation.

=Saffron Hill.= From the saffron which grew abundantly in the grounds

attached to Ely House, the town mansion of the bishops of Ely.

=Sahara.= Expresses the Arabic for “desert.”

=Sailor King.= William IV., who, having been bred to the sea in his

youth, worked up his way from a midshipman to the position of Lord

High Admiral. In his case promotion was no doubt easy.

=St Albans.= The scene of the martyrdom of St Alban, A.D. 297, in honour

of whom Offa, King of Mercia, founded a Benedictine abbey.

=St Andrew Undershaft.= The Church of St Andrew in Leadenhall Street, so

called from the tall shaft or Maypole which, bedecked with garlands

on high festivals, stood within a few yards of its door. Since this

shaft towered high above the steeple the church was said to be

“under the shaft.” After the Reformation the shaft was taken down

and kept in an adjacent alley, now called “Shaft Alley.” Thirty-two

years later the popular voice declared it to be a relic of

superstition, whereupon it was “raised off the hooks,” sawn into

pieces, and burnt.

=St Andrews.= After St Andrew, the patron saint of Scotland, whose bones

are enshrined in the Cathedral.

=St Andrew’s Hill.= From the church of St Andrew, at its south-western

extremity.

=St Bees.= From an ancient nunnery founded in the seventh century by an

Irish saint named Bega. Partly destroyed by the time of Henry I., it

was then reconstituted as a priory by Randulp, Earl of Cumberland.

This village is known chiefly on account of its college, the

foundation of Dr Law, Bishop of Chester in 1806.

=St Bride Street.= From the neighbouring parish church of St Bride or

Bridget.

=St Clement Danes.= Dedicated to St Clement, this parish church received

the bones of Harold I. and many of his countrymen during the Danish

occupation of England.

=St David’s Day.= The birthday (1st March) of St David, the patron saint

of Wales, who when archbishop advised his countrymen to wear a leek

in their caps, to distinguish them from their foes. In consequence

of the precaution they won a decisive victory over the Saxons on

this day, and the leek became the national emblem.

=St Ethelburga’s.= This, one of the most ancient churches in the city,

was dedicated to St Ethelburga, the daughter of King Ethelbert, and

a paragon of all the Christian virtues.

=St Ethelreda’s.= This beautiful city church in Ely Place, after having

gone through many vicissitudes since the Reformation, is now once

more a Roman Catholic place of worship. St Ethelreda was the

daughter of Ethelred, King of the East Angles; her name is often

corrupted into St Audrey. See “Tawdry.”

=St George and Dragon.= An inn sign after the patron saint of England.

=St George’s Hall.= This place of entertainment, now occupied by Messrs

Maskelyne & Devant, was opened in 1867 as St George’s Opera House,

so called on account of its location in the parish of St George,

Hanover Square.

=St George’s in the East.= The modern designation of “Ratcliff Highway,”

from the parish church dedicated to St George, patron saint of

England.

=St George’s Square.= After the neighbouring church, dedicated to St

George.

=St Grouse’s Day.= The jocular term for the twelfth of August, when

grouse shooting begins.

=St Helena.= This island was discovered on the Feast of St Helena, 1502.

=St Helen’s Place.= From the adjacent church of St Helen’s, dedicated to

St Helena, the mother of Constantine. Thirty years later in 1180,

William Fitzwilliam, a wealthy goldsmith, founded a priory of nuns

in connection therewith.

=St James’s Palace.= Stands on the site of an ancient hospital for

lepers dedicated to St James the Less, Bishop of Jerusalem. The

original palace was built by Holbein for Henry VIII.

=St James’s Square.= Like the street of the same name, after St James’s

Palace.

=St John’s Gate.= The last vestige of the ancient priory of St John of

Jerusalem, the English seat of the Knights Hospitallers. The gateway

now forms the headquarters of the St John’s Ambulance Association.

Here William Cave, the printer, projected and published _The

Gentleman’s Magazine_.

=St John’s Wood.= From the ancient “Abbey of the Holy Virgins of St John

the Baptist,” which nestled among the now vanished woods in this

neighbourhood.

