Chapter Green Gown to Gregorian Telescope of G by Brewer's Phrase & Fable

first quarter of the nineteenth century] a `Greenlandman's Galley' was proverbially the lowest in the scale of vulgarity." - C. Thomson: Autobiography, p. 118.

   Too low for even a Greenlandman's Galley. One whose ideas of decency were degraded below even that of a Greenland crew.

Greenwich is the Saxon Grenë-wic (green village), formerly called Grenawic, and in old Latin authors "Grenoviam viridis." Some think it is a compound of grian-wic (the sun city).

Greenwich Barbers Retailers of sand; so called because the inhabitants of Greenwich "shave the pits" in the neighbourhood to supply London with sand.

Gregarines (3 syl.). In 1867 the women of Europe and America, from the thrones to the maid-servants, adopted the fashion of wearing a pad made of false hair behind their head, utterly destroying its natural proportions. The microscope showed that the hair employed for these "uglies" abounded in a pediculous insect called a gregarine (or little herding animal), from the Latin grex (a herd). The nests on the filaments of hair resemble those of spiders and silkworms, and the "object" used to form one of the exhibits in microscopical soirées.

Gregorian Calendar One which shows the new and full moon, with the time of Easter and the movable feasts depending thereon. The reformed calendar of the Church of Rome, introduced by Pope Gregory XIII. in 1582, corrected the error of the civil year, according to the Julian calendar.

Gregorian Chant So called because it was introduced into the church service by Gregory the Great (600).

Gregorian Epoch The epoch or day on which the Gregorian calendar commenced - March, 1582.

Gregorian Telescope The first form of the reflecting telescope, invented by James Gregory, professor of mathematics in the university of St. Andrews. (1663.)