Chapter Blinkers to 1. Blow of B by Brewer's Phrase & Fable

Blood-thirsty Eager for shedding blood.

Blood of the Grograms (The ). Taffety gentility; make-believe aristocratic blood. Grogram is a coarse silk taffety stiffened with gum (French, grosgrain).

“Our first tragedian was always boasting of his being `an old actor,' and was full of the `blood of the Grograms.' ”- C. Thomson: Autobiography, p. 200.

Bloody used as an expletive in such phrases as “A bloody fool,” “Bloody drunk,” etc., arose from associating folly and drunkenness, etc., with what are called “Bloods,” or aristocratic rowdies. Similar to “Drunk as a lord.”

“It was bloody hot walking to-day.”- Swift: Journal de Stella, letter xxii.

Bloody (The). Otho II., Emperor of Germany. (955, 973-983.)
   The Bloody Eleventh. The old 11th Foot was so called from their having been several times nearly annihilated, as at Almanza, Fontenoy, Roucoux, Ostend, and Salamanca (1812), in capturing a French standard. Now called “The Devonshire Regiment.”

Bloody Assizes The infamous assizes held by Judge Jeffreys in 1685. Three hundred were executed, more whipped or imprisoned, and a thousand sent to the plantations for taking part in Monmouth's rebellion.

Bloody Bill The 31 Henry VIII., c. 14, which denounced death, by hanging or burning, on all who denied the doctrine of transubstantiation.

Bloody-Bones A hobgoblin; generally “Raw-head and Bloody-Bones.”

Bloody Butcher (See Butcher .)

Bloody Hand A man whose hand was bloody, and was therefore presumed to be the person guilty of killing the deer shot or otherwise slain. (Cf. RED HAND.) Also the badge of a baronet.

Bloody Wedding St. Bartholomew's slaughter in 1572 is so called because it took place during the marriage feast of Henri (afterwards Henri IV.,) and Marguerite (daughter of Catherine ).

Bloody Week (The). The week ending on Sunday, May 28th, 1871, when Paris was burning, being set on fire by the Communists in hundreds of places. The destruction was frightful, but Nôtre Dame, the Hôtel Dieu, and the magnificent collection of pictures in the Louvre, happily escaped demolition.

Bloom From bloom to bloom. A floral rent. The Lord of the Manor received and rose or gillyflower, on the Feast of John the Baptist, yearly (July 5th, O. S.). (See Notes and Queries, Feb. 13th, 1886, p. 135.)

Bloomerism A female costume; so called from Mrs. Amelia Bloomer, of New York, who tried in 1849 to introduce the fashion. The dress consisted of a short skirt and loose trousers gathered closely round the ankles- becoming enough to young ladies in their teens, but ridiculous for “the fat and forty.”

Blount (Charles). Author of some deistical writings in the time of Charles II. (1654-1693.)

“He heard of Blount, etc.” Crabbe: Borough.

Blouse A short smock-frock of a blue colour worn commonly by French workmen. Bleu is French argot for manteau.

“A garment called bliaut or bliaus, which appears to have been another name for a surcoat. ... In this bliaus we may discover the modern French blouse, a ... smock-frock.”- Planché: British Costume.

1. Blow (To). As the wind blows; or to blow with the breath. (Anglo-Saxon, blawan, to blow or breathe.)
   It will soon blow over. It will soon be no longer talked about; it will soon come to an end, as a gale or storm blows over or ceases.
    To blow off is another form of the same phrase.
   To blow great guns. The wind blows so violently that its noise resembles the roar of artillery.
   To blow hot and cold, (or) To blow hot