Part 21

=Pop the Question.= A corruption of “Propose the question of marriage.”

=Porkopolis.= The nickname of Chicago and Cincinnati, both world-renowned cities in relation to the pork-packing industry.

=Port.= The native wine of Portugal, shipped from Oporto.

=Porte.= The official designation of the Government of Turkey, because anciently justice was administered at the _porta_, or gate, of the Sultan’s palace.

=Porter.= Another name for “Entire,” which was first retailed at “The Blue Last” in Curtain Road, Finsbury. Finding that it was in great request by the porters who frequented that house of call, the publican dropped the name of “Entire” and called it “Porter.”

=Portland Place.= After William Bentinck, second Duke of Portland, the owner of the estate.

=Portman Square.= After Edward Berkeley Portman, Viscount Portman of Bryanstone, Dorsetshire, the great ground landlord.

=Portmanteau.= From the French _porter_, to carry, and _manteau_, a cloak; literally a receptacle for a cloak on a journey.

=Porto Rico.= Express the Spanish for “rich port.”

=Portsmouth.= The seaport town built at the mouth of the harbour.

=Portsoken Ward.= One of the wards of the city of London, so called because anciently the thirteen knights styled the “English Knighten Guild,” claimed the _soken_, or franchise, at the _porta_, or gate, to their ward in return for services rendered to King Edgar by their ancestors.

=Portugal.= From the ancient name of the capital city, _Portus Cale_, “the gate of Gaul.”

=Portugal Street.= In compliment to Catherine of Braganza, queen of Charles II.

=Portuguese Hymn.= The “Adesta Fidelis,” so called from the erroneous assumption of the Duke of Leeds that it was part of the regular service in Catholic Portugal, since he first heard it sung in the private chapel of the Portuguese Ambassador in London.

=Portway.= The name given to that portion of a great Roman highway in this country wherever it was crossed by an arch or within sight of a walled city; from _porta_, gate.

=Poser.= A corruption of “Opposer”; derived from collegiate argumentative examinations.

=Poses Plastiques.= French for “statuesque attitudes.”

=Poster.= So called because auction, play, and other public announcements were first exhibited on the posts separating the roadway from the side walk. Being stuck on these posts, the bills were said to be “posted.”

=Post Paper.= So called from the original watermark, a post horn, which it bore.

=Pot Boilers.= Specifically pictures painted by a poor artist for ready sale to a dealer in order to “Keep the pot boiling.” The term is also employed by authors and journalists in the same sense.

=Pothooks.= The nickname of the 77th Foot, owing to the fancied resemblance of these two figures to pothooks.

=Pot Luck.= Anything ready at hand for a meal. The allusion is to the primitive stock pot, into which meat and vegetables were thrown at any time for boiling up as required.

=Potomac.= Indian for “place of the burning pine.”

=Poultry.= Where the scorchers and stuffers of poultry in connection with the old Stocks Market on the site of the Mansion House had their shops.

=Pouter Pigeon.= So called on account of its pouting or bulging breast.

=Powis Place.= Marks the site of the town house of William Herbert, Marquis of Powis, _temp._ Charles I.

=Prairie State.= Illinois, which for the most part consists of prairie lands.

=Praise-God Barebone.= A fanatical leader of the time of the Commonwealth, and a prominent member of the “Barebone Parliament,” who was addicted to praising God and damning his neighbours. This kind of hypocrisy was characteristic of the Puritans.

=Pratt Street.= After one of the family names of the Earl of Brecknock, Marquis of Camden, landlord of the estate.

=Presbyterians.= From the Greek _presbuteros_, an elder. The National Church of Scotland is governed not by prelates, as in England, but by elders, equal in office and power.

=Press Yard.= The open courtyard between the Sessions House and Newgate Prison. Those who refused to plead when put upon their trial were pressed to death with heavy weights.

=Preston.= A corruption of “Priests’ Town,” so called on account of its many ancient monastic establishments.

=Pretoria.= In honour of Pretorius, the first President of the Boer Republic in South Africa.

=Pretty Kettle of Fish.= Save that the second word should be “Kiddle,” expressive of a basket placed in a river for catching fish, this expression is very old. During the time of the Plantagenets the warder of the Tower claimed the right of trapping fish outside Traitors’ Gate in this way for his own benefit; but the citizens of London systematically made a raid upon his kiddles, and destroyed them. “A pretty kiddle of fish indeed!” he was wont to exclaim to the Beefeaters on discovering the damage done to his preserves.

