Brewer's: Bombastus

The family name of Aureolus Paracelsus (1493-1541). He is said to have kept a small devil prisoner in the pommel of his sword.

Bombastus kept a devil's bird Shut in the pommel of his sword, That taught him all the cunning pranks Of past and future mountebanks.

S.Butler: Hudibras, part ii. 3.

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