Chapter Arzina to Aspen of A by Brewer's Phrase & Fable

Asmodeus [the destroyer ]. The demon of vanity and dress, called in the Talmud "the king of devils."

The Asmodeus of domestic peace (in the Book of Tobit). Asmodeus falls in love with Sara, daughter of Raguel, and causes the death of seven husbands in succession, each on his bridal night. After her marriage to Tobit, he was driven into Egypt by a charm, made by Tobias of the heart and liver of a fish burnt on perfumed ashes, and being pursued was taken prisoner and bound.

"Better pleased
Than Asmodeus with the fishy fume
That drove him, though enamoured, from the spouse
Of Tobit's son, and with a vengeance sent
From Media post to Egypt, there fast bound."
Milton: Paradise Lost , iv. 167--71.

Asmodeus The companion of Don Cléofas, in The Devil on Two Sticks. (Chap. iii.)

Asmodeus flight. Don Cléofas, catching hold of his companion's cloak, is perched on the steeple of St. Salvador. Here the foul fiend stretches out his hand, and the roofs of all the houses open in a moment, to show the Don what is going on privately in each respective dwelling.

"Could the reader take an Asmodeus-flight, and, waving open all roofs and privacies, look down from the roof of Notre Dame, what a Paris were it!" - Carlyle: French Revolution II., vi. chap. vi.

Asoka of Magadha. In the third century the "nursing father" of Buddhism, as Constantine was of Christianity. He is called "the king beloved of the gods."

Asoors Evil genii of the Indians.

Aspasia a courtesan. She was the most celebrated of the Greek Hetæræ, to whom Pericles attached himself. On the death of Pericles she lived with Lysicles, a cattle-dealer. The Hetæræ of Athens were, many of them, distinguished for talents and accomplishments. Those of Corinth were connected with the worship of Aphrodite (Venus).

Aspatia in the Maid's Tragedy, of Beaumont and Fletcher, is noted for her deep sorrows, her great resignation, and the pathos of her speeches. Amyntor deserts her, women point at her with scorn, she is the jest and bye-word of every one, but she bears it all with patience.

Aspen The aspen leaf is said to tremble, from shame and horror, because our Lord's cross was made of this wood. The fact is this: the leaf is broad, and placed on a long leaf-stalk so flexible as scarcely to be able to support it in an upright position. The upper part of the stalk, on which the play mainly depends, is flattened; and, being at right angles with the leaf, is peculiarly liable to be acted on by the least breath of air.
Aspen leaf. Metaphorically, a chattering tongue, never quiet.

"Those aspen leaves of theirs never leave wagging." - Sir T. More.