Chapter II: Preface (2)

=Best Man at a Wedding.= A survival of feudal times, when the particular
friends of the “Bridegroom” undertook to frustrate the designs of a
rival sworn to carry off the bride before the nuptials could take
place. In Sweden weddings formerly took place under cover of night.
Behind the high altar of the ancient church at Husaby, in Gothland,
a collection of long lances, with sockets for torches, may yet be
seen. These were served out to the groomsmen on such occasions, both
for defence and illumination. These groomsmen were the bravest and
best who could be found to volunteer their services.

=Bethlehem.= Hebrew for “house of bread.” Hence Bethlehem Hospital, the
original name for a lazar or poor house.

=Bethnal Green.= Anciently Bednal Green, but corrupted from the family
name of the Bathons, who resided here, _temp._ Edward I.

=Bevis Marks.= Properly Bury’s Marks, from the posts to define the
limits of the ground belonging to the town house of the Abbots of
Bury.

=Bideford Postman.= The sobriquet of Edward Capern, the poet, who was a
letter-carrier at Bideford in Devon.

=Big Ben.= After Sir Benjamin Hall, Bart., M.P., one of the designers of
the New Houses of Parliament, and Chief Commissioner of Works.

=Big Bend State.= Tennessee, which name expresses the Indian for “river
of the great bend.”

=Bilbo.= The old name for a Spanish sword blade made at Bilboa.

=Bilboes.= The irons with which mutinous sailors are manacled together.
From Bilboa, Spain, their place of origin.

=Bilker.= A corruption of _Balker_, one who balks or outwits another. In
our day one hears mostly of the “Cab bilker”; formerly the “Tavern
bilker” was an equally reprehensible character.

=Billingsgate.= After Belin, a Saxon lord, who had a residence beside
the old Roman water-gate on the north bank of the Thames.

=Billiter Street.= A corruption of Belzettar, the name of the first
builder on the land hereabouts.

=Billycock.= The slang term for a “bowler” hat always worn by William
Coke at the Holkham shooting parties.

=Bingham’s Dandies.= One of the nicknames of the 17th Lancers, after
their Colonel and their smart uniforms.

=Bioscope.= Moving or living pictures thrown on a screen, so called from
the Greek _bios_, life, and _skopein_, to view.

=Birchin Lane.= Properly Birchover Lane, after the name of the builder.

=Birdcage Walk.= From the Royal Aviary of the Restoration, located along
the south wall of St James’s Park.

=Bird of Passage.= A hotel phrase applied to a guest who arrives at
stated seasons.

=Bird’s Eye Tobacco.= So called from the oval shape of the stalks when
cut up with the leaf.

=Birkbeck Institute.= The premier Mechanics’ Institute, established by
Dr Birkbeck in 1824.

=Birmingham.= Called Bremenium by the Romans and Birmingeham in Domesday
Book. This being so, it cannot be corrupted from “Broom-place town,”
as some authors say.

=Birrell.= To write, speak, or do anything after the manner of Mr
Augustine Birrell, M.P., President of the Board of Education.

=Birrelligion.= A word coined by Dr Casterelli, Roman Catholic Bishop of
Salford, who, speaking on Mr Birrell’s New Education Bill, said it
was not one exactly of irreligion, but of Birrelligion, acceptable
to no party or denomination.

=Bishopsgate Street.= From the ancient city gate rebuilt by Bishop
Irkenwald, the son of King Offa, and repaired by Bishop William in
the time of the Conqueror.

=Biz.= Theatrical slang for “business” or stage by-play.

=Black Brunswickers.= A celebrated regiment of seven hundred volunteers
raised in Bohemia in 1809 by Frederick William, Duke of Brunswick,
who took up arms against Napoleon because the latter had obstructed
his succession to his father’s dukedom. Their uniform was black, in
token of mourning for the deceased Duke. Finding they could not bear
against the power of France, they enlisted in the English service.
Thus it came to pass that the Black Brunswickers fought at the
Battle of Waterloo, where their gallant leader met his death.
Afterwards they were heard of no more.

