Chapter Hegira to Hell Broth of H by Brewer's Phrase & Fable

Hegira to Hell Broth

Hegira The epoch of the flight of Mahomet from Mecca, when he was expelled by the magistrates, July 16th, 622. Mahometans date from this event. (Arabic, hejira, departure.)

Heimdall (2 syl.). In Scandinavian mythology, son of the nine virgins; all sisters. He is called the god with the golden tooth or with golden teeth. Heimdall was not an Asa (q.v.), but a Van (q.v.), who lived in the celestial fort Himinsbiorg under the farther extremity of the bridge Bifrost (q.v.), and kept the keys of heaven. He is the watchman or sentinel of Asgard (q.v.), sleeps less than a bird, sees even in sleep, can hear the grass grow, and even the wool on a lamb's back. Heimdall, at the end of the world, will wake the gods with his trumpet, when the sons of Muspell will go against them, with Loki, the wolf Fenrir, and the great serpent Jormungand.

Heimdall's Horn The sound of this horn went through all the world.

Heimdaller The learned humbugs in the court of King Dinube of Hisisburg. (Grimm's Goblins.)

Heims-kringla (The). A prose legend found in the Snorra Edda.

Heir-apparent The person who will succeed as heir if he survives. At the death of his predecessor the heir-apparent becomes heir-at-law.

Heir-presumptive One who will be heir if no one is born having a prior claim. Thus the Princess Royal was heir-presumptive till the Prince of Wales was born; and if the Prince of Wales had been king before any family had been born to him, his brother, Prince Alfred, would have been heir-presumptive.

Hel or Hela (in Scandinavian mythology), queen of the dead, is goddess of the ninth earth or nether world. She dwelt beneath the roots of the sacred ash (yggdrasil), and was the daughter of Loki. The All-father sent her into Helheim, where she was given dominion over nine worlds, and to one or other of these nine worlds she sends all who die of sickness or old age. Her dwelling is Elvidnir (dark clouds), her dish Hungr (hunger), her knife Sullt (starvation), her servants Ganglati (tardy-feet), her bed Kör (sickness), and her bed-curtains Blikiandabol (splendid misery). Half her body was blue.

"Down the yawning steep he rode
That led to Hela's drear abode."
Gray: Descent of Odin.

Hel Keplein A mantle of invisibility belonging to the dwarf-king Laurin. (German, hehlen, to conceal.) (The Heldenbuch.)

Heldenbuch (Book of Heroes). A German compilation of all the romances pertaining to Diderick and his champions, by Wolfram von Eschenbach.

Helen The type of female beauty, more especially in those who have reached womanhood. Daughter of Zeus and Leda, and wife of Menelaos, King of Sparta.

"She moves a goddess and she looks a queen."
Pope: Homer's Iliad, iii.

   The Helen of Spain. Cava or Florinda, daughter of Count Julian. (See Cava.)
   St. Helen's fire (feu d'Hélène); also called Feu St. Helme (St. Helme's or St. Elmo's fire); and by the Italians "the fires of St. Peter and St. Nicholas." Meteoric fires seen occasionally on the masts of ships, etc. If the flame is single, foul weather is said to be at hand; but if two or more flames appear, the weather will improve. (See Castor.)

Helen of One's Troy (The). The ambition of one's life; the subject for which we would live and die. The allusion, of course, is to that Helen who eloped with Paris, and thus brought about the siege and destruction of Troy.

"For which men all the life they here enjoy
Still fight, as for the Helens of their Troy."
Lord Brooke: Treatie of Humane Learning.

Helena The type of a lovely woman, patient and hopeful, strong in feeling, and sustained through trials by her enduring and heroic faith. (Shakespeare: All's Well that Ends Well.)

Helena (St.). Mother of Constantine the Great. She is represented in royal robes, wearing an imperial crown, because she was empress. Sometimes she carries in her hand a model of the Holy Sepulchre,