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List of English-language idioms of the 19th century
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<h2 id="a">A</h2> <ul><li><i>Abbot of Misrule</i> – <a href="/facts/Lord_of_Misrule/LaEwsphY">Lord of Misrule</a></li> <li><i>admirable doctor</i> – <a href="/facts/Roger_Bacon/p1kvowog">Roger Bacon</a></li> <li><i><a href="/facts/Attica/NmJausKA">Attic</a> bee</i> – <a href="/facts/Sophocles/5C4zjFU8">Sophocles</a>, from the sweetness and beauty of his productions</li></ul> <h2 id="b">B</h2> <ul><li><i>bidding prayer</i> – an exhortation to <a href="/facts/Prayer/Gzu2VMAo">prayer</a> in some special reference, followed by the <a href="/facts/Lord%2527s_Prayer/xhha7eyQ">Lord's Prayer</a>, in which the congregation joins</li> <li><i>blue-gown</i> – a <a href="/facts/Begging/8wbmYbh1">beggar</a>, a <a href="/facts/Bedesman/3oPYkpdD">bedesman</a> of the <a href="/facts/King_of_Scotland/ICagnHIG">Scottish king</a>, who wore a blue gown, the gift of the king, and had his license to beg</li> <li><i>bonnet-piece</i> – a gold coin of <a href="/facts/James_V_of_Scotland/mHrcPX76">James V of Scotland</a>, so called from the king being represented on it as wearing a <a href="/facts/Bonnet_(headgear)/Q2MymUmA">bonnet</a> instead of a <a href="/facts/Crown_(headgear)/fREK9x0p">crown</a></li> <li><i>Brown, Jones, and Robinson</i> – three middle-class Englishmen on their travels abroad, as figured in the pages of <i><a href="/facts/Punch_(magazine)/IoScK8W4">Punch</a></i></li></ul> <h2 id="c">C</h2> <ul><li><i>chicard</i> – French <a href="/facts/Loanword/PWGYczgY">loanword</a>; the <a href="/facts/Arlecchino/GNFAtqo4">harlequin</a> of the French <a href="/facts/Carnival/zwDJMMS9">carnival</a>, grotesquely dressed up</li> <li> <i>Circumlocution Office</i> – a name employed by <a href="/facts/Charles_Dickens/B54mQHJs">Charles Dickens</a> in his <a href="/facts/Serial_novel/av8UM4vT">serial novel</a> <i><a href="/facts/Little_Dorrit/GlL197XA">Little Dorrit</a></i> (1855–1857) to designate wearisome government <a href="/facts/Bureaucracy/V9oFPCuG">bureaucracy</a>; it is mentioned in Anthony Trollope’s 1857 novel <i><a href="/facts/The_Three_Clerks/5MqsKaoV">The Three Clerks</a></i></li> <li><i>comity of nations</i> – the name given for the effect given in one country to the laws and institutions of another in dealing with a native of it; <i>see <a href="/facts/Extraterritoriality/lUf4xlUK">extraterritoriality</a></i></li> <li><i>corn-cracker</i> – the nickname of a <a href="/facts/Kentucky/DaTW05Rt">Kentucky</a> man; pejorative</li> <li><i>corpuscular philosophy</i> – the philosophy which accounts for physical phenomena by the position and the motions of <a href="/facts/Corpuscularianism/I84UbILt">corpuscles</a></li> <li><i>Cincinnatus of the Americans</i> – <a href="/facts/George_Washington/ucb7mE4Q">George Washington</a>, after the original Roman <a href="/facts/Cincinnatus/v4oqUDB3">Cincinnatus</a></li> <li><i>Conscript Fathers</i> – translates from the Latin <i>Patres Conscripti</i>, a term for members of the <a href="/facts/Roman_Senate/NXK83zU9">Roman Senate</a></li></ul> <h2 id="d">D</h2> <ul><li><i><a href="/facts/Affair_of_the_Diamond_Necklace/P7UVrWMp">diamond necklace</a></i> – specifically, the one belonging to <a href="/facts/Marie_Antoinette/hjBRl6em">Marie Antoinette</a></li> <li><i>Dircaean swan</i> or <i>Dircæan swan</i> – <a href="/facts/Pindar/ceN1a17e">Pindar</a>, so called from the fountain <a href="/facts/Dirce/Yun24oqC">Dirce</a>, near <a href="/facts/Thebes_(Greece)/PBN0g5la">Thebes</a>, his