to die, to deye, and writes deydist for did die. So that we here see a source for the e in the word death. HE IS AS BUSY AS A BEE WITH TWO TAILS. Applied to the case of an officious person; one who is unseasonably bustling and active; one who displays his love of business on an occasion where there is none left to be done. Hij is als bije, sie, als erbij wijse t'u't heel's, q. e. see he is like a bee [the type of diligence and care], as soon as he finds the whole affair is already accomplished [done, finished]; look at him, how devilish active he is, now he knows all is done the affair [in question] required. Als, as. Bije, bee. Sie, behold. Erbij, erby, thereby. Wijse is the subjunctive mood of wijsen, to make known, to show, to indicate. T'u, with you, auprés de vous, and sounds two. 'T, 'et, het, it, the affair in question. Heel, entire, complete, wanting nothing. 'S, is, is. 'S, is, is. T'heel's, te heel's, sounds as we pronounce tails. HE IS AS MUCH BEHIND AS A COW'S TAIL. Generally applied to some reserved, sly person; some absurdly mysterious personage; to an ambassador. Hij is als muys beheind; als er gauw's te el; q. e. he is as quiet and as much upon the look out, as a mouse when it can't get away [when it is enclosed]; as a sly-fox-personage is when he is from home [on a visit]. The mouse lies still and watches its opportunity to escape; the sly man says little, but hears and watches. And thus infers one who lays himself under an affected and consequently ridiculous restraint for his own purposes, but which are seen through and afford diversion to those he intends to impose upon. Muys, muis, mouse, mus. Gauw, sly, cunning; but here used substantively and sneeringly, as when we use the term sly-fox, close fellow, laughingly. Beheind has been already accounted for, and me surrounded, hedged-in. HE IS AS FINE AS FIVE-PEN In relation to one dressed in bad ta much finery; in a tawdry manner; un vulgarly bedizened], but who is, f proper feeling, unconscious of his ow Hij is als fyn als wie hij peins; q. e as near the point of perfection as his may suggest to him; that is, he may dressed in the tip-top style of proprie of perfection, though nobody else ma him in that respect. Fyn, id quod in fectum, omnibusque venustatis numeri tum; perfection itself. It is the habitu ation of five-pence, as fip-ence, which ha this travesty. W, v, and f, intermuta The latin vidua is the same word w and our fire, with the dutch vuyr, vuer AS CLEAN AS A PENNY. It was done as clean as a penny; easily, neatly, adroitly, without diffic ease. Als glij in aes er pinne; q. e. as a skewer runs into flesh; as easily a goes into a piece of meat; as a skewer s into flesh, meat; implying meat in a for food, or else that which is eaten as who eats what a skewer will not go int a skewer, a pin. Aes, eatables, meat, te carrion; but here not sounded as aes br as es; and aesen, to feed, is also spelt in, sounds clean, the ij being as ee, ea, c convertible letters. AS CLEAN AS A WHISTLE. It was done as clean as a whistle; a sense of the act in question was perform neatly suddenly and without bustle. aes er huij stil; q. e. as rapidly and imperceptibly (stilly) as whey separates from the rest of the substance (the curd) and thus forms food, eatable matter; and what process can take place with greater quickness, silence, and requisite efficiency than that of the separation of whey (serum) from the curd (coagulum), throughout which, the instant before, it had been homogeneously distributed? Glijden, glijen, to glide. Huij, hoij, weije, weij, wei, are the same word with our whey. Hui is uttered whi. Stil, stilly, imperceptibly. POOR PILL GARLICK. Here I am, poor Pill Garlick! uttered in the form of a soliloquy, but intended for the ear of one, from whom either sympathy or assistance is expected. And is as much as to say, do observe what a miserable plight I am in. Puur pille gaer lijck; quite like a piece of something stripped off purely to be thrown away; quite like a piece of rind, removed as worthless, and thus an outcast (cast off); in the sense of one who calls upon you to view him in such light; in a forlorn [destitute] situation. Pelle,pille, pel, pil, peeling [rind, shell] thus as that which is cast off and