Chapter Bent to Bertha of B by Brewer's Phrase & Fable

Bent to Bertha

Bent Inclination; talent for something. Out of my bent, not in my way, not in the range of my talent. Bent on it, inclined to it. As a thing bent is inclined, so a bent is an inclination or bias. Genius or talent is a bent or bias.

“Whatever is done best, is done from the natural bent and disposition of the mind.”-Hazlitt: Table Talk.

   They fool me to the top of my bent, i.e. as far as the bow can be bent without snapping. (Hamlet, iii. 2.) (See Bend.)

Benvolio Nephew to Montague, a testy, litigious gentleman, who would “quarrel with a man that had a hair more or a hair less in his beard than he had.” Mercutio says to him, “Thou hast quarrelled with a man for coughing in the street, because he hath wakened thy dog that hath lain asleep in the sun.” (Shakespeare: Romeo and Juliet, iii. 1.)

Beppo The contraction of Giuseppe, and therefore equal to our Joe. Husband of Laura, a Venetian lady. He was taken captive in Troy, turned Turk, joined a band of pirates, grew rich, and, after several years' absence, returned to his native land, where he discovered his wife at a carnival ball with her cavaliero servente. He made himself known to her, and they lived together again as man and wife. (Byron: Beppo.)

Berchta [the white lady ]. This fairy, in Southern Germany, answers to Hulda (the gracious lady) of Northern Germany; but after the introduction of Christianity, when pagan deities were represented as demons, Berchta lost her former character, and became a bogie to frighten children.

Bereans (3 syl.). The followers of the Rev. John Barclay, of Kincardineshire (1773). They believe that all we know of God is from revelation; that all the Psalms refer to Christ; that assurance is the proof of faith; and that unbelief is the unpardonable sin. They took their name from the Bereans, mentioned in the Book of the Acts (xvii. 11), who “received the Word with all readiness of mind, and searched the Scriptures daily.”

Berecynthian Hero Midas, the Phrygian king; so called from Mount Berecyntus, in Phrygia

Berengarians Followers of Berenger, archdeacon of Angers, the learned opponent of Lanfranc (eleventh century). He said that the bread by consecration did not become the very body of Christ “generated on earth so many years before, but becomes to the faithful, nevertheless, the blessed body of Christ.”

Berenice (4 syl.). The sister-wife of Ptolemy III., who vowed to sacrifice her hair to the gods, if her husband returned home the vanquisher of Asia. She suspended her hair in the temple of the war-god, but it was stolen the first night, and Conon of Samos told the king that the winds had wafted it to heaven, where it still forms the seven stars near the tail of Leo, called Coma Berenices.
    Pope, in his Rape of the Lock, converts the purloined ringlet into a star or meteor, “which drew behind a radiant trail of háir.” (Canto v.)

Berg Folk Pagan spirits doomed to live on the Scandinavian hills till the day of redemption. (Scandinavian mythology. )

Bergæan (A ). A great liar; so called from Antiphanes Berga.

Bergelmir A frost-giant, father of the Jötuns, or second dynasty of giants. (Scandinavian mythology. )

Berger L'heure du Berger (French). The shepherd's hour, i.e. the swain's or lover's hour; the happy hour of tryst; the critical moment.

Bergomask A clown or merryandrew; a native of Bergamo. Compare, a gasconader; a Boeotian.

Berkley (Mr. ). An Englishman of fortune, good-humoured, and humane. He is a bachelor and somewhat eccentric, but sound common sense is a silver thread which is never lost. (Longfellow: Hyperion (a romance), 1839.)