Chapter Fairy Sparks to False of F by Brewer's Phrase & Fable

Fairy Sparks to False

Fairy Sparks The phosphoric light from decaying wood, fish, and other substances. Thought at one time to be lights prepared for the fairies at their revels.

Fairy of the Mine A malevolent being supposed to live in mines, busying itself with cutting ore, turning the windlass, etc., and yet effecting nothing. (See Gnome.)

"No goblin, or swart fairy of the mine,
Hath hurtful power o'er true virginity."
Milton: Comus, 447-8.

Fait Accompli (French). A scheme which has been already carried out with success.

"The subjection of the South is as much a fait accompli as the declaration of independence itself." - The Times.

Faith Defender of the Faith. (See Defender .)
   In good faith. "Bona fide;" "de bonne foi;" with no ulterior motive.

Faithful in Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress, is seized at Vanity Fair, burnt to death, and taken to heaven in a chariot of fire. A Puritan used to be called Brother Faithful. The abiding disciples of any cult are called the faithful.
   Jacob Faithful. The hero of Captain Marryat's novel so called.
   Father of the faithful. Abraham (Rom. iv.; Gal. iii. 6-9).

Fakar (Dhu'l). The scimitar of Mahomet, which fell to his share when the spoil was divided after the battle of Bekr. This term means "The Trenchant."

Fake (1 syl.). Fake away. Cut away, make off (Latin, fac, do, make). It also means to do - i.e. to cheat or swindle.
   Fake. A single fold of a coiled cable. (Scotch, faik, a fold; Swedish, vika, to involve; Saxon, fægan, to unite.)

Fakenham Ghost A ballad by Robert Bloomfield, author of The Farner's Boy. The ghost was a donkey.

Fakir' (Indian). A poor man, a mendicant, a religious beggar. The Fakirs are the lowest in the priesthood of Yesidis. They wear coarse black or brown dresses, and a black turban over which a red handkerchief is tied. Fakirs perform all menial offices connected with burials. They clean the sacred building, trim and light the lamps, and so on.

Falcon and Falconet. Pieces of light artillery, the names of which are borrowed from hawks. (See Saker.)

Falcon Gentle (A). A goshawk.

Falcon Peregrine or Pelerin. La seconde lignie est faucons que hom apele "pelerins," par ce que nus ne trouve son ni; ains est pris autresi come en pelerinage, et est mult legiers a norrir, et mult cortis, et vaillans, et de bone maniere. (Tresor de Brunst Latin: Des Faucons.)

"A faukoun peregryn than semëd sche
Of fremdë [foreign] land."
Chaucer: Canterbury Tales (10,742).

Fald- stool A small desk at which the Litany is sung or said. The place at the south side of the altar at which sovereigns kneel at their coronation. (Barbarous Latin, falda, a thing which folds or shuts up.)

Faldistory The episcopal seat in a chancel, which used to fold or lift up.

Falernian the second best wine in Italy, was so called by the ancient Romans because it was made of grapes from Falernus. There were three sorts - the rough, the sweet, and the dry.

Falkland In Godwin's novel called Caleb Williams. He commits murder, and keeps a narrative of the transaction in an iron chest. Williams, a lad in his employ, opens the chest, and is caught in the act by Falkland. The lad runs away, but is hunted down. This tale, dramatised by Colman, is entitled The Iron Chest.