Chapter Est-il-possible to Eulen-spiegel of E by Brewer's Phrase & Fable

Est-il-possible to Eulen-spiegel

Est-il-possible A nickname of Prince George of Denmark, given him by James II. The story goes that James, speaking of those who had deserted his standard, concluded the catalogue with these words, "And who do you think besides? Why, little Est-il-possible, my worthy son-in-law." James applied this cognomen to the prince because, when George was told of his father-in-law's abdication, all he did was to exclaim, "Est-il-possible?" and when told, further, of the several noblemen who had fallen away from him, "Est-il-possible?" exhausted his indignation.

Estafette (French; Spanish, estafeta). Military couriers sent express. Their duty is to deliver the dispatches consigned to them to the postillions appointed to receive them.

Estates Estates of the realm. The powers that have the administration of affairs in their hands. The three estates of our own realm are the Lords Spiritual, the Lords Temporal, and the Commons; popularly speaking, the public press is termed the fourth estate. It is a great mistake to call the three estates of England the Sovereign, the Lords, and the Commons, as many do. The word means that on which the realm stands. (Latin, sto, to stand.) (See Fourth Estate.)

"Herod ... made a supper to his ... chief estates." - Mark vi. 21.

"The king and the three estates of the realm assembled in parliament." - Collect for Nov. 5.

Este The house of Este had for their armorial bearing a white eagle on an azure shield. Rinaldo, in Jerusalem Delivered, adopted this device; and Ariosto, in his Orlando Furioso, gives it both to Mandricardo and Rogero, adding that it was borne by Trojan Hector. As the Dukes of Brunswick are a branch of the house of Este, our Queen is a descendant of the same noble family.
   D'Este was the surname adopted by the children of the Duke of Sussex and Lady Augusta Murray.

Estotiland An imaginary tract of land near the Arctic Circle in North America, said to have been discovered by John Scalvë, a Pole.

"The snow
From cold Estotiland."
Milton: Paradise Lost, x. 685.

Estramaçon (French). A blow or cut with a sword, hence also "estramaçonner," to play at backsword. Sir Walter Scott uses the word in the sense of a feint or pretended cut. Hence Sir Jeffrey Hudson, the dwarf, says: -

"I tripped a hasty morris ... upon the dining table, now offering my sword [to the Duke of Buckingham], and now recovering it, I made ... a sort of estramacon at his nose, the dexterity of which consists in coming mightily near to the object without touching it." - Peveril of the Peak, chap. xxxiv.

Estrich Wool is the soft down of the estrich, called in French, duvet d' autriche. It lies immediately under the feathers of the ostrich.

Estrildis or Estrild. Daughter of a German king, and handmaid to the mythical King Humber. When Humber was drowned in the river that bears his name, King Locrin fell in love with Estrildis, and would have married her, had he not been betrothed already to Guendoloena; however, he kept Estrildis for seven years in a palace underground, and had by her a daughter named Sabrina. After the death of Locrin, Guendaloena threw both Estrildis and Sabrina into the Severn. (Geoffrey: British History, ii. ch. ii.-v.)

Estuary Literally, the boiling place; the mouth of a river is so called because the water there seems to seethe and boil. (Latin, oestuo, to boil.)

Eternal City (The). Rome. Virgil makes Jupiter tell Venus he would give to the Romans imperium sinë finë (an eternal empire). (Æneid, i. 79.)