croak? Hence the German frosch, and the Dutch vorsch. And our frog is as wrok and so is the A. S. frogga. MUSHROOM. Muts ruijm; q. e. a broad cap or bonnet; a wide cap [cover]; implying in proportion to the stem which supports such top or cover. And is a striking characteristic of the mushroom. Muts, bonnet, top, cover, cap. Ruijm, wide, large. The French mouceron seems a corruption of our own term. HE PUT HIM TO HIS TRUMPS. The phrase is evidently jocose, and seems to import the person in question bestirred himself [shewed himself alarmed or in fear] upon an inadequate occasion, about something childish and absurd, from some slight [trumpery] cause. Hie puit heim t'u ijse trompe's; q. e. a frog in the hedge [in the house] is a foolish concern to be horrified at; a frog jumping up on the premises is a trumpery cause of alarm [shuddering]; and thus an exemplification by a familiar occurrence of a trumpery alarm. Still one to which the brave are as subject as the timid. Females of the most tender frame handle even a toad with indifference, while one of our fiercest fire-eaters will stand by and shudder. I have witnessed a female, of the most delicate habits, after having taken a toad in her hand, fondle it a long while, admire the beauties of its eyes, and then tie it with a ribband by the leg to a rose bush that it might not play her truant. Puit, a frog. BILDERDIJK thinks the term has been confounded with pad, anciently podde, a toad, a paddock, in Italian botta; but I suspect it to be the ellipsis of puitvorsch; q. e. that which croaks in the ditch, in the well? Puit, put, a ditch, any hollow containing standing water. Puit-ael is a sort of mud-eel, ditch-eel. Heim, may here mean either house r premises; home enclosures. T Ijse, as the contracted participl to horrify, to freeze the blood in der with disgust. Trompe, a fa a deceitful circumstance, an u trumpery. The word is grounded a term for a musical instrument in as that which pleased, engaged, its tones when played upon; and tromper, to deceive, to quiet ala the senses, and then to profit [torpor] to do what their pr Tromper son ennui [ses peines] is hours, one's pains; to quiet them feelings to another point through them more irresistibly. It is in meaning we say to play upon, in t ceive, to impose upon; to play make a person believe you are show him to advantage, while you him to make a fool of himself. A is a a false recital played off wit The phrase has nothing to do with JOHNSON fancied. Trumps requir of mind to use than other car person is as one bearable only to t are thinking of something else; thing is something about which no senses ever thinks. Something seen at an indefinite. nitely far off. Inferring some appe it cannot be precisely ascertained b one thing or another for what you baerd's ey wie u; q. e. that whic sight may be an island or not, in that which is seen may be insulated the land you stand on or not, for w implying you can see it, but that is all; just see it and no more. The phrase has no relation to the eye of a bird, a fancy which has induced Johnson to explain it as a thing seen from above; so that a man looking out of an up-stairs window at his horse by the door, would be taking a bird's eye view of it; nay! when viewing the state of his toes, in this construction of the phrase, he would be taking a bird's eye view of them! That won't do. Baerd, baard, gebaerd, the past participle of baeren, baaren, to bare, to bring to light, to open to view. Wie u, in regard to you, with you, auprés de vous. W, v, f, interchange so that wie u sounds view. Ey, eye, isle, island. Baerd sounds bird, as we pronounce that word. HE CATCHES AT STRAWS. He has recourse to his last and never failing resource; he perceives all hope of escape must be given up. Hij ketst'es aet 's trouws; q. e. he thereon seeks comfort in his religion; he turns to his conscience for support; he flies to his God for consolation. Ketsen, to seek out, to hunt out, to pursue. 'Es, des, on this account. Aet, sustenance, food, provision, that which comforts, supports. Trouw, truth, religion, belief; that which nature reveals to the breast of the individual; that which he feels [knows] in relation to himself to be true. For truth imports certainty in regard to man (both as the individual and the kind) notwithstanding the crafty sneer at this word in the Diversions of Purley. 'S trouws, des trouws, of truth, of religion: 's as the abbreviation of the genitive article. The ex pression is literally he then seeks the sustenance of that which his breast makes certain to him; of the food which his conscience supplies to him. 'S trouws sounds straws. And it is this we mean when we say, a drowning man catches at straws. TARTAR. As in the phrase to catch a tartar, to try after something which, when got, turns out a plague, instead of a blessing. Tarter; q. e. teaser, defier, constant opposer; a substantive formed from tarten, to defy, to set at nought, to provoke. The adjective, tart, belongs to the same stock; tart words, as provoking [irritating] words. AS STILL AS A MOUSE. A phrase expressive of noiseless action; but one evidently, from the subject of comparison, jocosely and familiarly used. Als stille als er mee hose; q. e. as silently [stilly] as one without shoes; as noiselessly as one who walks in his hose [stockings]; as is done when it is necessary to approach a room [place] where a sick person is, with the utmost stillness; or as the thief does when he wishes to enter a chamber in a professional manner. Stille, without noise, secretly, quietly. Meê, mede, with. Hose, hose, stocking. When we say, he walked in his stockings, we mean without his shoes. A mouse is any thing but an emblem of stillness. We hear people say, they could not sleep all night for the noise the mice made. "But thing that wolle not be, let it be STILLE. A MILL-STONE. As when we say it was a mill-stone about his neck; the affair alluded to caused pain to get through with; gave trouble to accomplish. Er meé ijl stond; q. e. therewith a feverish time; the time then passed through was that of suffering [of ailing, of being ill at ease] and thus as one which consequently was felt to be long [tedious]; a heavy hour. The expression is sometimes used in the form of a mile-stone, which arises merely from the word, being spelt either with ÿj, sounding ee, or with y, sounding as that letter does with us. The sense is precisely the same in both ways. Stond, an indefinite period of time, an hour, a moment, an instant. Ijl, yl, ailing, ill. Meê, mede, with, that which is present with the object in question. The d in stond is scarcely perceived in the usual pronunciation of that word any more than the b is in crumb, dumb, thumb. READY CUT AND DRY. Formal discourse; talk [argument] prepared for the occasion. Rede goten te rey; q. e. talk moulded to pattern,; a discourse as if cast in a mould; shaped according to rule [sample, standard]. Goten, gegoten, the past participle of gieten, to cast, to pour out. Rey, rye, rije, rule, order, line, direction. G, k, and c represent interchanging sounds. I have little doubt our word cut is rooted in gat, opening; whence gaten, to make an opening; and so is to cut, formerly to kut, to kitt. Gut, gate, and the Dutch gat (opening) are the same word; a gut is a passage and so is a gate. The Gut of Gibraltar is the passage by Gibraltar. And our old adverbs algate [any way, any how] as all, every, and gate, way, way of going, and other gates, otherwise, otherways, now travestied into otherguess, belong here. U represents a variety of shades in sound; for instance in pursue, flute, glut, pure, hurry, quit, curd, &c. &c. D and t are similar sounds. If ready, the travesty of rede, is omitted, the expression then serves for any thing formal, [done according to rule] any secundùm artem performance. For other occupacioune till thei wer servid out, CHAUCER. "Forsothe I take all that men wol me geve, From yere 1 can no bettir tellin faithfully. The Frere'stale.-IDEM. |