=Black Bull.= An inn sign derived from the heraldic device of the House
of Clare.

=Black Country.= The name given to the great coalfield in the Midlands.
It extends from Birmingham to Wolverhampton on one side and from
Lyle Waste to West Bromwich on the other.

=Black Friars.= The Order of the Dominicans, so called from their
habits. In the district of Blackfriars stood the great monastery.

=Blackguards.= A derisive nickname given originally to the scullions of
the Royal Household, touching their grimy appearance, as contrasted
with the spruceness of the Guards of Honour.

=Blackheath.= A corruption of Bleak Heath.

=Blackleg.= After sporting men of a low type, who invariably wore black
gaiters or top-boots.

=Blackmail.= Originally a tax or tribute paid to robbers or freebooters
as a compromise for protection. “Black” implied the Gaelic for
security, while _mal_ was Anglo-Saxon for tribute.

=Black Maria.= Slang for a prison van. Many years ago a negress of
powerful build and strength, named Maria Lee, kept a sailor’s
lodging-house at Boston. Everyone dreaded her, and she so frequently
assisted the police of that day to pin down a refractory prisoner
before he could be manacled that “Send for Black Maria!” became
quite a common exclamation among them. Hence the earliest vehicles
for the conveyance of offenders against law and order, especially
since they were painted black, were named after her.

=Black Museum.= The collection of criminal relics preserved at the
headquarters of the Metropolitan Police at New Scotland Yard.

=Black Prince.= The sobriquet of Edward, Prince of Wales, son of Edward
III., not because he wore black armour, as is generally supposed,
but, according to Froissart, “by terror of his arms,” and again,
Strutt, “for his martial deeds.”

=Black Sea.= From its many black rocks, which render navigation
dangerous.

=Blackwall.= A corruption of Bleak Wall.

=Black Watch.= Soldiers first appointed to watch the Highlands of
Scotland. They received the name from their black tartans.

=Blandford Square.= From Blandford, Dorsetshire, near Bryanstone, the
seat of the great ground landlord, Viscount Portman.

=Blankets.= First made by the Brothers Blanket, of Bristol, in 1337.

=Blarney.= Suave speeches intended only to gain time. When Cormack
Macarthy was besieged by the English in Blarney Castle in 1662 he
concluded an armistice, with the object of surrendering after a few
days; but instead of doing so he sent out soft, evasive speeches,
until Lord Carew and his soldiers were forced to admit that they had
been duped. Hence the expression: “None of your Blarney.”

=Blenheim Oranges.= First cultivated at Blenheim, the seat of the Duke
of Marlborough.

=Blenheim Street.= In compliment to the Duke of Marlborough after the
battle of Blenheim.

=Blind Man’s Buff.= So called because if any one of those taking part in
the game allowed the blind man to buff up against him he had to be
blindfolded in his place.

=Blood.= See “Penny Blood.”

=Bloody.= The addiction of the vulgar to the use of this adjective on
all occasions has made it low and reprehensible. Anciently, however,
it was employed in a most reverential sense, relative to the Blood
of Christ--_e.g._ the “Bloody Sacrifice of the Mass.”

=Bloody Assizes.= Those held by Judge Jeffreys in 1685 for the
punishment of all who had taken part in the Duke of Monmouth’s
rebellion. Three hundred persons were executed, and more than a
thousand transported to the plantations.

=Bloody Butcher.= The sobriquet of the Duke of Cumberland, son of George
II., owing to his wholesale slaughter of the adherents of Prince
Charles Stuart, the Young Pretender, after the battle of Culloden.

=Bloody Eleventh.= The 11th Foot, in memory of the terrible slaughter
inflicted on this regiment at Salamanca.

=Bloody Tower.= Where the infant Princes were murdered at the order of
their uncle, Richard, Duke of Glo’ster.

=Bloomers.= After Mrs Ann Bloomer of New York, who introduced the
original nondescript style of “New Woman” in 1849.

=Bloomsbury.= A corruption of “Lomesbury,” the name of a manor house and
grounds which stood on the site of the present square. “Lomesbury
village” sprang up around the ancient church of St Giles’s
in-the-Fields.

=Bluchers.= After Field-Marshal von Blucher, who affected this style of
military half-boot.

=Blue.= An indecent story is said to be “blue” because harlots in the
ancient Bridewell, and in more modern houses of correction or
penitentiaries, were habited in blue gowns.

=Blue Boar.= An inn sign derived from the heraldic device of Richard
III.

=Blue Grass State.= Kentucky, from the character of the orchard grass in
this fertile limestone region.

=Blue Hen’s Chickens.= A nickname for the people of Delaware. _The
Delaware State Journal_ thus accounts for its origin: “At the
beginning of the Revolutionary War there lived in Sussex county of
that colony a gentleman of fortune named Caldwell, who was a
sportsman, and breeder of fine horses and game-cocks. His favourite
axiom was that the character of the progeny depends more on the
mother than on the father, and that the finest game-cocks depended
on the hen rather than on the cock. His observation led him to
select a _blue_ hen, and he never failed to hatch a good game-cock
from a blue hen’s egg. Caldwell distinguished himself as an officer
in the First Delaware Regiment for his daring spirit. The high state
of its discipline was conceded to its exertions, so that when
officers were sent on recruiting service it was said that they had
gone home for more of Caldwell’s game-cocks; but as Caldwell
insisted that no cock could be truly game unless its mother was a
_blue_ hen, the expression _Blue Hen’s Chickens_ was substituted for
game-cocks.”

=Blue Law State.= An old name for Connecticut, whose original settlers
shared with the Puritans in the mother country a disgust of the
licentiousness of the Court of the Restoration, and on this account
were said to advocate “Blue” Laws.

=Blue Noses.= A nickname bestowed upon the Nova Scotians, from the
species of potato which they produce and claim to be the best in the
world.

=Blue Peter.= The flag hoisted at the mast head to give notice that a
vessel is about to sail. Its name is a corruption of the French
“Bleu Partir,” or blue departure signal.

=Blue Pig.= An inn sign, corrupted from the “Blue Boar.”

=Blue Stocking.= From the famous club of literary ladies formed by Mrs
Montague in 1840, at which Benjamin Stillingfleet, who habitually
wore blue stockings, was a regular visitor. Blue stockings,
therefore, became the recognised badge of membership. There was,
however, such a club of ladies and gentlemen at Venice as far back
as 1400, called _Della Calza_, from the colour of stockings worn.

=Blunderbuss.= A corruption of the Dutch _donderbus_, “thunder tube.”

=Board of Green Cloth.= The steward of the Royal Household presides over
this so called court, which has a green cover on its table.

=Boar’s Head.= The sign of the ancient tavern in Eastcheap immortalised
by Shakespeare. This, like all others of the same name, was derived
from the heraldic device of the Gordons, the earliest of whom slew a
boar that had long been a terror of the forest.

=Bob Apple.= A very old boyish pastime. Standing on tiptoe, with their
hands behind them, they tried to catch in their mouths an apple as
it swung to and fro at the end of a piece of string suspended from
the ceiling. A variant of the same game consisted in lying across a
form and plunging their heads into a large tub of water, at the
bottom of which was the apple.

=Bobby.= The nickname of a policeman, after Sir Robert Peel, to whom the
introduction of the modern police system was due.

=Bobs.= The popular nickname of Lord Roberts during the South African
War. He is also called “Lord Bobs.”

=Boer.= Expresses the Dutch for a farmer. Synonymous with the English
“boor,” an uncultivated fellow, a tiller of the soil.

=Bogtrotter.= An Irishman, from the ease with which he makes his way
across the native bogs, in a manner astonishing to a stranger.

=Bogus.= In reporting a trial at law _The Boston Courier_ in 1857 gave
the following authoritative origin:--“The word Bogus is a corruption
of the name of one Borghese, a very corrupt individual, who twenty
years ago or more did a tremendous business in the way of supplying
the great west, and portions of the south-west, with counterfeit
bills and bills on fictitious banks. The western people fell into
the habit of shortening the name of Borghese to that of _Bogus_, and
his bills, as well as all others of like character, were universally
styled by them ‘bogus currency.’” So that the word is really
American.

=Bohea.= Tea of the poorest quality, grown in the hilly district of
Wu-i; pronounced by the Chinese _Vooy_.

=Bohemia.= From the _Bohii_, the ancient inhabitants of the country.

=Bohemian.= One who leads a hand-to-mouth existence by literary or other
precarious pursuits, who shuns the ordinary conventions of society,
and aspires to that only of his fellows. The term originally meant a
“Gipsy,” because the earliest nomadic people who overran Western
Europe did so by way of Bohemia.

=Boiled Shirt.= An Americanism, originally from the western states, for
a starched white shirt.

=Bolivia.= After General Simon Bolivar, surnamed “The Liberator of
Peru.”

=Bologna.= A settlement of the _Boii_, after whom the Romans called it
Bononia.

=Bomba.= The sobriquet of Ferdinand, King of Naples, on account of his
bombardment of Messina in 1848.

=Bonanza State.= Nevada, on account of its rich mines, styled Bonanza
mines. _Bonanza_ is Spanish for “prosperity.”

=Bond Street= (Old and New). Built on the land owned by Sir Thomas Bond,
Comptroller of the Household of Charles I.

=Bone of Contention.= In allusion to two dogs fighting over a bone.

=Bone-shaker.= The original type of bicycle, with wooden wheels, of
which the rims consisted of small curved pieces glued together.
Compared with a modern machine it was anything but easy riding.

=Boniface.= The popular name for an innkeeper--not that St Boniface was
the patron saint of drawers and tapsters, but because one of the
Popes of this name instituted what was called “St Boniface’s Cup,”
by granting an indulgence to all who toasted his health, or that of
his successors, immediately after saying grace at meals.

=Booking Office.= In the old coaching days passengers had to book their
seats for a stage journey several days in advance at an office in
the innyard whence the coaches set out. When railways came in the
name was retained, though no “booking” was ever in evidence. Nearly
all the old coaching innyards have been converted into railway goods
and parcels receiving depots.

=Bookmaker.= From the way in which he adjusts his clients’ bets, so
that, ordinarily, he cannot lose on the issue of a day’s racing.

=Boot-jack.= A wooden contrivance by which the wearer could help himself
to take off his high-legged boots without the aid of a servant.
Hence it was called a _jack_, which is the generic term for a
man-servant or boy.

=Border Eagle State.= Mississippi, on account of the Border Eagle in the
arms of the state.

=Bore.= This name was first applied by the “Macaronies” to any person
who disapproved of foppishness or dandyism. Nowadays it implies one
whose conversation is uninteresting, and whose society becomes
repugnant.

=Borneo.= A European application of the Sanskrit _boorni_, land.

=Born in the Purple.= Since purple was the Imperial colour of the Cæsars
and the Emperors of the East, the sons of the reigning monarch were
said to be born in it. This expression had a literal truth, for the
bed furniture was draped with purple.

=Born with a Silver Spoon in his Mouth.= In allusion to the silver
apostle spoon formerly presented to an infant by its godfather at
baptism. In the case of a child born lucky or rich such a gift of
worldly goods was anticipated at the moment of entering life.

=Borough.= The _Burgh_ or town which arose on the south side of Old
London Bridge, long before the City of London became closely packed
with streets and houses.

=Borough English.= A Saxon custom, whereby the youngest son of a burgher
inherited everything from his father, instead of the eldest, as
among the Normans.

=Bosh.= See “All Bosh.”

=Bosphorus.= From the Greek _bos-porus_, cow strait, agreeably to the
fable that Io, transformed into a white cow, swam across it.

