An ill-mannered lout. The cub of a bear is said to have no shape until its dam has licked it into form. A bear's a savage beast, of all Most ugly and unnatural; Whelped without form until…
Doubtless the pleasure is as great Of being cheated as to cheat: As lookers-on feel most delight That least perceive a juggler's sleight, And still the less they understand, The more they…
A barn labourer, taken on grand occasions for butler and footman to Mr. and Mrs. Hardcastle. He laughs and talks while serving, and is as gauche as possible. (Goldsmith. She Stoops to…
(Italian). A squire or young man of good birth. “He is esquire to a knight-errant, donzel to the damsels.” —Butler: Characters. Source: Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, E. Cobham Brewer,…
Consider well before you act. “Melius est cavere semper, quam patiri semel.” And look before you ere you leap, For, as you sow, you're like to reap. Butler: Hudibras, canto ii. part ii.…
It appears from the Journal of George Fox, who was imprisoned for nearly twelve months in Derby, that the Quakers first obtained the appellation (1650) by which they are now known from the…
A dolt; a stupid person. The word is taken from Duns Scotus, the learned schoolman and great supporter of the immaculate conception. His followers were called Dunsers. Tyndal says, when…
The essence of a thing, or that which differentiates it from other things. Schoolmen say Quid est (what is it?) and the reply is, the Quid is so and so, the What or the nature of the thing…
