Chapter Hippocras to Hobgoblin of H by Brewer's Phrase & Fable

Hippocras to Hobgoblin

Hippocras A cordial made of Lisbon and Canary wines, bruised spices, and sugar; so called from the strainer through which it is passed, called by apothecaries Hippocrates' sleeve. Hippocrates in the Middle Ages was called "Yypocras" or "Hippocras." Thus:

"Well knew he the old Esculapius,
And Deiscorides, and eek Rufus,
Old Yypocras, Haly, and Galien.
Chaucer: Canterbury Tales Prologue, 431).

Hippocratean School A school of medicine, so called from Hippocrates. (See Dogmatic.)

Hippocrates' Sleeve A woollen bag of a square piece of flannel, having the opposite corners joined, so as to make it triangular. Used by chemists for straining syrups, decoctions, etc.

Hippocrene (3 syl.). The fountain of the Muses, produced by a stroke of the hoof of Pegasos (Greek, hippos, horse; krene, fountain).

Hippogriff The winged horse, whose father was a griffin and mother a filly (Greek, hippos, a horse, and gryphos, a griffin). A symbol of love. (Ariosto: Orlando Furioso, iv. 18, 19.)

"So saying, he caught him up, and without wing
Of hippogrif, bore through the air sublime,
Over the wilderness and o'er the plain."
Milton: Paradise Regained, iv. 541-3.

   (See Simurgh.)

Hippolyta Queen of the Amazons, and daughter of Mars. