Chapter Hatton to Hawkubites of H by Brewer's Phrase & Fable

Haversack Strictly speaking is a bag to carry oats in. (See Haver-Cakes.) It now means a soldier's ration-bag slung from the shoulder; a gunner's leather-case for carrying charges.

Havock A military cry to general massacre without quarter. This cry was forbidden in the ninth year of Richard II. on pain of death. Probably it was originally used in hunting wild beasts, such as wolves, lions, etc., that fell on sheep-folds, and Shakespeare favours this suggestion in his Julius Caesar, where he says Até shall "cry havock! and let slip the dogs of war." (Welsh, hafog, devastation; Irish, arvach; compare Anglo-Saxon havoc, a hawk.)

Havre (France). A contraction of Le havre de notre dame de grace.

Hawk    (1) Different parts of a hawk:
   Arms. The legs from the thigh to the foot.
   Beak. The upper and crooked part of the bill.
   Beams. The long feathers of the wings.
   Clap. The nether part of the bill.
   Feathers summed. Feathers full grown and complete.
   Feathers unsummed. Feathers not yet full grown.
   Flags. The next to the longest feathers or principals.
   Glut. The slimy substance in the pannel.
   Gorge. The crow or crop.
   Haglurs. The spots on the feathers.
   Mails. The breast feathers.
   Nares. The two little holes on the top of the beak.
   Pannel. The pipe next to the fundament.
   Pendent feathers. Those behind the toes.
   Petty singles. The toes.
   Pounces. The claws.
   Principal feathers. The two longest.
   Sails. The wings.
   Sear or sere. The yellow part under the eyes.
   Train. The tail.

   (2) Different sorts of hawk:
   Gerfalcon. A Tercell of a Gerfalcon is for a king
   Falcon gentle and a Tercel gentle. For a prince.
   Falcon of the rock. For a duke.
   Falcon peregrine. For an earl.
   Bastard hawk. For a baron.
   Sacre and a Sacrit. For a knight.
   Lanare and Lanrell. For a squire.
   Merlyn. For a lady.
   Hoby. For a young man.
   Goshawk. For a yeoman.
   Tercel. For a poor man.
   Sparehawk. For a priest.
   Murkyte. For a holy-water clerk.
   Kesterel. For a knave or servant.
   Dame Juliana Barnes.
   The "Sore-hawk" is a hawk of the first year, so called from the French, sor or saure, brownish-yellow.
   The "Spar" or "Sparrow" hawk is a small, ignoble hawk (Saxon, speara; Goth, sparwa; our spare, spar, spur, spear, spire, sparing, sparse, etc; Latin, sparsus; all referring to minuteness).

   (3) The dress of a hawk:
   Bewits. The leathers with bells, buttoned to a hawk's legs. The bell itself is called a hawk-bell.
   Creanse. A packthread or thin twine fastened to the leash in disciplining a hawk.
   Hood. A cover for the head, to keep the hawk in the dark. A rufter hood is a wide one, open behind. To hood is to put on the hood. To unhood is to take it off. To unstrike the hood is to draw the strings so that the hood may be in readiness to be pulled off.
   Jesses. The little straps by which the leash is fastened to the legs. There is the singular jess.
   Leash. The leather thong for holding the hawk.

   (4) Terms used in falconry:
   Casting. Something given to a hawk to cleanse her gorge.
   Cawking. Treading.
   Cowering. When young hawks, in obedience to their elders, quiver and shake their wings.
   Crabbing. Fighting with each other when they stand too near.
   Hack. The place where a hawk's meat is laid.
   Imping. Placing a feather in a hawk's wing.
   Inke or Ink. The breast and neck of a bird that a hawk preys on.
   Intermewing. The time of changing the coat.
   Lure. A figure of a fowl made of leather and feathers.
   Make. An old staunch hawk that sets an example to young ones.
   Mantling. Stretching first one wing and then the other over the legs.
   Mew. The place where hawks sit when moulting.
   Muting. The dung of hawks.
   Pelf or pill. What a hawk leaves of her prey.
   Pelt. The dead body of a fowl killed by a hawk.
   Perch. The resting-place of a hawk when off the falconer's wrist.
   Plumage. Small feathers given to a hawk to make her cast.
   Quarry. The fowl or game that a hawk flies at.
   Rangle. Gravel given to a hawk to bring down her stomach.
   Sharp set. Hungry.
   Tiring. Giving a hawk a leg or wing of a fowl to pull at.
    The peregrine when full grown is called a blue-hawk.
   The hawk was the avatar of Ra or Horus, the sun-god of the Egyptians.
   See Birds (protected by superstitions.)

Hawk and Handsaw I know a hawk from a handsaw. Handsaw is a corruption of hernshaw (a heron). I know a hawk from a heron, the bird of prey from the game flown at. The proverb means, I know one thing from another. (See Hamlet, ii. 2.)