Chapter Camden Society to Canada Balsam of C by Brewer's Phrase & Fable

Camisarde or Camisado. A night attack; so called because the attacking party wore a camise or peasant's smock over their armour, both to conceal it, and that they might the better recognise each other in the dark.

Camisole (3 syl.). A loose jacket worn by women when dressed in negligée (French).

Camisole de Force A strait-waist-coat. Frequently mentioned in accounts of capital punishments in France.

Camlan (Battle of, Cornwall), which put an end to the Knights of the Round Table. Here Arthur received his death wound from the hand of his nephew Modred. (A.D. 542.)

Camlet is not connected with the word camel; it is a fine cloth made of goats' hair, called Turkish yarn, and is from the Arabic word camlat, which Littré says is so called from seil el camel (the Angora goat).

Cammock As crooked as a cammock. The cammock is a piece of timber bent for the knee of a ship; a hockey-stick; a shinny-club. (Anglo-Saxon.)

“Though the cammock, the more it is bowed the better it is; yet the bow, the more it is bent the weaker it waxeth.” - Lily.

Camorra A secret society of Italy organised early in the nineteenth century. It claimed the right of settling disputes, etc.

Camorrist One of the desperadoes belonging to the Camorra. “Camorrism,” the gospel of the league.

Camp Candlestick (A). A bottle, or a soldier's bayonet.

Camp-followers Non-combatants (such as servants, carriers, hostlers, suttlers, laundresses, and so on), who follow an army. We are told that in 1859 as many as 85,000 camp-followers were in attendance on 15,000 combatants in a Bengal army.

Campaign Wig (A), imported from France. It was made very full, was curled, and was eighteen inches in length in the front, with drop locks. In some cases the back part of the wig was put in a black silk bag. Of course the campaign referred to the victories of Marlborough. (Social Life in the Reign of Queen Anne, chap. xii.)
    There were also campaign coats, campaign lace, campaign shoes, campaign shirts, campaign gowns, campaign waistcoats, etc.

Campania Properly the Terra di Lavoro of Italy, i.e. the plain country about Capua.

“Disdainful of Campania's gentle plains.”
Thomson: Summer.

Campaspe (3 syl.). A beautiful harlot, whom Alexander the Great handed over to Apellês. Apelles drew her in the nude.

“When Cupid and Campaspe played
At cards for kisses, Cupid paid.”
Lily.

Campbells are Coming (The). This soul-stirring song was composed in 1715, when the Earl of Mar raised the standard for the Stuarts against George I. John Campbell was Commander-in-Chief of his Majesty's forces, and the rebellion was quashed. The main interest now attached to the famous song is connected with the siege of Lucknow in the Indian rebellion, 1857. Nana Sahib had massacred women and children most foully, and while the survivors were expecting instant death, a Scotch woman lying ill on the ground heard the pibroch, and exclaimed, “Dinna ye hear it? Dinna ye hear it? The pipes o' Havelock sound.” And soon afterwards the rescue was accomplished.    The first verse runs thus:-

“The Campbells are coming, O-ho! O-ho!
The Campbells are coming, O-ho!
The Campbells are coming to bonnie Loch Leven,
The Campbells are coming, O-ho!

Campbellite (3 syl.). A follower of John McLeod Campbell, who taught the universality of the atonement, for which, in 1831, he was deposed.

Campceiling A ceiling sloping on one side from the vertical wall towards a plane surface in the middle. A corruption of cam (twisted or bent) ceiling. (Halliwell gives cam, “awry.”)