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Brewer's: Magpie
A contraction of magotpie, or magata-pie. “Mag” is generally thought to be a contraction of Margaret; thus we have Robin red-breast, Tom-tit, Philip —i.e. a sparrow, etc. “Augurs and…Brewer's: Scanderbeg's Sword must have Scanderbeg's Arm
i.e. None but Ulysses can draw Ulysses' bow. Scanderbeg is a corruption of Iskander-beg (Alexander the Great), not the Macedonian, but George Castriota, Prince of Albania, so called by the…Brewer's: Scarlet
Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow (Isa. i. 18). The allusion is to the scarlet fillet tied round the head of the scapegoat. Though your sins be as scarlet as…Brewer's: Rack and Manger
Housekeeping. To lie at rack and manger. To live at reckless expense. When Virtue was a country maide, And had no skill to set up trade. She came up with a carrier's jade, And lay at rack…Brewer's: Pixies
(2 syl.). The Devonshire Robin Goodfellows; said to be the spirits of infants who have died before baptism. The Pixy monarch holds his court like Titania, and sends his subjects on their…Brewer's: Road
Gentlemen of the road or Knights of the road. Highwaymen. In the latter a double pun is implied. A first-class highwayman, like Robin Hood, is a “Colossus of Roads.” King of Roads [Rhodes…Brewer's: Rob Roy
[Robert the Red]. A nickname given to Robert M'Gregor, who assumed the name of Campbell when the clan M'Gregor was outlawed by the Scotch Parliament in 1662. He may be termed the Robin…Brewer's: Robert
King Robert of Sicily. A metrical romance of the Trouveur, taken from the Story of the Emperor Jovinian in the Gesta Romanorum, and borrowed from the Talmud. It finds a place in the…Brewer's: Ruddock
The redbreast, “sacred to the household gods.” The legend says if a redbreast finds a dead body in the woods it will “cover it with moss.” Drayton alludes to this tradition Covering with…Brewer's: What we Gave we Have, What we Spent we Had, What we Had we Lost
Epitaph of the Good Earl of Courtenay. (Gibbon: History of the Courtenay Family.) The epitaph in St. George's church, Doncaster, runs thus…Trending
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