thrown away after having served the purpose it was intended for; and so, not an unapt type of one who is treated with neglect and indifference, as worthless to him to whom he has become no longer of use. Our term pill (plunder), peel and pull, are the same word, as will be explained in another page. Puer, puur, pure, mere, Gar lijck, altogether (quite), like. "And ye shull her how the Tapster made the pardoner PULL† GARLICK all the long nyghte til it was nerend day; For the more chere she made of love, the falser was her lay." CHAUCER. i. e. Hear. i. e. Kept the pardoner (a traveller employed in former days by the church to sell receipts for the money paid for absolution) in a woeful state of misery, made him make a ridiculously miserable figure by jilting him. VOL. I E "And with the staff she drew aye ner and ner, And smote the Millere in the PILLEDS skull CHAUCER. A GALLANTEE (GALLANTY) SHOW. So called-now confined to fairs and public streets; and which consists of a case or box (with stage and puppets) carried [drawn] about by the showman, who is also mouthpiece to the performance. The ellipsis of a gallantee show-man. Er kall end tije schouw-man; q. e. there's both talk and conveyance for the show; there's the man who talks for, and who moves and carries the show; the mouthpiece and carrier on of the spectacle. Kallen, to talk, to chatter. Kal, talk. Tijen, to get on, to go on, to proceed. So that kal, kall, is as the talk and tije [the contraction of tijing, the participle present used substantively] as the carrying on or progress of the show. The phrase then comes out as, the one who is the talk and action of the show, and without whom the show would be without either. G and k corresponding sounds. Tije is pronounced as we do tee, tea. RAREE-SHOW. A show consisting in feats of dancing, tumbling, &c. performed by puppets [dolls] made to gesticulate by wires managed by the show-man. I take raree to be as reijerie, reijre, the participle present of reijeren, to shake, to jump, to dance up and down; and thus reijre-schouw (raree-show) would be a show consisting of figures dancing about, moving with quickness up and down; and such is the motion we see in the play of puppets in a show of this kind. To ride, is from the same source; in the import of, to move up and down, as is done by him who rides. Reijere, as reijering; the e being i. e. Thought to have. ́§i. e. Bald, peeled, pilled, pulled, and so bare. the usual form of the contraction of the, in Dutch, obselete ing. Schouw and show are the same word. Johnson says the phrase is as rare and show. Are there no odder sights than a puppet show? mere whim! CAT-IN-PAN. He turned cat-in-pan; he became a traitor; he betrayed the cause he had embraced; he acted as he does who acquires information from friendly confidence, while he watches the occasion to betray it to the injury of him to whom he owed it; in fine, to act in the combined character of spy and informer. Guet-a-pens; the term used in French for a treacherous waylaying, a watching in concealment for the opportunity of doing injury to the victim marked out. The root seems to be the Freesish gatjepan, colander, strainer; in Dutch doorslag, (gatenplatiel); which last term means literally a platter full of holes or eyes. Oogig and gatig, in the sense of, full of eyes or holes, in relation to substances to which they apply, are synonymous and used indifferently. In the same way, we say, the cheese is full of holes, or the cheese is full of eyes. An Italian proverb has pane con occhi, cacio senz' occhi; bread should be full of eyes; cheese without. We say, the eye of a needle, for the hole in a needle; so do the Dutch. In the term hooks and eyes; eyes is, as loop-holes; and so again in Dutch. But it were needless to adduce more instances of the community in signification of the two words. It is, however, this interchange of import, which has given rise to the colander having been adopted as a type of a re-union of countless eyes; and so, figuratively, of great vigilance; and which vigilance in the course of usage has extended to the import [sense] of watchfulness in a bad cause; for an undue purpose. We say, he is all eyes; in the meaning of, he is upon the alert; upon the look |