=Primitive Methodists.= The original Methodists, those who resort to open-air preaching and singing, after the style of Wesley and Whitfield. On account of their “Camp Meetings” they are styled also Ranters.

=Primrose.= So far from expressing the first or spring rose, the term is a corruption of the Italian _primerola_, the first spring flower.

=Primrose Day.= The 19th of April bears this name because it is the anniversary of the death of Lord Beaconsfield, 1881. When the body of this great statesman was laid to rest his coffin was adorned by a wreath sent by Queen Victoria, and superscribed “His favourite flower.” This gave rise to the formation of the Primrose League and the annual decoration of the Beaconsfield Statue at Westminster with a wreath of primroses on this day.

=Prince of Wales’s Feathers.= See “Plume and Feathers.”

=Prince of Wales Island.= Named in compliment to the Prince Regent, afterwards George IV.

=Princes Street.= Laid out on the site of the old Westminster Mews, and so named on account of its proximity to King Street.

=Printer’s Devil.= When Caxton introduced printing into England many people regarded it as an invention of the devil. This idea was also fostered by his boys, whose hands and faces were besmeared with ink. They were accordingly called “Imps” and “Devils.” Since his day the boys engaged in feeding the printing press have not improved in their personal appearance. Young devils they are, and young devils they will remain until the end of time.

=Printing House Square.= This, the courtyard of _The Times_ office, was formerly covered by the King’s Printing House, where King James’s Bible was printed, and which for centuries had the monopoly of turning out Bibles for the people.

=Priory.= This term denoted a lesser house or branch establishment of an abbey, under the control of a Prior or Prioress, who had the prior claim to election as Abbot or Abbess of the mother community.

=Private Boxes.= The idea of these adjuncts to a theatre auditorium was derived from Spain, where plays were formerly performed in a public square, the ordinary spectators being accommodated on the ground, while the grandees looked on from the windows of the houses.

=Privy.= See “Petty.”

=Pro-Cathedral.= The beautiful Catholic Church in High Street, Kensington, erected as a provisional cathedral at the time when the present Westminster Cathedral was first mooted.

=Profile.= The outline of a side view, so called from the Italian _profilo_, and Latin _filum_, a thread.

=Protectionist.= One who advocates the protection of home industries by levying imposts on foreign merchandise.

=Protestants.= Those who, with the Lutherans of Germany, protested against the decree of the Emperor Charles V. This decree was ostensibly to invoke the aid of the German princes against the Turks, but really to restore peace and order after the disturbances caused by Martin Luther’s opposition to the Church of Rome. From this protest the Reformers received the name of “Protestants.”

=Prussia.= A Western corruption of _Porussia_, which expresses the Slavonic for “near Russia.”

=Prussian Blue.= After its inventor, Diesbach of Berlin, in 1710.

=Prussic Acid.= Originally the acid of “Prussian Blue,” but nowadays obtained from cyanide of iron.

=Pye Street= (Old and New). See “New Way.”

=Pymmes Park.= This new suburban “lung” at Edmonton comprised the grounds in connection with the lordly mansion built by William Pymme, which was mentioned in 1593 as the residence of the great Lord Burleigh, and in 1612 as that of Robert Cecil, Earl of Salisbury.

=Pythagoreans.= The school of philosophy founded by Pythagoras.

=Public-house.= A house of public resort for refreshment and conviviality. It may be either an inn or a tavern in the modern sense.

=Pudding.= From Stow’s description of “Pudding Lane” it would seem that the puddings of his day were scarcely edible productions. The word is derived from the Celtic _poten_, a bag, and was applied originally in the sense of a modern hog’s pudding or black pudding--to wit, a sausage.

=Pudding Lane.= Whether or not the Great Fire of London broke out in the house of the King’s baker, as generally stated, the lane did not receive its name from the royal bakery. Old Stow tells us it was so called “because the butchers of Eastcheap have their scalding-house for hogs there, and their puddings with other filth of beasts are voided down that way to their dung boats on the Thames.”

=Pudding-time.= The old name for “dinner-time,” because, as still is the custom in some parts of the country, the pudding was served before the meat.

=Pueblo Indian.= One who in the western states has been brought under Catholic influences, and lives in a village, where he subsists by agriculture. The word _Pueblo_ is Spanish for village.

=Pukes.= A corruption of Pikes, generally applied to the natives of Missouri, who originally settled in Pike County of that state.

=Pullman Car.= After its inventor, Pullman of Chicago.