=St Katherine Coleman.= Dedicated to St Katherine, this city church

received its second name on account of its location in the garden of

one Coleman, the builder of the street called after him.

=St Katherine Cree.= Originally a chapel dedicated to St Katherine in

the parish of Holy Trinity (in the Minories). This on the abolition

of the neighbouring benefices of Christ Church, St Mary Magdalen,

and St Michael was made into a separate parish of Christ Church,

and, while retaining the old name, came to be known as “St Katherine

Christi,” of which “Cree” is a corruption.

=St Katherine’s Docks.= From an ancient hospital of St Katherine,

displaced when these docks were constructed in 1828.

=St Kitt’s Island.= Discovered by Columbus, it was named by him after St

Christopher, his patron saint.

=St Lawrence.= The gulf of this name was first entered, and the

navigation of the great river embarked upon, on the Feast of St

Lawrence, 1500.

=St Lawrence Jewry.= The church dedicated to St Lawrence in the Jewry.

See “Old Jewry.”

=St Leger Stakes.= See “Doncaster St Leger.”

=St Lubbock.= The popular nickname of Lord Avebury, formerly Sir John

Lubbock, to whom our countrymen are indebted for the introduction of

legalised Bank Holidays.

=St Margaret Pattens.= This church received its name from the gilt

spots, or _patines_, with which its roof was anciently decorated. A

_paten_ is the circular gold dish which covers the chalice at the

altar.

=St Martin’s Lane.= From the parish church of St Martin in the Fields.

=St Martin’s-le-Grand.= The official designation of the buildings

collectively comprised in the headquarters of the General Post

Office. This is because the original edifice occupies the site of an

ancient college church dedicated to St Martin-le-Grand, the

foundation of Within, King of Kent in 750, and invested with the

privilege of sanctuary under a charter of William the Conqueror.

=St Mary-Axe.= From a vanished church of St Mary that stood opposite to

a shop which had an axe for its sign. Originally “St

Mary-by-the-Axe.”

=St Mary-le-Bow.= See “Bow Church.”

=St Mary Woolnoth.= Dedicated to the Virgin; this church was so called

because it stood _nough_, or nigh, to the ancient wool beam or

staple.

=St Michael’s Mount.= Anciently the seat of a religious house, to the

monks of which, as tradition states, St Michael once appeared on the

crag, where in later years a castle was built, the exact spot being

indicated by a stone lantern, since known as “St Michael’s Chair.”

=St Olave’s.= A corruption of “St Olafs,” this church having been

dedicated to Olaf, King of Norway, who Christianised his country,

and at the invitation of Ethelred came over to England to render aid

in the work of expelling the Danes.

=St Pancras.= This parish takes its name from the ancient church in Old

St Pancras Road dedicated to the boy saint who was martyred by

Diocletian. A representation of this youth being attacked by wild

dogs may be seen on the stone bridge over the Regent’s Canal, which

serves as a boundary mark to the parish.

=St Partridge’s Day.= A popular nickname for “Partridge Day.”

=St Paul of the Cross.= See “Passionists.”

=St Petersburg.= Founded by Peter the Great, and dedicated to St Peter,

whose church is situated within the citadel.

=St Sepulchre’s.= The foundation of this church was the outcome of the

Crusades, in honour of the Holy Sepulchre at Jerusalem.

Appropriately enough, the bell of the modern edifice gave warning to

the unhappy inmates of the condemned cell in Newgate Prison over the

way of their approaching last hour.

=St Sophia.= This beautiful mosque at Constantinople, although

originally a Christian cathedral, so far from having been dedicated

to any St Sophia, was called _Hagia Sopia_, “Holy Wisdom”--_i.e._

the eternal wisdom of _God_ manifested in the Second Person of the

Trinity.

=St Stephen’s.= The House of Commons bears this name because, in the

absence of a separate building, its members held their sittings in

the Chapel of St Stephen’s, Westminster Abbey, until that edifice

was burned down, 16th October 1834.

