Chapter Bain Marie to Balder of B by Brewer's Phrase & Fable

Bain Marie to Balder

Bain Marie A saucepan containing hot water into which a smaller saucepan is plunged, either to keep it hot, or that it may boil without burning. A glue pot is a good example. Mons. Bouillet says, "Ainsi appelé du nom de l'inventeur " (Balneum Mariæ). But derivations from proper names require authentication.

Bairam (3 syl.) The name given to two movable Moslem feasts. The first, which begins on the first day of the moon which follows that of Ramadan, and lasts three days, is a kind of Paschal feast. The second, seventy days later, lasts four days, and is not unlike the Jewish Feast of Tabernacles.

As the Mohammedan year is a lunar one, in 33 years these feasts will have occurred at all the four seasons.

Baisser Il semble qu'il n'y a qu'à se baisser et en prendre (French). One would think he has only to pick and choose. Said of a person who fancies that fortune will fall into his lap, without his stirring. Literally, "to stoop down and pick up what he wants."

Bait Food to entice or allure, as bait for fish. Bait for travellers is a "feed" by way of refreshment taken en passant. (Anglo-Saxon, bætan , to bait or feed.)

Bajaderes Indian dancing girls. A corruption of the Portuguese bailadeira, whence baiadera, bajadere.

Bajulus A pedagogue. A Grand Bajulus, a "big" pedagogue. In the Greek court, the preceptor of the Emperor was called the Grand Bajulus. Originally "porter." (Cf. Bailiff.)

Bajura Mahomet's standard.

Baked Half-baked. Imbecile, of weak mind. The metaphor from half-baked food.

Baked Meat means meat-pie "The funeral baked meats did coldly furnish forth the marriage table" (Hamlet); i.e. the hot meat-pies (venison pasties) served at the funeral and not eaten, were served cold at the marriage banquet.

Baker (The) Louis XVI was called "the Baker," the queen was called "the baker's wife" (or La Boulangère), and the dauphin the "shop boy;" because a heavy trade in corn was carried on at Versailles, and consequently very little was brought to Paris.

"The return of the baker, his wife, and the shop-boy to Paris [after the king was brought from Versailles] had not had the expected effect. Flour and bread were still scarce." - A. Dumas: The Countess de Charny , chap. ix.

Baker's Dozen Thirteen for twelve. When a heavy penalty was inflicted for short weight, bakers used to give a surplus number of loaves, called the inbread, to avoid all risk of incurring the fine. The 13th was the "vantage loaf."

Mr. Riley (Liber Albus) tells us that the 13th loaf was "the extent of the profit allowed to retail dealers," and therefore the vantage loaf means, the loaf allowed for profit.

To give one a baker's dozen, in slang phraseology, is to give him a sound drubbing - i.e. all he deserves and one stroke more.

Baker's Knee (A) A knop-knee, or knee bent inwards, from carrying the heavy bread-basket on the right arm.

Bakshish A Persian word for a gratuity. These gifts are insolently demanded by all sorts of officials in Turkey, Egypt, and Asia Minor, more as a claim than a gratuity.

Bal Donner le bal à quelqu'un (French). To make one dance for it; to abuse one. In several games played with a ball, the person who catches the ball or to whom the ball is given, is put to an immense amount of labour. Thus, in Hurling, the person who holds the ball has one of the labours of Hercules to pass