Chapter Fighting the Tiger to Finger of F by Brewer's Phrase & Fable

Fillet A narrow band round the head for binding the hair, or simply for ornament. Aurelian was the first Roman emperor that wore a royal fillet or diadem in public. In the time of Constantine the fillet was adorned with precious stones.

Filomena Longfellow calls Florence Nightingale St. Filomena, not only because Filomena resembles the Latin word for a nightingale, but also because this saint, in Sabatelli's picture, is represented as hovering over a group of sick and maimed, healed by her intercession. (See Thaumaturgus.)

Filter To run through felt, as jelly is strained through flannel. The Romans strained the juice of their grapes through felt into the wine-vat, after which it was put into the casks. (Latin, feltrum, felt, filtrum, a strainer.)

Fin The hand. A contraction of finger. Thus we say, "Give us your fin" - i.e. shake hands. The derivation from a fish's fin is good only for a joke.

Finality John Earl Russell, who maintained that the Reform Bill of 1832 was a finality, yet in 1854, 1860, and 1866 brought forth other Reform Bills.

Finance (French). Revenue derived from fines or subsidies. In feudal times finance was money paid to a lord for a privilege. In the plural we use the word to signify available money resources. Thus we say, "My finances are exhausted," meaning I have no more funds or available money.

Finch Lane (London). So called from a family of consideration by the name of Finch or Finke. There was once a church in the lane called St. Benet Finke. There is an Irish saint named Finc, in Latin Fincana, whose day is October 13th.

Find You know what you leave behind, but not what you will find. And this it is that "makes us rather bear the ills we have, than fly to others that we know not of."

Findon Haddocks Haddocks smoked with green wood. (See Sir W. Scott: The Antiquary, xxvi.) Findon or Finnon is a village some six miles south of Aberdeen, where haddocks are cured.

Findy Plump, full, (Saxon, findig.)

"A cold May and a windy
Make barns fat and findy."
Old Proverb.

Fine Arts Those arts which chiefly depend on a delicate or fine imagination, as music, painting, poetry, and sculpture.

Fine as Fivepence The ancient Saxon shilling was a coin worth 5d. "To dress fine as fivepence" is to dress very smartly. The Saxon shilling was a far better coin than those made of tin, lead, and other inferior metals.

Fine-ear One of Fortunio's servants, who could hear the grass grow and the mole work underground. (Grimm's Goblins: Fortunio.)

Finetor A necromancer, father of the Enchantress-Damsel, in Amadis of Gaul.

Fingal - i.e. Fin-mac-Coul. (See Sir W. Scott: The Antiquary, chap. xxii.)

Fingal's Cave The basaltic cavern of Staffa. So called from Fion na Gael (Fingal), the great Gaelic hero, whose achievements have been made familiar by the Fingal of Macpherson.

Finger (Anglo-Saxon, finger).
   The ear finger, digitus auricularis - i.e. the little finger. The four fingers are the index finger, the middle finger, the ring finger, and the ear finger. In French, le doigt auriculaire.