=Pull up Stakes.= An Americanism for to pack up one’s belongings and remove elsewhere. The expression has, of course, reference to dismantling a tent among a mining community.

=Pumps.= Dancing shoes bear this name in allusion to the fashionable assemblies in the pump-room at the Western Spas when Beau Nash, styled “King of Bath,” presided over the ceremonies.

=Punch.= From the Hindoo _panch_, five, this beverage being composed of five ingredients: spirit, sugar, lemon juice, spice, and water.

=Punch and Judy.= A hybrid form of entertainment evolved out of an old mystery play, _Pontius cum Judæis_ (“Pontius Pilate and the Jews”).

=Punic Wars.= Those waged between Rome and Carthage. By the Romans the Carthaginians were called the _Puni_, a corruption of _Phœni_, in allusion to their descent from the Phœnicians.

=Punitive Expedition.= A petty war with the set purpose of inflicting a well-merited punishment upon a rebellious tribe. The word “punitive” is derived from the Latin _pœna_, penalty.

=Punjab.= Expresses the Persian for “five rivers.”

=Punkah.= From the Hindoo _pankha_, a fan.

=Puritans.= Those who affected a greater degree of holiness or purity than their neighbours. They were to the Anglicans and Roman Catholics of the time of Charles I. and the Commonwealth what the Pharisees were to the Jews.

=Purple.= This dye, in which the people of Tyre excelled, was discovered in the following manner:--One day a favourite dog of Hercules of Tyre ate a species of fish known to the ancients by the name of _purpura_, and on returning to his master his lips were found to be tinged with the colour, which, after a few experiments, Hercules successfully imitated.

=Purse Strings.= In the days of our grandfathers, when hasp and clasp purses were unknown, the only kind of purse was a small money bag secured round its mouth by a tape or string. To “tighten one’s purse strings” was therefore to be proof against almsgiving or money-lending.

=Putney.= Described in ancient documents as _Puttaney_, or “Putta’s Isle.”

Q

=Quack.= The name borne by an itinerant trader, who makes a great noise in open market, quacking like a duck in his efforts to dispose of wares that are not genuine; hence anyone nowadays who follows a profession which he does not rightly understand. A “Quack Doctor” was formerly styled a _Quack Salver_, from the salves, lotions, and medicines he dispensed to the crowd at the street corners.

=Quadragesima Sunday.= The first Sunday of Lent, expressing in round numbers forty days before Easter.

=Quadrant.= The Piccadilly end of Regent Street, so called because it describes a quarter of a circle.

=Quadrille.= Expresses the French for “a little square,” in allusion to the positions taken up by the dancers.

=Quadroon.= A Mulatto being half-blooded, like a mule, the offspring of such a woman by a white man is black-blooded to the degree of one-fourth.

=Quaker City.= Philadelphia, the seat of the Quaker colony founded by William Penn.

=Quaker Poet.= The sobriquet of Bernard Barton.

=Quakers.= The origin of this designation of the “Society of Friends” is thus given by George Fox, the founder of the sect in his _Journal_: “Justice Bennet of Derby was the first to call us ‘Quakers,’ because I bade him quake and tremble at the word of the Lord.” This occurred in 1650.

=Quarantine.= Agreeably to the French _quarantaine_, the period of a ship’s detention outside a port in the circumstances of infectious disease should be forty days.

=Quarter Sessions.= See “Petty Sessions.”

=Quarto.= In the printing and stationery trades this term expresses a sheet of paper which, when folded into quarters, makes four leaves or eight pages.

=Quassia.= A tonic obtained from the bark of a tree of South America, the virtues of which were discovered by a Negro of this name.

=Quatemala.= When the Indians who accompanied Alvarado into this region discovered the ruins of an ancient palace of the kings beside an old worm-eaten tree they assumed this to be the centre of the country, and gave it the name of _Quahtemali_, “a decayed log of wood.”

=Quebec.= Indian for “take care of the rock.”

=Queen Anne’s Bounty.= A perpetual fund raised by the augmentation of the tithes and first-fruits at the instance of Queen Anne for the benefit of the poor clergy whose incomes are insufficient for their proper maintenance.

=Queen Anne’s Square.= Like the gate and the street further west of the same name, this was built during the reign of Queen Anne.

=Queen Charlotte Island.= In honour of Queen Charlotte, the consort of George III.

=Queen City of the Lakes.= Buffalo, in the state of New York, situated at the junction of the Erie Canal with Lake Erie.

=Queen City of the Mountains.= Knoxville (Tennessee), admirably situated on the hills overlooking the Upper Tennessee River.

