Chapter Gooseberry to Goth of G by Brewer's Phrase & Fable

Gorgibus An honest, simple-minded burgess, brought into all sorts of troubles by the love of finery and the gingerbread gentility of his niece and his daughter. (Molière: Les Précieuses Ridicules.)

Gorgon Anything unusually hideous. There were three Gorgons, with serpents on their heads instead of hair; Medusa was the chief of the three, and the only one that was mortal; but so hideous was her face that whoever set eyes on it was instantly turned into stone. She was slain by Perseus, and her head placed on the shield of Minerva.

"Lest Gorgon rising from the infernal lakes
With horrors armed, and curls of hissing snakes,
Should fix me, stiffened at the monstrous sight,
A stony image in eternal night."
Odyssey, xi.

"What was that snaky-headed Gorgon shield
That wise Minerva wore unconquered virgin,
Where with she freezed her foes to congealed stone?
But rigid looks of chaste austerity,
And noble grace, that dashed brute violence
With sudden adoration and blank awe."
Milton: Comus, 458-463.

Gorham Controversy This arose out of the refusal of the bishop of Exeter to institute the Rev. Cornelius Gorham to the vicarage of Brampford Speke, "because he held unsound views on the doctrine of baptism." Mr. Gorham maintained that "spiritual regeneration is not conferred on children by baptism." After two years' controversy, the Privy Council decided in favour of Mr. Gorham. (1851).

Gorlois Duke of Cornwall, husband of Igerna, who was the mother of King Arthur by an adulterous connection with Uther, pendragon of the Britons.

Gosling A term applied to a silly fellow, a simpleton.

"Surprised at all they meet, the gosling pair,
With awkward gait, stretched neck, and silly stare,
Discover huge cathedrals."
Cowper: Progress of Error, 379-81.

Goslings The catkins of nut-trees, pines, etc. Halliwell says they are so called from their yellow colour and fluffy texture.

Gospel A panacea; a scheme to bring about some promised reform; a beau ideal. Of course the theological word is the Anglo-Saxon godspell, i.e. God and spel (a story), a translation of the Greek evangelion, the good story.

"Mr. Carnegie's gospel is the very thing for the transition period from social heathendom to social Christianity." - Nineteenth Century (March, 1891, p. 380).

Gospel according to ... The chief teaching of [so-and-so]. "The Gospel according to Mammon" is the making and collecting of money. "The Gospel according to Sir Pertinax Mac Sycophant," is bowing and cringing to those who are in a position to lend you a helping hand.

Gospel of Nicodemus (The). Sometimes called "The Acts of Pilate" (Acta Pilati), was the main source of the "Mysteries" and "Miracle Plays" of the Middle Ages; and although now deemed apocryphal seems for many ages to have been accepted as genuine.

Gospel of Wealth (The). The hypothesis that wealth is the great end and aim of man, the one thing needful.

"The Gospel of Wealth advocates leaving free the operation of laws of accumulation." - Carnegie: Advantages of Poverty.

Gospellers Followers of Wycliffe, called the "Gospel Doctor;" any one who believes that the New Testament has in part, at least, superseded the Old.
   Hot Gospellers. A nickname applied to the Puritans after the Restoration.

Gossamer According to legend, this delicate thread is the ravelling of the Virgin Mary's winding-sheet, which fell to earth on her ascension to heaven. It is said to be God's seam, i.e. God's thread. Philologically it is the Latin gossipin-us, cotton.