Chapter Choereas to Christian Traditions of C by Brewer's Phrase & Fable

Choereas to Christian Traditions

Choereas [Kereas ]. The lover of Callirrhoë, in Chariton's Greek romance, called the Loves of Choereas and Callirrhoë. (Eighth century.)

Choice Spirit (A) or “Choice Spirit of the Age,” a gallant of the day, being one who delights to exaggerate the whims of fashion.
   Hobson's Choice. (See Hobson.)

Choke May this piece of bread choke me, if what I say is not true. In ancient times a person accused of robbery had a piece of barley bread, on which the mass had been said, given him to swallow. He put it in his mouth uttering the words given above, and if he could swallow it without being choked, he was pronounced innocent. Tradition ascribes the death of the Earl Godwin to choking with a piece of bread, after this solemn appeal. (See Corsned .)

Choke-pear An argument to which there is no answer. Robbers in Holland at one time made use of a piece of iron in the shape of a pear, which they forced into the mouth of their victim. On turning a key, a number of springs thrust forth points of iron in all directions, so that the instrument of torture could never be taken out except by means of the key.

Choker (A). A neckcloth. A white choker is a white neckcloth or necktie, worn in full dress, and generally by waiters and clergymen. Of course, the verb to choke has supplied the word.

Chop and Chops.    Chop and change (To). To barter by the rule of thumb. Boys “chop” one article for another (Anglo-Saxon, cip-an, or ceáp-ian, to sell or barter).
   A mutton chop is from the French coup-er, to cut off. A piece chopped off.
   The wind chops about. Shifts from point to point suddenly. This is cip- an, to barter or change hands. ( See above To Chop And Change.)

“How the House of Lords and House of Commons chopped round.”- Thackeray: The Four Georges (George I.).

Chop-fallen Crest-fallen; down in the mouth. (See next column, Chops .)

Chop-House (A). An eating-house where chops and steaks are served.

“John Bull ... would set up a chop-house at the very gates of paradise.”- Washington Irving: vol. i. chap. vi. p. 61.

   A Chinese custom-house is called a Chop-house (Hindu, chap, a stamp).

Chop Logic (To). To bandy words; to altercate. Lord Bacon says, “Let not the council chop with the judge.” (See Chop And Change .)

“How now, how now, chop logic! What is this?
`Proud,' and `I thank you,' and `I thank you not,'
And yet `not proud.' ”
Shakespeare: Romeo and Juliet, iii. 5.

Chops The face, is allied to the Latin caput, the head; Greek, kegaloz Anglo-Saxon ceafel, the snout; in the plural, the cheeks. We talk of a “pig's chap.”
   The Latin cap-ut gives us the word chap, a fellow or man; and its alliance with chop gives us the term “chapped” hands, etc. Everyone knows the answer given to the girl who complained of chapped lips: “My dear, you should not let the chaps come near your lips.”
   Down in the chops- i.e. down in the mouth in a melancholy state; with the mouth drawn down. (Anglo-Saxon, cealf, the snout or jaw; Icelandic, kiaptr.)

Chops of the Channel The short broken motion of the waves, experienced in crossing the English Channel; also the place where such motion occurs.

Chopine (2 syl.), or Chopin. A high-heeled shoe. The Venetian ladies used to wear “high-heeled shoes like stilts.” Hamlet says of the actress, “Your lady-ship is nearer to heaven, than when I saw you last, by the altitude of a chopine” (act ii. s. 2). (Spanish, chapin, a high cork shoe.)

Choreu'tæ [Korutee ]. A sect of heretics, who, among other errors, persisted in keeping the Sunday a fast.

Choriambic Metre Horace gives us a great variety, but the main feature in all is the prevalence of the choriambus. Specimen translations of two of these metres are subjoined:
   (1) Horace, 1 Odes, viii.
   Lydia,