Chapter Aspersions to Astarte of A by Brewer's Phrase & Fable

Assinego A young ass, a simpleton (a Portuguese word).

"Thou hast no more brain than I have in mine elbows; an assinego may tutor thee." - Shakespeare: Troilus and Cressida, ii. 1.

Assumption (Feast of the). The 15th of August, so called in honour of the Virgin Mary, who (according to the Roman and Greek Churches) was taken to heaven that day (A.D. 45), in her corporeal form, being at the time seventy-five years of age.

This seems very improbable, if Christ was crucified A.D. 33. It would make Mary survive her son twelve years, and to have been thirty years old at his birth instead of about fifteen.

Assurance Audacity, brazen self-confidence. "His assurance is quite unbearable."

To make assurance double sure. To make security doubly secure.

"But yet I'll make assurance double sure,
And take a bond of fate."
Shakespeare: Macbeth, iv. 1.

Astagoras (in Jerusalem Delivered). A female fiend, who had the power of raising storms, and whose partners were the three Furies: Tisiphone, Megara, and Alecto.

Astarte (3 syl.). Goddess of the Moon, in Phoenician mythology.

"With these in troop
Came Astoreth, whom the Phoenicians called
Astartë, queen of heaven, with crescent horns."
Milton: Paradise Lost, i. 437--9.

Astarte (3 syl.). The lady beloved by Manfred. In order to see and speak to her, the magician entered the hall of Arimanes, and the spirits called up the phantom of the young lady, which told the count that "to-morrow would end his earthly ills." When Manfred asked her if she loved him, she sighed "Manfred," and vanished. (Byron: Manfred.)

"Astarte, my beloved, speak to me." Manfred. ii.