book XI

., ch. ii. The mistress was no sooner in bed than the maid prepared to follow her example. She began to make many apologies to her sister Abigail for leaving her alone in so horrid a place as an inn. 1858. G. Eliot, Mr. Gilfil’s Love-Story, ch. iii. The next morning, Mrs. Sharp, then a blooming Abigail of three-and-thirty, entered her lady’s private room. It has been stated that Old English writers used the word Abigail to signify a termagant woman, and also a female bigamist, but there is no evidence to support these views. It may be mentioned that the French use the word in the popular English sense. A waiting woman was also formerly called a comb-brush (q.v.). Ablewhackets, also Abelwhackets, Abelwackets, subs. (nautical).—[From able (uncertain, perhaps alluding to able seaman) + whack]. A game of cards played by sailors, in which the loser receives a whack or blow with a knotted handkerchief for every game (or point) he loses. Smyth, in his Sailor’s Word Book [1867], says it is very popular with horny-fisted salts. It is quoted by Grose as far back as 1785, but Clark Russell, in Sailor’s Language [1883], refers to it as obsolete. Abound, v. (American).—To be prominent; en évidence. 1873. Evening Standard, 28 January. When we are told of a professed wit more than usually abounding at an evening party, there is no temptation to recruit our dictionaries from the English manufactured in the United States. About East, adv. phr. (American).—To the frontiersman or pioneer, the Eastern or New England States are typical of all that he cherishes most and loves best. The vicissitudes of his rough Western life, the toil and hardships he has undergone while battling with nature and building up a new habitation far from the old homestead, all predispose him to turn with longing eyes and undying, though quaintly exaggerated love to the East—the home of his fathers. A famous Yankee character (Major Jack Downing) makes use of the expression that he would ‘Go East of sunrise any day to see sich a place.’ Everybody and everything connected with the East, i.e., his native land, is commendable. To his mind they cannot be surpassed—hence the things he would hold up to admiration he says are about East, i.e., ‘about right.’ Indeed, it is surprising what a strong hold this idea has upon the minds of men. Many a familiar phrase recalls the old times and the old folks to memory, which, in this respect, is evergreen. They talk of going down East, that is, to New England, while the Down-Easter is neither more nor less than the pure and veritable Yankee.—Farmer’s Americanisms, Old and New. About Right, adv. phr. (vulgar).—Correctly; to the purpose; properly—general satisfaction on the part of the speaker concerning a given thing or action. ’Arry sometimes varies the locution by ter rights (q.v.). 1850. F. E. Smedley, Frank Fairleigh, ch. iv. ‘You’re about right, there, Mr. Lawless; you’re down to every move, I see, as usual.’ 1883. Hawley Smart, Hard Lines, ch. xxii. ‘I am afraid your schemes went a little awry yesterday,’ observed Mrs. Daventry.... ‘You’re about right; they did.’ About the Size of It, adv. phr. (American).—1. An expression covering a wide field—assent, general satisfaction, approval, etc. Synonymous with about right; o.k.; ter rights, etc. 2. Used also for ‘how’; ‘how much,’ etc.—a measure of quantity or quality. 1876 (?). James Greenwood, New ‘Roughs’ Guide’ in ‘Odd People in Odd Places.’ Got no home, no wittles, and never a ’a’penny to buy none with. That’s about the size of how destitoot we are, sir. 1881. Punch, May 14, p. 228. Sir G[orgius] M[idas] goes in for Culture. “Look ’ere, Clarke. ‘Appy thought! I’ll make this little room the libery, you know; ’ave a lot o’ books. Mind you order me some.’ ‘Yes, Sir Gorgius. What sort of books shall I order?’ ‘Oh, the best, of course, with binding and all that to match!’ ‘Yes, Sir Gorgius, how many shall I order?’ ‘Well,—let me see,—suppose we say a couple o’ ’undred yards of ’em, hay? That’s about the size of it, I think.” Above Board, adv. phr. (common).—Without disguise or concealment; with an absence of artifice. Jamieson refers this to the language of the gaming table, the players when changing cards putting their hands on, i.e., above the table or board to ensure fair dealing. It appears, however, even in its figurative sense to be a colloquialism of long standing.—See Murray’s New English Dictionary. Above One’s Bend, adv. phr. (American).—See Bend. Above Par, adv. phr. (familiar).—Used figuratively in a multitude of senses, e.g. (1) in reference to one’s health or spirits, in good condition; (2) applied to a man in liquor it signifies a state of moderate drunkenness; or (3) used in regard to pecuniary matters it is synonymous with being ‘flush,’ having ‘the needful’—‘best bliss of earth,’ as Duncombe puts it. Derived from the technical, commercial meaning. Stocks are said to be at par when purchasable at their ‘face’ value; when at a premium they are above par; and when selling at a decline in value, i.e., at a discount, they are said to be below par; hence the colloquial usage. See example in quotation. Synonyms, up to, or above the mark. 1880. Punch, June 5, p. 253. Fred on Pretty Girls and Pictures. Awful fellow that Ted at his letters!