birthplace</li></ul> <h2 id="f">F</h2> <ul><li><i><a href="/facts/Faggot_voter/NNMKTVIv">Faggot vote</a></i> – a vote created by the partitioning of a property into as many <a href="/facts/Apartment/AnqWV09E">apartments</a> as will entitle the holders to vote</li> <li><i>First Gentleman of Europe</i> – <a href="/facts/George_IV_of_the_United_Kingdom/X2gworIu">George IV of the United Kingdom</a>, from his fine style and manners</li> <li><i><a href="/facts/Federation/R846sufb">Federal</a> Union</i> – generally any <a href="/facts/Federation/R846sufb">union</a> of <a href="/facts/Federated_state/2R6y2Npy">states</a> in which each state has jurisdiction in local matters, such as the <a href="/facts/United_States/P0sCdLe5">United States</a></li></ul> <h2 id="g">G</h2> <ul><li><i><a href="/facts/Gehenna/3JF5KkKu">Gehenna</a> <a href="/facts/Bailiff/t4fUXy6M">bailiffs</a></i> – ministers of <a href="/facts/Hell/2nIkoYTB">hell</a>'s justice, whose function is to see to and enforce the rights of hell</li> <li><i>Gens Braccata</i> – the Gauls, from <i>braccæ</i> or <a href="/facts/Breeches/NvPSqevu">breeches</a></li> <li><i>Gens Palliata</i> – the Greeks, from wearing the <i>pallium</i> (square woollen cloak)</li> <li><i>Gens Togata</i> – the Romans, from wearing the <a href="/facts/Toga/ghLxhGwE">toga</a></li> <li><i>German <a href="/facts/Voltaire/h2pyULrC">Voltaire</a></i> – name given sometimes to <a href="/facts/Christoph_Martin_Wieland/0mdrkwqx">Christoph Martin Wieland</a> and sometimes to <a href="/facts/Johann_Wolfgang_von_Goethe/k5hW4Tw5">Johann Wolfgang von Goethe</a></li> <li><i>Gothamite</i> – a native of <a href="/facts/New_York_City/YlyvFmVC">New York City</a>; still in use in some contexts</li></ul> <h2 id="h">H</h2> <ul><li><i>hectic fever</i> – a fever connected with <a href="/facts/Tuberculosis/ggPyovAl">tuberculosis</a>, and showing itself by a bright-pink flush on the cheeks</li> <li><i>horn gate</i> – the gate of dreams which come true, as distinct from the <a href="/facts/Ivory_gate/RHX7u3FC">ivory gate</a>, through which the visions seen are shadowy and unreal</li></ul> <h2 id="i">I</h2> <ul><li><i>in-and-in</i> – <a href="/facts/Inbreeding/KRoRX08G">breeding of animals from the same parentage</a>; also an old two-dice game, where "in" is a double and "in-and-in" is double doubles, which sweeps the board</li> <li><i>Island of Saints</i> – a poetic name given to <a href="/facts/Ireland/35vYxXdP">Ireland</a> in the <a href="/facts/Middle_Ages/RqzEKB9v">Middle Ages</a></li> <li><i><a href="/facts/Ivan_(name)/HCjpbshY">Ivan</a> Ivanovitch</i> – a term invoking a lazy, good-natured <a href="/facts/Russias/DdcNevrs">Russian</a>, akin to <a href="/facts/John_Bull/dJTuSekE">John Bull</a> the Englishman or <a href="/facts/Brother_Jonathan/zsrvFHJh">Brother Jonathan</a> the American<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:1" href="#fn:1"><sup>1</sup></a></li></ul> <h2 id="j">J</h2> <ul><li><i>Jack Brag</i> – a pretender who ingratiates himself with people above him<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:2" href="#fn:2"><sup>2</sup></a></li> <li><i><a href="/facts/Jackaroo/qTjeQmrz">Jackaroo</a></i><a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:3" href="#fn:3"><sup>3</sup></a></li></ul> <h2 id="o">O</h2> <ul><li><i>The Open Secret</i> – the secret that lies open to all, but is seen into and understood by only few, applied especially to the mystery of the life, the spiritual life, which is the possession of all (<a href="/facts/Thomas_Carlyle/s6XMe1nk">Thomas Carlyle</a>)</li></ul> <h2 id="p">P</h2> <ul><li><i>passing-bell</i> – a <a