=Boss.= A term derived from the Dutch settlers of New York, in whose
language _baas_ (pronounced like the _a_ in _all_), expressed an
overseer or master.

=Boston.= Short for St Botolph’s Town. “The stump” of the church is seen
from afar across the Boston Deeps.

=Botany Bay.= So called by Captain Cook on account of the variety of, to
him, new plants found on its shores. This portion of New South Wales
was the first British Convict Settlement; hence Botany Bay became a
term synonymous with penal servitude.

=Botolph Lane.= From the church of St Botolph, situated in it.

=Bottle of Hay.= A corruption of “bundle of hay,” from the French
_botte_, a bundle, of which the word bottle expresses the
diminutive.

=Bottom Dollar.= An Americanism for one’s last coin.

=Bovril.= An adaptation of _bovis_, ox, and _vril_, strength--the latter
being a word coined by Lord Lytton in “The Coming Race.”

=Bow.= From the ancient stone bridge over the Lea, which was the first
ever built in this country on a bow or arch.

=Bow Church.= Properly the church of St Mary-le-Bow, Cheapside, the
first in this country to be built on bows or arches.

=Bowdlerise.= In the year 1818 Thomas Bowdler brought out an expurgated
edition of Shakespeare’s Plays; hence a “Bowdlerised Edition” of any
work is one of which the original text has been unwarrantably
tampered with.

=Bowie Knife.= After Colonel Jim Bowie, a famous fighter of the western
states, who first armed himself with this weapon.

=Bow Street.= From its arc shape when first laid out.

=Bow Street Runners.= Primitive detectives sent out from their
headquarters in Bow Street in highwayman days.

=Bowyer Tower.= Anciently the residence of the Tower bowyer or bowmaker.
Here, according to tradition, the Duke of Clarence was drowned in a
butt of “Malmsey.”

=Boxing Day.= See “Christmas-box.”

=Box Office.= At one time only the private boxes at a theatre could be
booked in advance; hence the term.

=Box 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.

=Bread 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.

=Bride 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 Phœnicians 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.

=Broadside.= 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.

=Buckeye State.= Ohio, from the buckeye-trees with which this state
abounds. Its people are called “Buckeyes.”

=Buckingham.= The Anglo-Saxon _Boccenham_, or “beech-tree village.”

=Buckingham Palace.= After the residence, on this site, of John
Sheffield, Duke of Buckingham.

=Buckingham Street.= From the older mansion of John Sheffield, Duke of
Buckingham. The water-gate is still in evidence.

=Buckle to.= An expression descended from the days of chivalry, when a
knight buckled on his armour for the tournament.

=Bucklersbury.= Anciently the _bury_ or enclosed ground of a wealthy
grocer named Buckle or Bukerel.

=Budge Row.= From the vendors of “Budge” or lambskin fur who congregated
here.

=Bug Bible.= From the word “bugges”--_i.e._ bogies--in place of “the
terror” (Psalm xci. 5).

=Buggy.= From _bâghi_, the Hindustani for a one-horse vehicle.

=Bull.= A papal edict, so called on account of the _bulla_, or seal.

=Bull and Gate.= An inn sign, corrupted from “Boulogne Gate,” touching
the siege of Boulogne and its harbour by Henry VIII. in 1544.

=Bulgaria.= A corruption of Volgaria, the country of the _Volsci_.

=Bull-dog.= A dog originally employed in the brutal sport of
bull-baiting. The name is also given to one of the two attendants of
the proctor at a university while going his rounds by night.

=Bullion State.= Missouri, after Thomas Hart Benton, who, when
representing this state in Congress, merited the nickname of “Old
Bullion,” from his spirited advocacy of a gold and silver currency
instead of “Greenbacks” or paper.

=Bullyrag.= See “Ragging.”

=Bullyruffian.= A corruption of the _Bellerophon_, the vessel on which
Napoleon surrendered after the battle of Waterloo.