=St Swithin’s Day.= The day of the attempted reinterment (15th July) of

the body of St Swithin, preceptor of King Ethelwulf and Bishop of

Rochester, whose death took place 2nd July 862. Not regarding

himself worthy to be “laid” within the sacred edifice, he requested

that he might be buried just outside the door in the churchyard, so

that the faithful would walk over his grave. Although they acceded

to this last wish, the monks decided afterwards to lay him inside

the church; but their design was frustrated for forty successive

days by a pouring rain, until at last they desisted from the

attempt. This circumstance gave rise to the saying that “If it rains

on St Swithin’s day it will rain for forty days.”

=St Valentine’s Day.= The connection between St Valentine and the

poetical epistles that were formerly interchanged between young

lovers on the 14th of February is somewhat remote. On this day the

good Christian Bishop was beheaded at Rome in the year 278. Long

before this, however, Roman youths and maidens had followed the

custom of selecting a lover for the year by shaking up the names of

their favourites, written on separate tablets, in a box. This arose

out of the old notion that birds begin to pair on the 14th of

February. The martyrdom of Bishop Valentine on this day therefore

actuated the Christians to style their selected lover their

Valentine, and the presents they exchanged in modern times bore the

same name.

=Salic Law.= The ancient Frankish law by which females were excluded

from the throne. This was originally confined to what were called

“Salic Lands,” either, as some say, from the _salle_, or hall of the

owner, or, according to others, from the Salian Franks, those

bordering on the Sale or Yssel River; the enactment eventually

applied to the heritage of the Frankish kingdom.

=Salisbury Square.= This, like the street and court of the same name,

marks the site of the town mansion and grounds of the bishops of

Salisbury.

=Salop.= See “Shropshire.”

=Salt Lake City.= The hot-bed of the Mormons, founded on the borders of

the Great Salt Lake, so called on account of the saline character of

its waters.

=Salutation.= An inn sign in honour of the Salutation of the Virgin.

=Salviati.= See “Del Salviati.”

=Salzburg.= The fortified town on the Salza River.

=Samaria.= After Shemer, the owner of the hill which, as we are told in

1 Kings xvi. 24, Omri bought for two talents of silver, “and built

on the hill, and called the name of the city which he built, after

the name of Shemer, owner of the hill, Samaria.”

=Sambo.= The generic name of a North American Negro; derived from the

native _Zambo_, the offspring of a black and a Mulatto.

=Sanci Diamond.= One of the great gems of the world, weighing 106

carats, originally the property of a French nobleman of this name,

and purchased in 1835 by the Czar of Russia for half-a-million

roubles.

=Sandbaggers.= A modern street terror in American cities while the

police are looking the other way, so called because they stun their

victims with elongated bags of hard, wet sand, and then rob them at

leisure.

=Sandhillers.= A name given in America to the descendants of the white

labourers, who, ousted from their employment when slavery came in,

sought the sand-hills amid the pine forests of Georgia and South

Carolina.

=Sandow Girl.= A physical culture girl trained at the Academy of Eugene

Sandow, or at home by means of appliances advertised in connection

therewith. Also known as the “Symmetrion Girl” from the name on the

familiar posters. The Sandow or Symmetrion Girls proved a great

attraction in the Athletic Scene of _The Dairymaids_ at the Apollo

Theatre.

=Sandwich.= The sand village.

=Sandwiches.= After John Montague, Earl of Sandwich, whose chief claim

to celebrity lay in the fact that he was an inveterate gamester. It

is on record that he often remained engrossed in play for thirty

hours at a stretch without partaking of a meal. From time to time,

however, he would ask the waiter to bring him a slice of meat

between two pieces of bread, as a stay to the appetite. The waiter

called this improvised meal a “Sandwich,” and by that name it has

ever since been known.

=Sandwich Islands.= Named by Captain Cook in honour of Lord Sandwich,

First Lord of the Admiralty, at the time when they were discovered

by him.

=Sandy.= The nickname of a Scotsman, being short for Alexander, the most

common Christian name to be met with in North Britain.

