Chapter George a' Green to Gerst-Monat of G by Brewer's Phrase & Fable

George a' Green to Gerst-Monat

George a' Green As good as George a' Green. Resolute-minded; one who will do his duty come what may. George a' Green was the famous pinder or pound-keeper of Wakefield, who resisted Robin Hood, Will Scarlett, and Little John single-handed when they attempted to commit a trespass in Wakefield.

"Were ye bold as George-a-Green,
I shall make bold to turn again."
Samuel Butler: Hudibras.

George Eliot The literary name of Marian Evans [Lewes], authoress of Adam Bede, Mill on the Floss, Felix Holt, etc.

George Geith The hero of a novel by Mrs. Trafford [Riddell]. He is one who will work as long as he has breath to draw, and would die in harness. He would fight against all opposing circumstances while he had a drop of blood left in his veins, and may be called the model of untiring industry and indomitable moral courage.

George Sand The pen-name of Mme. Dudevant, born at Paris 1804. Her maiden name was Dupin.

George Street (Strand, London) commences the precinct of an ancient mansion which originally belonged to the bishops of Norwich. After passing successively into the possession of Charles Brandon, Duke of Suffolk, the archbishops of York, and the Crown, it came to George Villiers, Duke of Buckingham. The second Duke of Buckingham pulled down the mansion and built the streets and alley called respectively "George" (street), "Villiers" (street), "Duke" (street), "Of" (alley), and "Buckingham" (street).

Geraint' (g hard). Tributary Prince of Devon, and one of the knights of the Round Table. Overhearing part of E'nid's words, he fancied she was faithless to him, and treated her for a time very harshly; but Enid nursed him so carefully when he was wounded that he saw his error, "nor did he doubt her more, but rested in her fealty, till be crowned a happy life with a fair death." (Tennyson: Idylls of the King; Enid. )

Geraldine (3 syl., g soft). The Fair Geraldine. Lady Elizabeth Fitzgerald is so called in the Earl of Surrey's poems.

Geranium (g soft). The Turks say this was a common mallow changed by the touch of Mahomet's garment.
   The word is from the Greek geranos (a crane); and the plant is called "Crane's Bill," from the resemblance of the fruit to the bill of a crane.

Gerda (g hard). Wife of Frey, and daughter of the frost giant Gymer. She is so beautiful that the brightness of her naked arms illuminates both air and sea. Frey (the genial spring) married Gerda (the frozen earth), and Gerda became the mother of children. (Scandinavian mythology. )

German or Germaine (g soft). Pertaining to, related to, as cousins-german (first cousins), german to the subject (bearing on or pertinent to the subject). This word has no connection with German (the nation), but comes from the Latin germanus (of the same germ or stock). First cousins have a grandfather or grandmother in common.

"Those that are germaine to him, though removed fifty times, shall all come under the hangman." - Shakespeare: Winter's Tale, iv. 3.

German Jehan de Maire says, "Germany is so called from Caesar's sister Germana, wife of Salvius Brabon."
   Geoffrey of Monmouth says that Ebrancus, a mythological descendant of Brute, King of Britain, had twenty sons and thirty daughters. All the sons, except the eldest, settled in Germany, which was therefore, called the land of the Germans or brothers. (See above.)

"[Ebrank.] An happy man in his first days he was,
And happy father of fair progeny;
For all so many weeks as the year has
So many children he did multiply!
Of which were twenty sons, which did apply
Their minds to praise and chivalrous desire.
These germans did subdue all Germany,
Of whom it hight ..."
Spenser: Faërie Queene, ii. 10.

    Probably the name is Ger-man, meaning "warman." The Germans call themselves Deutsch- en, which is the same as Teut-on, with the initial letter flattened into D, and "Teut" means a multitude. The Romans called the people Germans at least 200 years before the Christian era, for in 1547 a tablet