Chapter Carcasses to Carlovingian Dynasty of C by Brewer's Phrase & Fable

Carcasses to Carlovingian Dynasty

Carcasses Shells with three fuzeholes. They are projected from mortars (q.v.), howitzers (q.v.), and guns. They will burn furiously for eight or ten minutes, do not burst like shells, but the flames, rushing from the three holes, set on fire everything within their influence.

“Charlestown ... having been fired by carcass from Copp's Hill, sent up dense columns of smoke.”- Lessing: United States

Card    That's the card. The right thing; the ticket. The reference is to tickets of admission, cards of the races, and programmes.

“10s. is about the card.”- Mayhew: London Labour, etc.

   A queer card. An eccentric person, “indifferent honest.” A difficult lead in cards to play to.
   A knowing card. A sharp fellow, next door to a sharper. The allusion is to card-sharpers and their tricks.

“Whose great aim it was to be considered a knowing card.”- Dickens: Sketches, etc.

   A great card. A big wig; the boss of the season; a person of note. A big card.
   A leading card. A star actor. A person leads from his strongest suit.
   A loose card. A worthless fellow who lives on the loose.

“A loose card is a card of no value, and, consequently, the properest to throw away.”- Hoyle: Games, etc.

   A sure card. A person one can fully depend on; a person sure to command success. A project to be certainly depended on. As a winning card in one's hand.
   He is the card of our house. The man of mark, the most distingué. Osric tells Hamlet that Laertës is “the card and calendar of gentry” (v. 2). The card is a card of a compass, containing all its points. Laertës is the card of gentry, in whom may be seen all its points. We also say “a queer card,” meaning an odd fish.
   That was my best trump card. My best chance. The allusion is to loo, whist, and other games played with cards.
   To play one's best card. To do that which one hopes is most likely to secure success.
   To speak by the card. To speak by the book, be as precise as a map or book, be as precise as a map or book. A merchant's expression. The card is the document in writing containing the agreements made between a merchant and the captain of a vessel. Sometimes the owner binds himself, ship, tackle, and furniture for due performance, and the captain is bound to deliver the cargo committed to him in good condition. To speak by the card is to speak according to the indentures or written instructions. In some cases the reference is to the card of a mariner's compass.

“Law ... is the card to guide the world by.”- Hooker: Ecc. Pol., part ii. sec. 5.

“We must speak by the card, or equivocation
will undo us.”- Shakespeare: Hamlet, v. 1.

Cards    It is said that there never was a good hand of cards containing four clubs. Such a hand is called “The Devil's Four-poster.”
   Lieuben, a German lunatic, bet that he would succeed in turning up a pack of cards in a certain order stated in a written agreement. He turned and turned the cards ten hours a day for twenty years, and repeated the operation 4,246,028 times, when at last he succeeded.
   In Spain, spades used to be columbines; clubs, rabbits; diamonds, pinks; and hearts, roses. The present name for spades is espados (swords); of clubs, bastos (cudgels); of diamonds, dineros (square pieces of money used for paying wages), of hearts, copas (chalices).
   The French for spades is pique (pikemen or soldiers); for clubs, trèfle (clover, or husbandmen); of diamonds, carreaux (building tiles, or artisans); of hearts, choeur (choir-men, or ecclesiasties)
   The English spades is the French form of a pike, and the Spanish name; the clubs is the French trefoil, and the Spanish name; the hearts is a corruption of choeur into coeur. (See Vierge.)
   Court cards. So called because of their heraldic devices. The king of clubs originally represented the arms of the Pope; of spades, the King of France; of diamonds, the King of Spain; and of hearts, the King of England. The French kings in cards are called David (spades), Alexander (clubs), Caesar (diamonds), and Charles (hearts)- representing the Jewish, Greek, Roman, and Frankish empires. The queens or dames are Argine- i.e. Juno (hearts), Judith (clubs), Rachel (diamonds), and Pallas (spades) - representing royalty, fortitude, piety, and wisdom. They were likenesses of Marie d'Anjou, the queen of Charles VII., Isabeau, the queen-mother; Agnes Sorel, the king's mistress, and Joan d'Arc, the dame of spades, or war.
   He felt that he held the cards in his own hands. That he had the whip-end of the stick; that