Chapter Gargittios to Gaunt of G by Brewer's Phrase & Fable

Gargittios to Gaunt

Gargittios One of the dogs that guarded the herds and flocks of Geryon, and which Hercules killed. The other was the two-headed dog, named Orthos, or Orthros.

Gargouille or Gargoil (g hard). A water-spout in church architecture. Sometimes also spelt Gurgoyle. They are usually carved into some fantastic shape, such as a dragon's head, through which the water flows. Gargouille was the great dragon that lived in the Seine, ravaged Rouen, and was slain by St. Romanus, Bishop of Rouen, in the seventh century. (See Dragon.)

Garibaldi's Red Shirt The red shirt is the habitual upper garment of American sailors. Any Liverpudlian will tell you that some fifteen years ago a British tar might be discerned by his blue shirt, and a Yankee "salt" by his red. Garibaldi first adopted the American shirt, when he took the command of the merchantman in Baltimore.

Garland (g hard).

"A chaplet should be composed of four roses ... and a garland should be formed of laurel or oak leaves, interspersed with acorns." - J. E. Handbook of Heraldry, chap. vii. p. 105.

   Garland. A collection of ballads in True Lovers' Garland, etc.
   Nuptial garlands are as old as the hills. The ancient Jews used them, according to Selden (Uxor Heb., iii. 655); the Greek and Roman brides did the same (Vaughan, Golden Grove); so did the Anglo-Saxons and Gauls.

"Thre ornamentys pryncipaly to a wyfe: A rynge on hir fynger, a broch on hir brest, and a garlond on hir hede. The rynge betokenethe true love; the broch clennesse in herte and chastitye; the garlond ... gladness and the dignity of the sacrement of wedlock." - Leland: Dives and Pauper (1493).

Garlick is said to destroy the magnetic power of the loadstone. This notion, though proved to be erroneous, has the sanction of Pliny, Solinus, Ptolemy, Plutarch, Albertus, Mathiolas, Rueus, Rulandus, Renodaeus, Langius, and others. Sir Thomas Browne places it among Vulgar Errors (book ii. chap. 3.)

"Martin Rulandus saith that Onions and Garlick ... hinder the attractive power [of the magnet] and rob it of its virtue of drawing iron, to which Renodaeus agrees but this is all lies." - W. Salmon: The Complete English Physician, etc., chap. xxv. p. 182.

Garnish (g hard). Entrance-money, to be spent in drink, demanded by jailbirds of new-comers. In prison slang garnish means fetters, and garnish-money is money given for the "honour" of wearing fetters. The custom became obsolete with the reform of prisons. (French, garnissage, trimming, verb garnir, to decorate or adorn.) (See Fielding's and Smollett's novels.)

Garratt (g hard). The Mayor of Garratt. Garratt is between Wandsworth and Tooting; the first mayor of this village was elected towards the close of the eighteenth century; and his election came about thus: Garratt Common had been often encroached on, and in 1780 the inhabitants associated themselves together to defend their rights. The chairman of this association was entitled Mayor, and as it happened to be the time of a general election, the society made it a law that a new "mayor" should be chosen at every general election. The addresses of these mayors, written by Foote, Garrick, Wilkes, and others, are satires on the corruption of electors and political squibs. The first Mayor of Garratt was "Sir" John Harper, a retailer of brickdust in London; and the last was "Sir" Harry Dimsdale, muffin-seller, in 1796. Foote has a farce entitled The Mayor of Garratt.

Garraway's i.e. Garraway's coffee-house, in Exchange Alley. It existed for 216 years, and here tea was sold, in 1657, for 16s. up to 50s. a pound. The house no longer exists.

Garrot'e or Garotte (2 syl., g hard) is the Spanish garrote (a stick). The original way of garrotting in Spain was to place the victim on a chair with a cord round his neck, then to twist the cord with a stick till strangulation ensued. In 1851 General Lopez was garrotted by the Spanish authorities for attempting to gain possession of Cuba; since which time the thieves of London, etc., have adopted the method of strangling their victim by throwing their arms round his throat, while an accomplice rifles his pockets.