Chapter Elf-fire to Elohistic of E by Brewer's Phrase & Fable

Eliott's Tailors The 15th Hussars, now the 15th [King's] Hussars, previously called the 15th, or king's own royal light dragoon guards. In 1759 Lieutenant-Colonel Eliott enlisted a large number of tailors on strike into a cavalry regiment modelled after the Prussian hussars. This regiment so highly distinguished themselves, that George III. granted them the honour of being called "the king's royal."

Elissa Dido, Queen of Carthage. A Phoenician name signifying heroic, brave.

"Nec me meminisse pigebit Elissæ."
Virgil: Æneid, iv. 335.

    Dido was the niece of the Bible Jezebel. Ithobal I., king of Tyre (1 Kings xvi. 13), had for children Belus, Margenus, and Jezebel. Of these Belus was the father of Pygmalion and Dido. Hence Jezebel was Dido's aunt.

Elissa (deficiency or parsimony; Greek, ellipsis). Step-sister of Medina and Perissa, but they could never agree upon any subject. (Spenser: Faërie Queene, book ii.)

Elivager (4 syl.). A cold venomous stream which issued from Niflheim, and in the abyss called the Ginnunga Gap, hardening into layer upon layer of ice. (Scandinavian mythology.)

Elixir of Life A ruby, supposed by the alchemists to prolong life indefinitely. The tincture for transmuting metals was also called an elixir. (Arabic, el or al iksir, the iksir (? coction).) (See Amrita.)

"He that has once the Flower of the Sun,
The perfect ruby which we call Elixir ...
Can confer honour, love, respect, long life,
Give safety, valour, yea, and victory,
To whom he will. In eight-and-twenty days
I'll make an old man of fourscore a child.
Ben Jonson: The Alchemist, ii. 1.

Elizabeth had pet names for all her favourite courtiers; q.e.:
   The mother of Sir John Norris she called "My own Crow."
   Burghley was her "Spirit."
   Mountjoy she termed her "Kitchenmaid in Ireland."

Elizabeth has given more variants than any other Christian name: Eliza, Isa, Isabel, Lizzy, Elizabeth, Elisabetta, Betty, Bettina, Bess, Bessy, etc.

Elizabeth of Hungary (St.). Patron saint of queens, being herself a queen. (1207-1231.)

Elizabethan After the style of things in the reign of Queen Elizabeth. Elizabethan architecture is a mixture of Gothic and Italian, prevalent in the reigns of Elizabeth and James I.

Ell (Anglo-Saxon eln, an ell). It is said that the English ell was the length of Henry I.'s arm, but the ordinary length of a man's arm is about a yard.
   Give him an inch, and he'll take an ell. Give him a little licence, and he will take great liberties, or make great encroachments. The ell was no definite length. The English ell was 45 inches, the Scotch ell only 37 inches, while the Flemish ell was three-quarters of a yard and a French ell a yard and a half. This indefinite measure expresses the uncertainty of the length to which persons will go to whom you give the inch of liberty. Some will go the French ell; while others of more modesty or more limited desires will be satisfied with the shorter measures.

Ell-wand (The King's). The group of stars called "Orion's Belt."

"The King's Ellwand, now foolishly termed the `Belt of Orion.' " - Hogg: Tales, etc.

Ella or Alla. King of Northumberland, who married Cunstance. (Chaucer: Man of Lawes Tale.) (See Cunstance.)

Elliot In the Black Dwarf, by Sir Walter Scott, are seven of that name, viz. Halbert or Hobbie Elliot, of the Heugh-foot (a farmer); Mrs. Elliot, his grandmother; John and Harry, his brothers; and Lilias, Jean, and Arnot, his sisters.

Ellyllon The souls of the ancient Druids, which, being too good for hell, and not good enough for heaven, are permitted to wander upon earth till the judgment day, when they will be admitted to a higher state of being (Welsh mythology.)