Исторический английский фразеологический словарь

43Box the Compass. To be able to repeat all the thirty-two degrees or points of the mariner’s compass; a mental exercise all round the compass-box.

Boycott. To ostracise a man. This word came into use in 1881, after Captain Boycott of Lough Mark Farm, co. Mayo, was cut off from all social and commercial intercourse with his neighbours for the crime of being an Irish landlord.

Boy King. Edward VI., who ascended the throne of England in his tenth, and died in his sixteenth, year.

Boz. Under this nom de plume Charles Dickens published his earliest “Sketches” of London life and character in The Morning Chronicle. He has told us himself that this was the pet name of a younger brother, after Moses Primrose in “The Vicar of Wakefield.” The infantile members of the family pronounced the name “Bozes,” and at last shortened it into “Boz.”

Bradford. From the Anglo-Saxon Bradenford, “broad ford.”

Braggadocio. After Braggadochio, a boasting character in Spenser’s “Faery Queene.”

Brahma Fowl. Originally from the district of the Brahmapootra River in India. Pootra is Sanskrit for Son; hence the river name means “The Son of Brahma.”

Brandy. From the German Brantwein, burnt wine. A spirituous distillation from wine.

Brazenose College. The brazen nose on the college gate notwithstanding, this name was derived from the fact that here stood an ancient brasenhuis, or “brew-house.” Oxford has always been famous for the excellent quality of its beer.

Bravo. In Italy one who is always boasting of his courage and prowess; generally a hired assassin.

Brazil. From braza, the name given by the Portuguese to the red dye-wood of the country.

44Bread Street. Where the bakers had their stalls in connection with the Old Chepe, or market.

Break Bread. To accept hospitality. In the East bread is baked in the form of large cakes, which are broken, never cut with a knife. To break bread with a stranger ensures the latter personal protection as long as he remains under the roof of his host.

Breakfast. The morning meal, when the fast since the previous night’s supper is broken.

Break the Bank. Specifically at the gaming-tables of Monte Carlo. With extraordinary luck this may be done on occasion; but the winner’s triumph is short-lived since, the capital of the bank being unlimited, if he continues to play after fresh stores of gold have been produced, he must lose in the end.

Brecon. See “Brecknock.”

Brecknock. The capital (also called Brecon) of one of the shires of Wales, originally Breckineauc, after Brychan, a famous Welsh prince. Brecknock Road takes its name from Lord Camden, Earl of Brecknock, the ground landlord.

Breeches Bible. From the word “breeches” for “aprons” (Genesis iii. 7).

Brentford. The ford over the Brent.

Breviary. The name given to an abridgment of the daily prayers, for the use of priests, during the Seven Canonical Hours, made by Pope Gregory VII. in the eleventh century.

Brevier. The style of type originally employed in the composition of the Catholic “Breviary.”

Bridegroom. The word groom comes from the Gothic and Anglo-Saxon guma, man, allied to the Latin homo, man. It still expresses a man-servant who grooms or attends to his master’s horse.

Bride Lane. From the church of St Bride or Bridget.

45Bride of the Sea. Venice, in allusion to the ancient ceremony of “The Marriage of the Adriatic.”

Bridewell. The name anciently given to a female penitentiary, from the original establishment near the well of St Bride or Bridget in the parish of Blackfriars. The name is preserved in Bridewell Police Station.

Brigadier. The commanding officer of a brigade.

Bridge. Twenty years ago two families at Great Dalby, Leicestershire, paid each other a visit on alternate nights, for a game of what they called Russian whist. Their way lay across a broken bridge, very dangerous after nightfall. “Thank goodness, it’s your bridge to-morrow night!” they were wont to exclaim on parting. This gave the name to the game itself.

Bridge of Sighs. The bridge forming a covered gallery over the Canal at Venice between the State prisons on the one hand and the palace of the Doges on the other. Prisoners were led to the latter to hear the death sentence pronounced, and thence to execution. No State prisoner was ever known to recross this bridge; hence its name.

Bridgewater Square. From the town house of the Earls of Bridgewater.

Brief. A brief summary of all the facts of a client’s case prepared by a solicitor for the instruction of counsel.

Bristol. Called by the Anglo-Saxons “Brightstow,” or pleasant, stockaded place.

Britain. This country was known to the PhCnicians as Barat-Anac, “the land of time.” The Romans called it Britannia.

British Columbia. The only portion of North America which honours the memory, as a place name, of Christopher Columbus.

Brittany. The land anciently possessed by the kings of Britain.

Brixton. Anciently Brigestan, the bridge of stone.

46Broadside. A large sheet printed straight across instead of in columns.

Broker. From the Anglo-Saxon brucan, through the Old English brocour, to use for profit.

Brompton. Anciently Broom Town, or place of the broom plant.

Brook Street. From a stream meandering through the fields from Tyburn.

Brooke Street. From the town house of Fulke Greville, Lord Brooke. In this street the boy poet Chatterton poisoned himself.

Brother Jonathan. After Jonathan Turnbull, the adviser of General Washington in all cases of military emergency. “We must ask Brother Jonathan” was the latter’s invariable reply to a suggestion made to him.

Brougham. First made to the order of Lord Brougham.

Brought under the Hammer. Put up for sale by public auction. The allusion is, of course, to the auctioneer’s hammer.

Bruce Castle. The residence of Robert Bruce after his defeat by John Baliol in the contest for the Scottish crown.

Bruges. From its many bridges.

Brummagem. The slang term for cheap jewellery made at Birmingham. In local parlance this city is “Brummagem,” and its inhabitants are “Brums.”

Brunswick Square. Laid out and built upon at the accession of the House of Brunswick.

Bruton Street. From the seat of the Berkeleys at Bruton, Somersetshire.

Bryanstone Square. From the seat, near Blandford, Dorset, of Viscount Portman, the ground landlord.

Bucephalus. A horse, after the famous charger of Alexander the Great.