href="/facts/Bell_(instrument)/oU1E1JHg">bell</a> tolled at the moment of the death of a person to invite his neighbours to pray for the safe passing of his <a href="/facts/Soul/DJl01SxP">soul</a>; <i>see <a href="/facts/Death_knell/26so5gNI">death knell</a></i></li> <li><i>penny wedding</i> – a <a href="/facts/Wedding/9UfjkTDk">wedding</a> at which the guests pay part of the charges of the festival</li> <li><i>persiflage</i> – a light, quizzing mockery, or scoffing, especially on serious subjects, out of a cool, callous contempt for them</li> <li><i>Peter Bell</i> – a simple rustic (<a href="/facts/William_Wordsworth/ISecKTd9">William Wordsworth</a>).</li> <li><i>petite nature</i> – a French loanword applied to pictures containing figures less than <a href="/facts/Life-size/3JYmEfr0">life-size</a>, but with the effect of life-size</li> <li><i>pot-wallopers</i> – a class of <a href="/facts/Voter/jPVTljTJ">electors</a> in a <a href="/facts/Borough/3L4c8h7s">borough</a> who claimed the right to vote on the ground of boiling a pot within its limits for six months</li> <li><i>pourparler</i> – a diplomatic conference towards the framing of a <a href="/facts/Treaty/KCfhDfDV">treaty</a></li> <li><i><a href="/facts/Punic/FLAl3pXD">Punic</a> faith</i> – a promise that one can put no trust in. From Latin <i>punica fides</i>, alluding to Roman mistrust of <a href="/facts/Carthage/MXGPRNFA">Carthage</a></li></ul> <h2 id="r">R</h2> <ul><li><i>revival of letters</i> – a term for literary aspects of the <a href="/facts/Renaissance/4D9Bc6KU">Renaissance</a>, specifically the revival of the study of <a href="/facts/Greek_literature/R9k3TQYq">Greek literature</a></li></ul> <h2 id="t">T</h2> <ul><li><i>The Temple of Immensity</i> – the <a href="/facts/Universe/XbfpnDmM">universe</a> as felt to be in every corner of it a <a href="/facts/Temple/5vGIswbs">temple</a> consecrated to worship in</li> <li><i>Tom and Jerry</i> – a pair of young men about town from the play <i><a href="/facts/Tom_and_Jerry%2c_or_Life_in_London/n802jcQV">Tom and Jerry, or Life in London</a></i> (1821), by <a href="/facts/William_Thomas_Moncrieff/JBMVnF2Q">William Thomas Moncrieff</a>, which was very successful in England and the United States in the 1820s, based on the newspaper column by <a href="/facts/Pierce_Egan/rUHV9C6F">Pierce Egan</a></li></ul> <h2 id="see-also">See also</h2> <ul><li><a href="/facts/Victorian_literature/rpRjD8aQ">Victorian literature</a></li> <li><a href="/facts/Lists_of_English_words/IDNQBVe2">Lists of English words</a></li></ul> <p><a href="/facts/James_Wood_(encyclopaedist)/osnF5yGU">Wood, James</a>, ed. (1907). <i><a href="/facts/The_Nuttall_Encyclop%25C3%25A6dia/vTQPkMPX">The Nuttall Encyclopædia</a></i>. London and New York: Frederick Warne. </p> <h2 id="references">References</h2> <ol> <li id="fn:1"><p>Nutall 1920, p. 352 <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=_EcPAAAAQAAJ&q=Ivanovitch#v=snippet" target="_blank">https://books.google.com/books?id=_EcPAAAAQAAJ&q=Ivanovitch#v=snippet</a> <a href="#fnref:1" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:2"><p>Nutall 1920, p. 90 <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=_EcPAAAAQAAJ&q=Jack%20Brag" target="_blank">https://books.google.com/books?id=_EcPAAAAQAAJ&q=Jack%20Brag</a> <a href="#fnref:2" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:3"><p>Nutall 1920, p. 352 <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=_EcPAAAAQAAJ&q=Jackaroo" target="_blank">https://books.google.com/books?id=_EcPAAAAQAAJ&q=Jackaroo</a> <a href="#fnref:3" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> </ol>