—he writes for the Scanmag, you know; And his style never falls below ‘par.’ Not my joke, heard him putting it so——. And the pars in the Scanmag—he does them—are proper, and chock full of ‘go.’ Only paper I care to grind through, never preachy, or gushing, or slow! Abracadabra, subs. (scientific jargon).——1.—A cabalistic word used in incantations. When written in a manner similar to that shown in accompanying diagram, so as to be read in different directions, and worn as an amulet, it was supposed to cure certain ailments. A B R A C A D A B R A A B R A C A D A B R A B R A C A D A B A B R A C A D A A B R A C A D A B R A C A A B R A C A B R A A B R A B A Hence (2), any word-charm, empty jingle of words, gibberish, nonsense, or extravagant idea. Littré’s derivation from the Hebrew—ab father, mach spirit, and dabar word—is regarded by many authorities as fanciful; as also is T. A. G. Balfour’s reference of it to a composition of the first letters of the Hebrew words signifying ‘Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.’ Other authorities, though by no means in accord, generally agree that a Persian origin is the most likely. Mr. R. S. Charnock (Notes and Queries, 7 S., iii., 504) thinks it related to the cabalistic word abraxas composed of the Greek letters α, β, ρ, α, ξ, α, ς, making, according to the Greek numeration, the number 365. Des auteurs beaucoup plus anciens n’ont vu dans le mot abraxas, qu’une réunion des lettres numériques, qui étant additionées donnent le nombre 365, ou l’année entière, en sorte qu’ abraxas serait le symbole du soleil ou de sa révolution annuelle presumée.—Depping. In Persian, according to Grotenford, abraxas means the ‘Sun God’; if this be so its use as a talisman is easily understood. Yet another derivation is from a corrupt form of the Hebrew—dabar is verbū, and abraca is benedixit, i.e., verbum benedixit. If, however, the word is Semitic at all, and nothing more than an unintelligible jargon of letters, it could possibly be better explained than by Littré, by Abra(i) seda bra(i), ‘Out, bad spirit, out!’ as a magic formula for driving out the demon which causes the fever. It is interesting in this connection to compare Mark i. 25, ix. 25, and parallel passages. 1687. Aubrey’s Remaines of Gentilisme, p. 124 (1881). [In this work abracadabra is given arranged as a spell.] 1711. Spectator, No. 221. They [the signatures] are, perhaps, little amulets or charms to preserve the paper against the fascination and malice of evil eyes; for which reason I would not have my reader surprised, if hereafter he sees any of my papers marked with a Q, a Z, a Y, an &c., or with the word abracadabra. 1722. Defoe, Journal of the Plague (ed. Brayley, 1835, p. 56). ‘This mysterious word, which, written in the form of a triangle or a pyramid, was regarded as a talisman or charm of wonderful power, is said to have been the name of a Syrian god, whose aid was considered to be invoked by the wearers of the amulet. It originated in the superstitions of a very remote period, and was recommended as an antidote by Serenus Sammonicus, a Roman physician, who lived in the early part of the third century, in the reigns of the emperors Severus and Caracalla. Its efficacy was reputed to be most powerful in agues and other disorders of a febrile kind, and particularly against the fever called by the physicians Hemitritæus.’ 1879. Literary World, 5 Dec., p. 358, col. 2 [m]. The new abracadabra of science, ‘organic evolution.’ Abraham, subs. (popular).—A clothier’s shop of the lowest description, where slop-made garments of shoddy cloth form the staple commodity together with second-hand clothes or hand-me-downs (q.v.). Chiefly localized in the East End of London, where these establishments are kept by Jews; hence probably the derivation of the term; adj. (old cant).—See Abram. Abraham-Cove, Abraham-Man, Abram-Cove, Abram-Man, Tom of Bedlam’s Man, or Bedlam Beggar, subs. (old cant).—It is difficult now-a-days to trace with certainty the origin of these terms, notwithstanding a wealth of matter on the subject. Nares describes the fraternity as a set of vagabonds who wandered about the country soon after the dissolution of the religious houses: the provision for the poor in those places being cut off and no other substituted. Thus, primarily, an Abraham-man was a vagabond, a beggar—tattered, unwashed, unkempt—and a thief withal. ‘What an Abram!’ an exclamation for a naked fellow. Harman, the earliest authority, refers to them as feigning madness (see quot.), and as having been resident in Bethlehem Hospital. Wards in the ancient Bedlam bore distinctive names of some saint or patriarch; that named after Abraham was devoted to a class of mendicant lunatics, who on certain days were permitted to go out begging. It is an open question whether the ward gave the name to the men or vice versâ. In either case, however, the use of the term ‘Abraham’ is in this connection possibly an allusion to the beggar Lazarus in Luke xvii. These mendicants bore a badge, but many assumed the distinction without right, and begged feigning lunacy. Hence, it may be, the more popular signification of the term— 2. An impostor, wandering about the country pretending to be mad, begging in the streets, and laying hands upon all trifles ‘considered’ or ‘unconsidered’ in his way. Dekker, in his English Villanies [1632], has many curious particulars of the habits of this class of impostors who were said to sham Abraham. Shakspeare also, in King Lear [1605], Act ii., Scene 3, describes and puts into the mouth of one of these characters the following words: ... the basest and most poorest shape, That ever penury in contempt of man, Brought near to beast: my face I’ll grime with filth; Blanket my loins; elf all my hair in knots; And with presented nakedness outface The winds, and persecutions of the sky. The country gives me proof and precedent Of Bedlam beggars, who, with roaring voices, Strike in their numb’d and mortified bare arms Pins, wooden pricks, nails, sprigs of rosemary; And with this horrible object, from low farms, Poor pelting villages, sheep-cotes and mills, Sometime with lunatic bans, sometime with prayers, Enforce their charity. The term is now obsolete, though Scott used it as late as 1824, and from the Quarterly Review (1813), IX., p. 167, it seems to have then been in pretty general use. The modern prototype is called a tramp or cadger. To sham Abraham, i.e., to feign sickness or distress is, however, still in vogue. The French equivalent is Fagotin (m).—See also Abraham sham and Abram. 1573. Harman, Caveat (1814), p. 29. These Abraham men be those that fayn themselves to have bene mad, and have bene kept either in Bethlehem, or in some other pryson a good time, and not one amongst twenty that ever came in prison for any such cause. 1625. Massinger, New Way to Pay Old Debts, II., i. Are they padders or Abram-men that are your consorts? 1724. E. Coles, Eng. Dict. Abram cove, naked or poor man. 1825. Scott, St. Ronan’s Well, ch. xxi. ‘There is a trick for you to find an Abram-man, and save sixpence out when he begs of you as a disbanded seaman.’ Abraham Grains, subs. (thieves’).—A publican who brews his own beer. Abraham Newland, subs. (popular).—A bank note. Abraham Newland was chief cashier to the Bank of England, from 1778 to 1807. 1829. Sir W. Scott, letter to Croker in Croker Papers, vol. II., p. 36. A bank note seems to terrify everybody out of their wits, and they will rather give up their constitution to Hunt and Cobbett than part with an Abraham Newland to preserve it. Abraham’s Balsam, subs. (old).—Death by hanging.—See To die in one’s boots. Abraham Sham, subs. (old cant).—1.—Feigned sickness or distress. See Abraham-man. Usually spoken of as to sham Abraham, or Abram (q.v.). From this primary meaning, joined with an allusion to the name of a once well-known chief cashier of the Bank of England, was derived the secondary meaning of the term shamming Abraham, to forge bank-notes. Abraham Newland was in office in the years 1778–1807, and a popular song of the period ran as follows: ‘I have heard people say that sham Abraham you may, But you mustn’t sham Abraham Newland.’ Further point is added to this stanza by the fact that bank notes were themselves termed Abraham Newlands (q.v.), and that forgery was felony by statute. 1759. Goldsmith, Citizen of the World, cxix. “He swore that I understood my business perfectly well, but that I shammed Abraham merely to be idle.” 1849. C. Bronté, Shirley, ch. xxxiii. Matthew, sceptic and scoffer, had already failed to subscribe a prompt belief in that pain about the heart; he had muttered some words, amongst which the phrase shamming Abraham had been very distinctly audible. Abraham Suit, subs. phr. (thieves’).—False pretences; fraudulent representations to excite sympathy. The term is applied to any trick or artifice calculated to extract money from the charitable, whether by means of begging letter, a faked-up appearance, or other contrivance. Those who resort to such practices are said to go on the Abraham suit. Cf., Abraham sham. Abraham’s Willing, subs. phr. (rhyming slang).—A shilling. Abraham Work, subs. phr. (popular).—Shams of all kinds are so designated, from a bubble company down to the most trumpery ‘city pen’orth.’ Abram, subs. (old and also modern sea slang).—1. The same as Abraham-man (q.v.).—2. A malingerer; one who gets put on the sick list to shirk work. Adj. (old cant).—1. Mad. 1610. Rowlands, Martin Mark-all, p. 36 (H. Club’s Repr., 1874). Abram madde. He maunds Abram, he begs as a madde man. 2. Naked, ‘she’s all Abram.’ 1671. R. Head, English Rogue,