=San Francisco.= Dedicated to St Francis, this Spanish-American city

really received its name from a coast settlement of missionaries

styled “San Francisco de Costa Dolores” as far back as September

1776.

=Sankey’s Horse.= The regimental nickname of the 39th Foot. This was

merited in India, when they were called upon to do temporary service

on horseback under Colonel Sankey.

=Sansculottes.= The lowest orders of the people during the French

Revolution. This, literally “without breeches,” was the scornful

title at first bestowed by the aristocrats upon the Democratic party

on account of their neglectful attire. A little while later the Red

Republicans accepted it with pride as the password for patriotism.

=San Salvador.= This being the first land sighted in the New World by

Columbus, he honoured it with the name of the “Holy Saviour,” as a

perpetual expression of thanksgiving.

=Sans Souci.= This, the French for “free and easy,” or “without care,”

was the name borne by a famous place of amusement originally built

by Dibdin as a bijou theatre in Leicester Square.

=Santa Fe.= Spanish for “Holy Faith.”

=Santa Cruz.= Spanish for “Holy Cross.”

=Santiago.= From the cathedral (in the city of Spain so named)

containing the bones of St Jago, or James the Less, the national

patron saint.

=Saraband.= After Zarabanda, a celebrated dancer of Seville, who

invented it.

=Saracens.= From the Arabic _sharkeyn_, “eastern people”; originally the

designation of the Bedouins of Eastern Arabia. By the Crusaders it

was applied to the Mohammedans generally. See “Moors.”

=Saracen’s Head.= An inn sign of the time of the Crusades. Lest it might

be thought that this was complimentary to the enemies of

Christianity, mention may be made of the fact that the head of the

Saracen was represented as severed.

=Saragossa.= A corruption of the Roman name _Cæsarea Augusta_.

=Saratoga.= Indian for “miraculous waters from the rock,” touching the

famous mineral springs.

=Saratoga Trunk.= The popular type of travelling trunk in the United

States, so called because it was first used by visitors to Saratoga

Springs.

=Sarcophagus.= A Greek compound of _sarkos_, flesh, and _phargo_, to

eat. The term was originally applied to a receptacle for the dead,

because the early examples were made out of a kind of limestone

which was thought to possess the property of consuming a corpse in a

very short time.

=Sardines.= From Sardinia, in the waters of which island the true

species of this fish abound.

=Sardinia.= Called _Sandaliotis_ by the Greeks on account of its

resemblance to a human footprint; this name was changed by the

Romans to _Sardo_. At a later period the island was called

_Sardonion_, from a poisonous herb, transplanted from Sardis in Asia

Minor, which brought about a twitching of the muscles of the face

resembling laughter; hence the phrase to “Smile sardonically.”

=Sardinia Street.= From the Sardinian Chapel built in 1648 in connection

with the residence of the Sardinian Ambassador at the time when the

island of Sardinia was nominally a kingdom, but really in the

possession of Spain.

=Sardonic Smile.= See “Sardinia.”

=Sarsenet.= A fine silk originally of Saracenic manufacture.

=Saturday.= This, the seventh day of the week, was dedicated by the

Romans to Saturn. As, however, all the other week-days were named by

the people of Northern Europe in accordance with Scandinavian

mythology, one must incline to the opinion that this was named after

Sæter, a water deity. Its Anglo-Saxon designation was _Sæterdæg_.

=Saturnalia.= The great winter festival of the Romans in honour of

Saturn, the god of agriculture.

=Saunders Blue.= An easy corruption of the French _Cendres bleus_, “blue

ashes,” calcined bluestone being the substance from which this

pigment is obtained.

=Sauterne.= A French wine produced at the place of the name, in the

department of Gironde.

=Saved my Bacon.= This expression originated during the Civil War, when

housewives took extraordinary measures to save the bacon stored up

for winter consumption from the greedy appetites of soldiers on the

march.

=Savile Row.= After Dorothy Savile, who, marrying into the Burlington

family, received this portion of the estate as her separate

property.