Chapter Bomba to Bonnet of B by Brewer's Phrase & Fable

Bomba to Bonnet

Bomba King Bomba. A nickname given to Ferdinand II., King of Naples, in consequence of his cruel bombardment of Messina in 1848, in which the slaughter and destruction of property was most wanton.    Bomba II. was the nickname given to his son Francis II. for bombarding Palermo in 1860. He was also called Bombalino (Little Bomba).
   Another meaning equally applicable is Vox et praterea nihil, Bomba being the explosion made by puffing out the cheeks, and causing them suddenly to collapse. Liar, break- promise, worthless.

Bombast literally means the produce of the bombyx (Middle Latin bombax, Greek bombux), and applied to cotton-wool used for padding. The head of the cotton plant was called “bombast” or “bombace” in the sixteenth century. Bombast was much used in the reign of Henry VIII. for padding, and hence inflated language was so called.

“We have received your letters full of love, ...
And in our maiden council rated them ...
As bombast and as lining to the time.”
Shakespeare: Love's Labour's Lost, v. 2.

Bombastes Furioso One who talks big and uses long sesquipedalian words; the ideal of bombast. He is the hero of a burlesque opera so called, by William Barnes Rhodes. (1790.)

Bombastus The family name of Aureolus Paracelsus (1493-1541). He is said to have kept a small devil prisoner in the pommel of his sword.

“Bombastus kept a devil's bird
Shut in the pommel of his sword,
That taught him all the cunning pranks
Of past and future mountebanks.”
S. Butler: Hudibras, part ii. 3.

Bon Gaultier Ballads Parodies of modern poetry by W.E. Aytoun and Theodore Martin (Sir).

Bon gre mal gre Willing or unwilling, willy nilly, nolens volens.

Bon Mot (French). A good or witty saying; a pun; a clever repartee.

Bon Ton (French). Good manners, or manners accredited by good society.

Bon Vivant (French). A free liver; one who indulges in the “good things of the table.”

Bona Fide Without subterfuge or deception; really and truly. Literally, in good faith (Latin).

Bona-roba A courtesan (Italian); so called from the smartness of their robes or dresses.

“We knew where the bona-robas were.”
Shakespeare: 2 Henry IV., iii. 2.

Bonduca = Boadicea. (Fletcher's Tragedy, 1647.)

Bone Bred in the bone. A part of one's nature. “What's bred in the bone will come out in the flesh.” A natural propensity cannot be repressed. Naturam furcâ expellas, autem usque redibit.

Bone in my Throat I have a bone in my throat. I cannot talk; I cannot answer your question.    I have a bone in my leg. An excuse given to children for not moving from one's seat Similarly, “I have a bone in my arm,” and must be excused using it for the present.

Bone of Contention A disputed point; a point not yet settled. The metaphor is taken from the proverb about “Two dogs fighting for a bone,” etc.

Bones Deucalion, after the Deluge, was ordered to cast behind him the bones of his mother, i.e. the stones of mother earth. Those thrown by Deucalion became men, and those thrown by his wife, Pyrrha, became women.
   Pindar suggests that laas, a stone, is a pun on laos, the people. Both words, in the genitive case singular, are alike laou. (Olynthics, ix. 66.)