Chapter Earthmen to Ebionites of E by Brewer's Phrase & Fable

for which Ormuzd and Ahriman were to contend till the consummation of all things. It prevailed not only with the Persians, but also among the Jews, Egyptians, and Hindus. Christians adopted the custom to symbolise the resurrection, and they colour the eggs red in allusion to the blood of their redemption. There is a tradition, also, that the world was "hatched" or created at Easter-tide.

"Bless, Lord, we beseech thee, this Thy creature of eggs, that it may become a wholesome sustenance to Thy faithful servants, eating it in thankfulness to Thee, on account of the resurrection of our Lord." - Pope Paul V: Ritual.

Eat To eat humble pie. (See Humble Pie.)
   To eat one out of house and home. To eat so much that one will have to part with house and home in order to pay for it.
   To eat one's words. To retract in a humiliating manner; to unsay what you have said; to eat your own lick.
   To eat the mad cow. A French phrase, implying that a person is reduced to the very last extremity, and is willing to eat even a cow that has died of madness; glad to eat cat's meat.

"Il mangea de cette chose inexprimable qu'on appelle de la vache enragée." - Victor Hugo: Les Miserables.

   To eat the leek. (See Leek.)
   To eat well. To have a good appetite. But "It eats well" means that what is eaten is agreeable or flavorous. To "eat badly" is to eat without appetite or too little; not pleasant to the taste.

Eat not the Brain This is the 31st Symbol in the Protreptics of Iamblichus; and the prohibition is very similar to that of Moses forbidding the Jews to eat the blood, because the blood is the life. The brain is the seat of reason and the ruler of the body. It was also esteemed the Divine part - at least, of man.

Eat not the Heart This is the 30th Symbol in the Protreptics of Iamblichus. Pythagoras forbade judges and priests to eat animal food at all, because it was taking away life. Other persons he did not wholly forbid this food, but he restricted them from eating the brain (the seat of wisdom) and the heart (the seat of life).

Eat One's Heart Out (To). To fret or worry unreasonably; to allow one grief or one vexation to predominate over the mind, tincture all one's ideas, and absorb all other emotions.

Eats his Head Off (The horse). Eats more than he is worth, or the work done does not pay for the cost of keeping. A horse which stands in the stable unemployed eats his head off.

Eating One's Terms
To be studying for the bar. Students are required to dine in the Hall of the Inns of Court at least three times in each of the twelve terms before they are "called" [to the bar]. (See Doctors' Commons.)

Eating Together To eat together in the East was at one time a sure pledge of protection. A Persian nobleman was once sitting in his garden, when a man prostrated himself before him, and implored protection from the rabble. The nobleman gave him the remainder of a peach which he was eating, and when the incensed multitude arrived, and declared that the man had slain the only son of the nobleman, the heart-broken father replied, "We have eaten together; go in peace," and would not allow the murderer to be punished.

Eau de Cologne A perfumed spirit, prepared at Cologne. The most famous maker was Jean Maria Farina.

Eau de Vie Brandy. A French translation of the Latin aqua vitæ (water of life). This is a curious perversion of the Spanish acqua di vitæ (water or juice of the vine), rendered by the monks into aqua vitæ instead of aqua vitis, and confounding the juice of the grape with the alchemists' elixir of life. The same error is perpetuated in the Italian acqua vite; the Scotch whisky, which is the Celtic uisc-lyf; and the Irish usquebaugh, which is the Gaelic and Irish uisgæ-beatha. (See Aqua Vitae.)

Eaves-dropper One who listens stealthily to conversation. The derivation of the term is not usually understood. The owners of private estates in Saxon times were not allowed to cultivate to the extremity of their possessions, but were obliged to leave a space for eaves. This space was called the yfes-drype