Chapter Babouc to Back of B by Brewer's Phrase & Fable

Bachelor's Buttons Several flowers are so called. Red Bachelor's Buttons, the double red campion; yellow Bachelor's Buttons, the "upright crowfoot"; white Bachelor's Buttons, the white ranunculus and white campion.

"The similitude these flowers have to the jagged cloath buttons anciently worne ... gave occasion ... to call them Bachelour's Buttons." - Gerard: Herbal.

Or else from a custom still sometimes observed by rustics of carrying the flower in their pockets to know how they stand with their sweethearts. If the flower dies, it is a bad omen; but if it does not fade, they may hope for the best.

To wear bachelor's buttons. To remain a bachelor. (See above.)

Bachelor's Fare Bread and cheese and kisses.

Bachelor's Porch The north door used to be so called. The menservants and other poor men used to sit on benches down the north aisle, and the maidservants, with other poor women, on the south side. Even when married the custom was not discontinued. After service the men formed one line and the women another, down which the clergy and gentry passed amidst salutations, and the two lines filed off. In some country churches these arrangements are still observed.

Bachelor's Wife (A). A hypothetical wife. A bachelor has only an imaginary wife.

"Bachelors' wives and old maids' children be well taught." - Heywood: Proverbs.

Back (To) To support with money, influence, or encouragement: as to "back a friend." A commercial term meaning to endorse. When a merchant backs or endorses a bill, he guarantees its value.

Falstaff says to the Prince: -

"You care not who sees your back. Call you that backing of your friends? A plague upon such backing!" - Shakespeare: I Henry IV, ii.4.

"Englishmen will fight now as well as ever they did; and there is ample power to back them." - W. Robertson: John Bright, Chap. xxxi. p. 293.