Chapter Drawcansir to Drivelling Dotage of D by Brewer's Phrase & Fable

Drawcansir to Drivelling Dotage

Drawcansir A burlesque tyrant in The Rehearsal, by G. Villiers, Duke of Buckingham (1672). He kills every one, "sparing neither friend nor foe." The name stands for a blustering braggart, and the farce is said to have been a satire on Dryden's inflated tragedies. (See Bayes, Bobadil.)

"[He] frights his mistress, snubs up kings, baffles armies, and does what he will, without regard to numbers, good sense, or justice." - Bayes: The Rehearsal.

Drawing-room A room to which ladies withdraw or retire after dinner. Also a levée where ladies are presented to the sovereign.

Drawing the Cork Giving one a bloody nose. (See Claret. )

Drawing the King's (or Queen's) Picture. Coining false money.

Drawing the Nail i.e. absolving oneself of a vow. In Cheshire, two or more persons would agree to do something, or to abstain from something, say drinking beer; and they would go into a wood, and register their vow by driving a nail into a tree, swearing to keep their vow as long as that nail remained in the tree. If they repented of their vow, some or all of the party went and drew out the nail, whereupon the vow was cancelled.

Drawlatches Thieves, robbers, wasters, and roberdsmen (5 Edward III. c. 14). About equal to door- openers and shop-lifters.

Drawn Hanged, drawn, and quartered, or Drawn, hanged, and quartered. The question turns on the meaning of drawn. The evidence seems to be that traitors were drawn to the place of execution, then hanged, then "drawn" or disembowelled, and then quartered. Thus the sentence on Sir William Wallace was that he should be drawn (detrahatur) from the Palace of Westminster to the Tower, etc., then hanged (suspendatur), then disembowelled or drawn (devaletur), then beheaded and quartered (decolletur et decapitetur). (See Notes and Queries, August 15th, 1891.)
    If by "drawn" is meant conveyed to the place of execution, the phrase should be "Drawn, hanged, and quartered;" but if the word is used as a synonym of disembowelled, the phrase should be "Hanged, drawn, and quartered."

"Lord Ellenborough used to say to those condemned. `You are drawn on hurdles to the place of execution, where you are to be hanged, but not till you are dead; for, while still living, your body is to be taken down, your bowels torn out and burnt before your face; your head is then cut off, and your body divided into four quarters." - Gentleman's Magazine, 1803, part i. pp. 177,275.

Drawn Battle A battle in which the troops on both sides are drawn off, neither combatants claiming the victory.

Dreadnought The Seaman's Hospital Society; a floating hospital.

Dream Authorship It is said that Coleridge wrote his Kubla Khan, a poem, in a dream.
   Coleridge may have dreamt these lines, but without doubt Purchas's Pilgrimage haunted his dreams, for the resemblance is indubitable.

Dreamer The Immortal Dreamer. John Bunyan (1628-1688).

Dreng A servant boy, similar to the French garçon and Latin puer. A Danish word, which occurs in Domesday Book.

Dress your Jacket (or hide). I'll dress your jacket for you. I'll give you a beating. I'll give you a dressing, or a good dressing. To dress a horse is to curry it, rub it, and comb it. To dress ore is to break it up, crush it, and powder it in the stamping mill. The original idea of dressing is preserved, but the method employed in dressing horses, ore, etc., is the prevailing idea in the phrases referred to.

Dresser A kitchen dresser, the French dressoir, a sideboard, verb dresser, to raise, set up.

"The pewter plates on the dresser."
Longfellow: Evangeline, i. 2.

Drink Anacharsis said: "The first cup for thirst, the second for pleasure, the third for intemperance, and the rest for madness."