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                           PHRASES AND NAMES
                           THEIR ORIGINS AND
                                MEANINGS

------------------------------------------------------------------------

                           PHRASES AND NAMES
                           THEIR ORIGINS AND
                                MEANINGS

                                   BY
                           TRENCH H. JOHNSON

          “_How did such and such a country, city, town,
          street, river, natural curiosity, or world-renowned
          edifice obtain its name? Whence arose a particular
          sobriquet, nickname, byword, epithet, or slang term?
          What was the origin of the thousand-and-one phrases
          and expressions engrafted upon our vocabulary which
          would appear to have no meaning whatever? These
          things are worthy of investigation._”

                              PHILADELPHIA
                        J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY
                                 LONDON
                            T. WERNER LAURIE




                                PREFACE


_Few words are necessary to introduce this work to the reader. It
partakes of the nature of an encyclopædia, with the saving clause that
the information it sets forth is confined to a plain statement of facts.
Verbal embellishments have been studiously avoided. Those who seek for
additional intelligence may easily obtain it from ordinarily available
sources. To account for the origin of popular phrases and names has been
the author’s sole design. To the best of his knowledge, no other work of
the kind exists. From the stores of his own knowledge, acquired through
many years of omnivorous reading, patient inquiry, and investigation, he
has been enabled to bring together an_ Olla podrida _which should go far
towards supplying a want_.

_The origin of place-names is interesting in that it opens up the
history of peoples and the civilising influences, if so one might term
it, of conquest. London street-names, in particular, convey in one word
to a person of antiquarian tastes as much meaning as “a volume of
forgotten lore.” As to phrases and expressions, the author has made a
special study of the subject. A great many Americanisms have been
included, but as the number is daily increasing it would require a
monthly publication of such home-made phrases to keep fully abreast with
the times. That nothing should be wanting in the way of exhaustiveness,
it has been thought advisable to incorporate in the text a number of
slang terms and expressions which daily assail one’s ears. To the author
the compilation of this volume has been a pleasant recreation in the
intervals of more exacting literary labours. If it be found to contain a
plethora of good things, the reader will, of course, take them out in
small doses._

                                                          _T. H. J._

LONDON, 1906.




                           Phrases and Names


                                   A


=A1.= An expression meaning “first-rate.” Derived from Lloyd’s “Registry
    of Shipping,” in which letters denote the quality of a ship’s hull,
    and figures that of its equipment. A vessel registered A1 is of the
    first class in all respects.

=Abbey Laird.= An insolvent debtor who in former times sought the
    sanctuary of the precincts of Holyrood Abbey against arrest.

=Abbey Road.= From the ancient abbey of the Holy Virgins of St John the
    Baptist in St John’s Wood.

=Abbotsford.= The name given by Sir Walter Scott to his residence on the
    banks of the Tweed, from the poetical assumption that the abbots of
    Melrose must have forded the stream hereabouts in olden times.

=A.B.C. Girls.= Waitresses at the depots of the Aerated Bread Company
    Limited.

=Aberdeen.= From the Celtic _aber_, estuary, confluence; the town at the
    mouth of the Dee.

=Abernethy Biscuits.= From the name of the baker who introduced them.
    Their connection with Dr Abernethy was repudiated by the great
    physician himself.

=Aberystwith.= The town