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

he had the upper hand, and could do as he liked. The allusion is to games played with cards, such as whist.
   He played his cards well. He acted judiciously and skilfully, like a whistplayer who plays his hand with judgment. To play one's cards badly is to manage a project unskilfully.
   The cards are in my hands. I hold the disposal of events which will secure success. The allusion is obvious.

“The Vitelli busied at Arezzo; the Orsini irritating the French; the war of Naples imminent;- the cards are in my hands.”- Caesar Borgia, xxix.

   On the cards. Likely to happen, projected, and talked about as likely to occur. On the programme or card of the races; on the “agenda.”
   To count on one's cards. To anticipate success under the circumstances. The allusion is to holding in one's hand cards likely to win.
   To go in with good cards. To have good patronage; to have excellent grounds for expecting success.
   To throw up the cards. To give up as a bad job; to acknowledge you have no hope of success. In some games of cards, as loo, a player has the liberty of saying whether he will play or not, and if one's hand is hopelessly bad he throws up his cards and sits out till the next deal.

Cardinal Humours Blood, phlegm, yellow bile, and black bile.

Cardinal Numbers Such numbers as 1, 2, 3, etc. 1st, 2nd, 3rd, etc., are ordinal numbers.

Cardinal Points of the Compass Due north, west, east, and south. So called because they are the points on which the intermediate ones, such as N.E., N.W., N.N.E., etc., hinge or hang. (Latin, cardo, a hinge.)

Cardinal Signs [of the Zodiac]. The two equinoctial and the two solsticial signs, Aries and Libra, Cancer and Capricornus.

Cardinal Virtues Justice, prudence, temperance, and fortitude, on which all other virtues hang or depend.

Cardinal Winds Those that blow due East, West, North, and South.

Cardinals Hinges. (Latin, cardo.) The election of the Pope “hinges” on the voice of the sacred college, and on the Pope the doctrines of the Church depend; so that the cardinals are in fact the hinges on which the Christian Church turns. There may be six cardinal bishops, fifty cardinal priests, and fourteen cardinal deacons, who constitute the Pope's council, and who elect the Pope when a vacancy occurs.

Cardinal's Red Hat Some assert that Innocent IV. made the cardinals wear a red hat “in token of their being ready to lay down their life for the gospel.”

Carduel or Kartel. Carlisle. The place where Merlin prepared the Round Table.

Care-cloth (The). The fine linen cloth laid over the newly-married in the Catholic Church. (Anglo-Saxon, cear, large, as cear wúnd (a big wound), cear sorh (a great sorrow), etc.)

Care killed the Cat It is said that “a cat has nine lives,” yet care would wear them all out.

Care Sunday (the fifth Sunday in Lent). Professor Skeat tells us (Notes and Queries, Oct. 28th, 1893), that “care” means trouble, suffering; and that Care-Sunday means Passion-Sunday. In Old High German we have Kar-woche and Kar-fritag.
   The Latin cura sometimes meant “sorrow, grief, trouble,” as “Curam et angorem animl levare.”- Cicero: Att. i. 15.

Careme (2 syl.). Lent; a corruption of quadragesima.

Car-goose (A) or Gargoose. The crested diver, belonging to the genus Colymbus. (Anglo-Saxon, gar and gos.)

Caricatures mean “sketches overdrawn.” (Italian, caricatura,) from carica'rë, to load or burden.