Chapter Fearless to Feeble of F by Brewer's Phrase & Fable

Fearless to Feeble

Fearless [Sans peur ]. Jean, Duke of Burgundy (1371-1419). (See Bayard.)

Feast of Reason

"There St. John [Sin-jn] mingles with the friendly bowl
The feast of reason and the flow of soul."
Pope: Imitations of Horace, ii. 1.

Feasts Anniversary days of joy. They are either immovable or movable. The chief immovable feasts are the four rent-days - viz. the Annunciation or Lady-Day (March 25th), the Nativity of John the Baptist (June 24th), Michaelmas Day (September 29th), and Christmas Day (December 25th). The Circumcision (New Year's Day, January 1st), Epiphany (January 6th), All Saints' (November 1st), All Souls' (November 2nd), and the several Apostles' days.
   The chief movable feasts depend upon Easter Sunday. They are -
   Palm Sunday. The Sunday next before Easter Sunday.
   Good Friday. The Friday next before Easter Sunday.
   Ash Wednesday. The first day of Lent.
   Sexagesima Sunday. Sixty days before Easter Sunday.
   Ascension Day or Holy Thursday. Fortieth day after Easter Sunday.
   Pentecost or Whit- Sunday. The seventh Sunday after Easter Sunday.
   Trinity Sunday. The Sunday next after Pentecost, etc. etc.

Feather Meaning species or kind. From the proverb, "Birds of a feather" - i.e. of the same plumage, and therefore of the same sort.

"I am not of that feather to shake off
My friend, when he must need me."
Shakespeare: Timon of Athens. i.1.

   Feather. A light, volatile person.

"A wit's a feather, and a chief a rod;
An honest man's the noblest work of God."
Pope: Essay on Man. 247-8.

   A broken feather. (See Broken ...)
   An oiled feather. Kindness of manner and speech. An oiled feather will do more to ease a stubborn lock than great force. (See Power's Tract called The Oiled Feather.)
   Birds of a feather flock together.
   Latin: Similes similibus gaudent. Pares cum paribus facile congregantur. Cicero says, "Deos novimus ornatu et vestitu."
   French: Qui se ressemble, s'assemble.
   In full feather. Flush of money. In allusion to birds not on the moult.
   In grand feather. Dressed to the nines.
   In high feather. In exuberant spirits, joyous. When birds are moulting they mope about, but as soon as they regain their feathers their spirits revive.
   Tickled with a feather. Easily moved to laughter. "Pleased with a feather, tickled with a straw," is more usual; Rire de la moindre bagatelle.
   Also annoyed by trifles, worried by little annoyances.

"From day to day some silly things
Upset you altogether;
There's nought so soon convulsion brings
As tickling with a feather.
`Gainst minor evils let him pray
Who Fortune's favour curries,
For one that big misfortunes slay,
Ten die of little worries."
Sims: Ballads of Babylon (Little Worries).

   Cut a feather. A ship going fast is said to cut a feather, in allusion to the ripple which she throws off from her bows. Metaphorically, "to cut a dash."

"Jack could never cut a feather." - Sir W. Scott: The Pirate, xxxiv.

   To show a white feather. (See White...)

Feather in Your Cap That's a feather in your cap. An honour to you. The allusion is to the very general custom in Asia and among the American Indians of adding a new feather to their head-gear for every enemy slain. The Caufirs of Cabul stick a feather in their turban for every Mussulman slain by them. The Incas and Caciques, the Meunitarris and Mandans (of America), the Abyssinians and Turcomans, etc., etc., follow the same custom. So did the ancient Lycians, and many others. In Scotland and Wales it is still customary for the sportsman who kills the first woodcock to pluck out a feather and stick it in his cap. In fact, the custom, in one form or another, seems to be almost universal.
    When "Chinese" Gordon quelled the Taïping rebellion he was honoured by the Chinese Government with the "yellow jacket and peacock's feather."
   In Hungary, at one time, none might wear a feather but he who had slain a Turk. (Lansdowne MS. 775, folio 149.)

Feather One's Nest He has feathered his nest well. He has made lots of money; has married a rich woman. The allusion is to birds, which line their nests with feathers to make them soft and warm.