Chapter Bob to Bogtrotters of B by Brewer's Phrase & Fable

Bob to Bogtrotters

Bob A shilling. A “bender” is a sixpence. (Compare BAWBEE.)
   Bob. A set of changes rung on [church] bells: as a “bob major,” a “bob-minor,” a “triple bob.”
   To give the bob to any one. To deceive, to balk. This word is a corruption of pop. The bob of a pendulum or mason's plumb-line is the weight that pops backwards and forwards. The bob of a fishing-line pops up and down when fish nibble at the bait. To bob for apples or cherries is to try and catch them while they swing backwards and forwards. As this is very deceptive, it is easy to see how the word signifies to balk, etc.
   To bob means also to thump, and a bob is a blow.

“He that a fool doth very wisely hit,
Doth very foolishly, although he smart,
Not to seem senseless of the bob.”
Shakespeare: As You Like It, ii. 7.

   Bear a bob. Be brisk. The allusion is to bobbing for apples, in which it requires great agility and quickness to catch the apple.
   A bob wig. A wig in which the bottom locks are turned up into bobs or short curls.

Bobadil A military braggart of the first water. Captain Bobadil is a character in Ben Jonson's comedy of Every Man in his Humour. This name was probably suggested by Bobadilla, first governor of Cuba, who sent Columbus home in chains. (See Vincent .)

“Bobadil is the author's best invention, and is worthy to march in the same regiment with Bessus and Pistol, Parolles, and the Copper Captain” (q.v.).- B. W. Procter.

    See all these names in their proper places.

Bobbery as “Kicking up a bobbery,” making a squabble or tumult, kicking up a shindy. It is much used in India, and Colonel Yule says it is of Indian origin.

Bobbish Pretty bobbish. Pretty well (in spirits and health), from bob, brisk. (See above.) A very ancient expression.

Bobbit If it isn't weel bobbit we'll bob it again. If it is not done well enough, we will try again. To bob is to dance, and literally the proverb means, “If it is not well danced, we will dance over again.”

Bobby A policeman; so called because Sir Robert Peel introduced the force, at least into Ireland. (See Peeler .)

“But oh! for the grip of the bobby's hand
Upon his neck that day.”
Punch: July 26, 1884.

Boccus (King). A kind of Solomon, who not only drank strong poison “in the name of the Trinite” without hurt; but also answered questions of wisdom, morality, and natural science. (The History of King Boccus and Sydrack, from the French.)

Bockland or Bookland. Land severed from the folcland, and converted into a private estate of perpetual inheritance by a short and simple deed or bock.

Bod The divinity invoked by Indian women who desire fecundity. Children born after an invocation to Bod must be redeemed, or else serve in the temple of the goddess. (Indian mythology.)

Boden-See The Lake of Constance; so called because it lies in the Boden, or low country at the foot of the Alps. (Latin, Senus Bodamicus.)

Bodies Compound bodies, in chemical phraseology, mean those which have two or more simple bodies or elements in their composition, as water.
   Simple bodies, in chemical phraseology, mean the elements.
   The heavenly bodies. The sun, moon, stars, and so on.
   The seven bodies (of alchemists). The seven metals supposed to correspond with the seven “planets.”

Planets.	Metals.
1. Apollo, or the Sun	Gold.
2. Diana, or the Moon	Silver.
3. Mercury	Quicksilver.
4. Venus	Copper.
5. Mars	Iron.
6. Jupiter	Tin.
7. Saturn	Lead.

Bodkin A dagger. (Welsh, bodegy a small dagger.)