=Queen City of the Plains.= Regina, in the north-western territory.

=Queen City of the West.= Cincinnati (Ohio), so called in virtue of its fine situation, beautiful parks, and noble architectural features. Also styled “The Queen City” and “Queen of the West.”

=Queen Elizabeth’s Walk.= In compliment to Queen Elizabeth, who often visited the Earl of Leicester when he resided in this portion of Stoke Newington.

=Queenhithe.= So called because the tolls collected at this _hithe_, or wharf, were appropriated by Eleanor, Queen of Henry II., for her pin money.

=Queen of Hearts.= Elizabeth, Queen of Bohemia, the daughter of James I., who by her amiable disposition endeared herself to all hearts.

=Queen of Watering-places.= Scarborough.

=Queen’s College.= At Oxford, founded by Robert de Eglesfield, the confessor of Philippa, queen of Edward III., in her honour. At Cambridge, founded by Margaret of Anjou, queen of Henry VI.

=Queen’s Hall.= Built on the site of the Langham Hall, and opened in 1893, this high-class concert hall was named after the late Queen Victoria.

=Queen’s Head Street.= From the ancient inn, “The Queen’s Head,” now modernised, at its juncture with Essex Road. Queen Elizabeth is said to have slept at this hostelry on several occasions.

=Queensland.= This portion of Australia received its name in honour of Queen Victoria, when in 1859 it became an independent colony.

=Queen’s Square.= After Queen Anne, in whose reign it was laid out.

=Queen Street.= In Cheapside, from a permanent wooden balcony situated between Bow Church and this corner for the accommodation of the reigning queen and her ladies when jousts and tournaments were held here. In Mayfair, after the queen of Charles II., in whose reign it was built.

=Queen’s Tobacco Pipe.= The name given to the furnace at the London Docks where contraband tobacco was formerly consumed. This custom obtained down to within the last few years of the reign of Queen Victoria.

=Queenstown.= Originally styled “The Cove of Cork,” this Irish seaport received its present name on the occasion of the visit of Queen Victoria in 1850.

=Queen’s Weather.= Throughout the long reign of the late Queen Victoria it was remarkable that, whenever she appeared abroad on the occasion of a public function, glorious weather favoured her invariably; hence the expression “Queen’s Weather” came to be applied to a fine day for a summer outing.

=Queen Victoria Street.= A modern thoroughfare, named after the late Queen Victoria.

=Queue.= Expresses the French for a tail, like that of a periwig or peruke. In the sense of a line of people waiting outside the doors of a theatre the term has latterly become popular on both sides of the English Channel.

=Quick Lunch.= An American stand-up luncheon served with expedition.

=Quicksilver.= Living or moving silver. _Quick_ is old English for “living”; hence “The Quick and the Dead.”

=Quidnunc.= One who is always inquiring after news. “What news?” is the literal interpretation of the term. As a personal designation, it originated in the name of the chief character in Murphy’s farce, “The Upholsterer, or What News?” A kind of political Paul Pry.

=Quid of Tobacco.= A corruption of “Cud,” because it is used for chewing. The allusion is to the cud chewed by ruminating animals.

=Quids.= The slang term for cash, properly restricted to gold. A sovereign is called a “Quid” in allusion to the Latin phrase, _Quid pro quo_, something of equal value, which change for a sovereign truly is.

=Quill-driver.= The popular designation of a clerk. Quill pens having been supplanted by those of steel, it is scarcely appropriate in our time.

=Quinquagesima Sunday.= The name given in the Church calendar to the Sunday preceding Ash Wednesday or the commencement of Lent; approximately fifty days before Easter.

=Quit Rent.= A rental anciently paid by a tenant to a baron with a view of being relieved or quit of feudal service.

=Quod.= The slang term for prison; also “Quad.” See “In Quad.”

R

=Rabbi.= The title of a Jewish expounder of the Law. The word is Greek for “My Master,” through the Hebrew _rabi_, from the root _rab_, lord, chief.

=Rack.= From the Saxon _wrocan_ and German _recken_, to stretch. The word is therefore correctly applied to the instrument of torture of former days.

=Rack Rent.= A term expressing the actual full annual value of land as paid from the earliest times, not modified by circumstances. See “Rack.”

=Radcliffe Library.= Founded at Oxford by the celebrated physician, Dr John Radcliffe, in Radcliffe Square, also named after him.

