Chapter Central Sun to Chair of C by Brewer's Phrase & Fable

Cerus manus= Creator; and Cerco (according to Varro) is by metathesis for creo. Ceres, according to Scaliger, is also from creo. By this etymology, “Ceremony” means sacred rites, or solemn acts in honour of the Creator. The great objection to this etymology is that Cicero, Tacitus, and other classic authors spell the word Cære-monia and not Cere-monia.
   Master of the Ceremonies. An officer, first appointed by James I., to superintend the reception of ambassadors and strangers of rank, and to prescribe the formalities to be observed in levees and other grand public functions.

Ceres (2 syl.). Corn. Ceres was the Roman name of Mother-Earth, the protectress of agriculture and of all the fruits of the earth.

“Dark frowning heaths grow bright with Ceres' store.” Thomson: Castle of Indolence, ii. 27.

Cerinthians Disciples of Cerinthus, a heresiarch of the first century. They denied the divinity of Christ, but held that a certain virtue descended into Him at baptism, which filled Him with the Holy Ghost.

Cerulean Brother of Jove (The ). Neptune. Here cerulean means green.

Cess Measure, as ex-cess, excess-ive. Out of all cess means excessively, i.e. ex (out of all) cess.

“Poor jade, is wrung in the withers out of all cess.”- Shakespeare: 1 Henry IV., ii. 1.

   Cess. A tax, contracted from assessment (“sess”); as a “church-cess.” In Ireland the word is used sometimes as a contraction of success, meaning luck, as “bad cess to you!”

Cestui que Vie is the person for whose life any lands or hereditaments may be held.
   Cestui que use, the person entitled to a use. Cestui que trust, the person for whose benefit a trust may be created.

Cestus in Homer, is the girdle of Venus, of magical power to move to ardent love. In Jerusalem Delivered, Armida wore a similar cestus.

Cf Latin, confer = compare.

Chabouk (See Chibouque , p. 245.)

Chabouk or Chabuk. A long whip, or the application of whips and rods; a Persian and Chinese punishment. (Dubois.)

“Drag forward that fakir, and cut his robe into tatters on his back with your chabouks.”- Scott: The Surgeon's Daughter, c. xiv.

   The criticism of the chabuk. The application of whips or rods (Persian). (Dubois.)

“If that monarch did not give the chabuk to Feramorz, there would be an end to all legitimate government in Bucharia.”- T. Moore: Lalla Rookh.

Chacun a son Gout “Everyone has (a ) his taste”; or, “Everyone to (à) his taste.” The former is French, the latter is English-French. The phrase is much more common with us than it is in France, where we meet with the phrases- Chacun a sa chacunerie (everyone has his idiosyncrasy), and chacun a sa marotte (everyone has his hobby). In Latin sua cuique voluptas, “as the good-man said when he kissed his cow.”

Chad-pennies Whitsuntide offerings at St. Chad's cathedral, Lichfield, for keeping it in repair.

Chaff An old bird is not to be caught with chaff. An experienced man, or one with his wits about him, is not to be deluded by humbug. The reference is to throwing chaff instead of bird-seed to allure birds. Hence-
   You are chaffing me. Making fun of me. A singular custom used to exist in Notts and Leicestershire some half a century ago. When a husband ill-treated his wife, the villagers emptied a sack of chaff at his door, to intimate that “thrashing was done within,” which some think to be the origin of the word.
    “To chaff, ” meaning to banter, is a variant of chafe, to irritate.

Chair (The ). The office of chief magistrate in a corporate town.
   Below the chair. An alderman who has not yet served the mayoralty.
   Passed the chair. One who has served the chief office of the corporation.