Chapter Atomic Theory to Augsburg Confession of A by Brewer's Phrase & Fable

Au Grand Sérieux (French) In sober earnest.

"We are not asked to take these narratives au grand sérieux. They are rather sketches of the past, illustrating what could have been done, and may be done again by women. ..." - Notes and Queries (Notes on Books, June 10, 1893, p. 459).

Au Pied de la Lettre (French). Literatim et verbatim; according to the strict letter of the text.

ldquo;In reading au pied de la lettre the story of his [Buddha's] fatal illness supervened on a meal of dried boar's flesh, served to him by a certain Kunda." - Nineteenth Century (June, 1893, p. 1020).

Au Revoir (French). "Good bye for the present." Literally, till seeing you again.

Aubry's Dog (See Dog .)

Audeanism The doctrine of Audeus of Mesopotamia, who lived in the fourth century. He maintained that the Old Testament justifies the belief that God has a sensible form (Gen. i. 26).

Audhumla [the nourishing power ], in Scandinavian mythology, is the cow created by Surt to nourish Ymir. She supplied him with four rivers of milk, and was herself nourished by licking the rocks. (See Ymir.)

Bör, the first man, was made by Audhumla licking salt from the snow. Odin was the son of Bör.

The breath of Audhumla was very sweet, but her milk was bitter.

Audley We will John Audley it, i.e. abridge it. A theatrical phrase. In the eighteenth century one Shuter had a travelling company which visited different fairs. It was his custom to lengthen out his performance till a goodly number of newcomers had collected on the open stage of his theatre, when a boy called out John Audley, and the play which was going on inside was brought to an end as soon as possible. (1759.)

Audrey A country wench, who jilted William for Touchstone. (Shakespeare: As You Like It.)

Augean Stables The stables of Augeas, King of Elis, in Greece. In these stables he had kept 3,000 oxen, and the stalls had not been cleansed for thirty years. When Hercules was appointed to cleanse these stables, he caused two rivers to run through them.

To cleanse the Augean stables. To clear away an accumulated mass of corruption, moral, religious, physical, or legal. To reform wrongs almost past the power of man to tackle.

Augsburg Confession The chief standard of faith in the Lutheran church. So called because, while the Diet of the German Empire was sitting at Augsburg, in 1530, the confession of faith drawn up by Melancthon and Luther was presented to Charles V.