=Radicals.= That advanced section of the Liberal party, whose set purpose it is to root out the evils, according to their view, of our constitutional system which are systematically maintained by the Conservatives. The term first came into notice in 1818, when a strenuous effort was made to institute a radical change in the Parliamentary representation of the country. This paved the way for the Reform Act of 1832.

=Radnor.= The modern form of _Rhiadnwr-Gwy_, signifying “The Cataract of the Wye.” This is in reference to the beautiful cascade, with a fall of seventy feet, called “The Water-break-its-Neck,” the great natural feature in the vicinity of the county town.

=Rag.= Theatrical slang for the curtain, having originally reference to the green baize. Also military slang for the national flag, and the members’ colloquial term for the Army and Navy Club.

=Rag Fair.= The name given to the old clothes mart in Petticoat Lane, now Middlesex Street, Aldgate, on Sunday mornings.

=Ragged Regiment.= Dilapidated waxen effigies of several English monarchs and persons of note that were borne through the streets at the obsequies of the subjects represented. They are located in Islip’s Chapel, Westminster Abbey.

=Ragging.= In military parlance this word expresses the system of persecution by which an unpopular man suffers indignities at the hands of his comrades. It has the same meaning as the North Country “Rag,” to enrage or make angry, and “Bullyrag,” to administer a severe scolding. The latter, however, of which the former is an abbreviation, has not been derived from the Dutch _bulderen_, to scold or bully, as is generally supposed, but from the custom of the Spanish bullfighters of waving a red cloak in front of the bull in order to excite him to fury. This is the _rag_ referred to. The corresponding United States term for “ragging” is “Hazing.”

=Rag Money.= American slang for paper money.

=Rag Time.= An Americanism for a dancing frolic of the “go-as-you-please” order, in which musical time and rhythm are, as it were, torn into shreds; a ragged, loose, disconnected, unconventional time. The term has been well explained by an authoritative writer in _The Referee_ as follows:--“Rag time is the outcome of ‘Rag Speech,’ a speech that casts tradition, balance, beauty, elegance, and refinement to the winds, and that believes that more effect can be made by punching certain syllables into the brain of the listener. Technically speaking, ‘Rag Time’ shifts the strong accent from the first to the second beat of the bar. Against this there is a cross-rhythm with a kind of halting contrapuntal ornamentation in the accompaniment, which sometimes brings a stress on to the fourth beat of the bar. The result of this irregularity and false quantity is to destroy the rhythm to an extent that often makes it difficult to say whether the music is in duple or triple measure. The musical consequence is the breaking down of symmetrical form, and the tendency is to reduce the organised structure to its component parts.”

=Railroad City.= Indianapolis, a junction of the great trunk lines.

=Railway King.= The sobriquet of George Hudson, Chairman of the Midland Railway Company, who amassed a huge fortune by successful speculations in the early days of railway enterprise.

=Rains Cats and Dogs.= This expression is traceable to two distinct sources--popular superstition and Scandinavian mythology. Witches who rode the storm on broomsticks were believed to have the power of transforming themselves into cats at will, while the dog or wolf is represented as the attendant of Odin, the Storm King of the northern nations.

=Rainy Day Smith.= John Thomas Smith, the antiquary, whose chatty volume, “A Book for a Rainy Day,” brought him more money and reputation than all his other works put together.

=Raise your Screw.= This expression arose out of the custom of masters paying their employées’ wages screwed up in a tiny paper of uniform size. The more money it contained the less tightly the paper could be screwed; hence an advance of wages implied metaphorically giving the screw one turn backwards.

=Rake the Pot.= An American gambling phrase meaning to seize the stakes.

=Ram and Teazle.= A tavern sign common to the woollen manufacturing districts, this being the device of the Clothworkers’ Company.

=Ranch.= From the Spanish _rancho_, a hut of posts, covered with branches or thatch, in which herdsman or farm labourers in the western states of North America lodge by night.

=Rand.= Expresses the Dutch, specifically in South Africa, for a mining district.

=Ranelagh Gardens.= This fashionable public resort, now built over, occupied the site of Ranelagh House and its grounds, owned by an Irish peer, whose title it bore.

=Ranters.= Another name for the “Primitive Methodists.”

=Rape.= The name given to a division under the Danes of the county of Sussex, from the Norse _repp_, a district.

=Rapier.= This species of sword being eminently adapted for rapid thrusting and withdrawing, its name, from the Latin _rapere_, to snatch away, is appropriate.

=Rappahannock.= Indian for “quick-rising waters.”

=Rapparee.= The name given to an Irish plunderer, because he was armed with a _rapera_, or half pike.