=Bungalow.= From the Bengalese _bangla_, a wooden house of one storey
surrounded by a verandah.

=Bunhill Fields.= Not from the Great Plague pit in Finsbury, but from
the cart-loads of human bones shot here when the charnel-house of St
Paul’s Churchyard was pulled down in 1549.

=Bunkum.= Originally a Congressman’s speech, “full of sound and fury,
signifying nothing.” An oratorial flight not intended to carry a
proposal, but to catch popular applause. The representative for
Buncombe, in North Carolina, occupied the time of the house at
Washington so long with a meaningless speech that many members left
the hall. Asked his reason for such a display of empty words, he
replied: “I was not speaking to the House, but to Buncombe.”

=Bureau.= French for a writing-desk, from _buro_, a drugget, with which
it was invariably covered.

=Burgess Roll.= See “Roll Call.”

=Burgundy.= A wine produced in the French province of the same name.

=Burke.= To stop or gag--_e.g._ to burke a question. After an Irishman
of this name, who silently and secretly took the lives of many
peaceable citizens by holding a pitch plaster over their mouths, in
order to sell their bodies to the doctors for dissection. He was
hanged in 1849. His crimes were described as “Burking.”

=Burleigh Street.= From the residence of Lord Burleigh in Exeter Street,
hard by.

=Burlington Street= (Old and New). After Richard Boyle, Earl of
Burlington and Cork, from whom Burlington House, refronted by him,
also received its name.

=Burmah.= From the natives, who claim to be descendants of Brahma, the
supreme deity of the Hindoos.

=Burton Crescent.= After the name of its builder.

=Bury St Edmunds.= A corruption of the Borough of St Edmund, where the
Saxon king and martyr was crowned on Christmas Day, 856. Taken
prisoner and killed by the Danes, he was laid to rest here. Over the
site of his tomb Canute built a Benedictine monastery.

=Bury Street.= Properly Berry Street, after its builder.

=Bury the Hatchet.= At a deliberation of war the hatchet is always in
evidence among the Indians of North America, but when the calumet,
or pipe of peace, is being passed round, the symbol of warfare is
carefully hidden.

=Busking.= Theatrical slang for an _al fresco_ performance to earn a few
coppers. To “go busking on the sands” is the least refined aspect of
a Pierrot Entertainment. See “Sock and Buskin.”

=Buy a Pig in a Poke.= A man naturally wants to see what he is
bargaining for. “Poke” is an old word for a sack or large bag, of
which _pocket_ expresses the diminutive.

=By Gad.= A corruption of the old oath “By God.”

=By George.= Originally this oath had reference to the patron saint of
England. In more modern times it was corrupted into “By Jove,” so
that it might have applied to Jupiter; then at the Hanoverian
Succession the ancient form came in again.

=By Hook or by Crook.= The final word here is a corruption of Croke.
More than a century ago two eminent K.C.’s named Hook and Croke were
most generally retained by litigants in action at law. This gave
rise to the saying: “If I can’t win my case by Hook I will by
Croke.”

=By Jingo.= An exclamation traceable to the Basque mountaineers brought
over to England by Edward I. to aid him in the subjection of Wales
at the time when the Plantagenets held possession of the Basque
provinces. “Jainko” expressed the supreme deity of these hillmen.

=By Jove.= See “By George.”

=By the Holy Rood.= The most solemn oath of the crusaders. “Rood,” from
the Anglo-Saxon _rod_, was the Old English name for Cross.

=By the Mass.= A common oath in the days of our Catholic ancestors, when
quarrels were generally made up by the parties attending Mass
together.

=By the Peacock.= See “Peacock.”

=By the Skin of my Teeth.= An expression derived from Job xix. 20: “My
bone cleaveth to my skin and to my flesh, and I am escaped with the
skin of my teeth.”

=Byward Tower.= A corruption of Bearward Tower, the residence of the
Tower “Bearward.” The bear-house at our national fortress in the
time of James I. is mentioned in Nichol’s “Progresses and
Processions.”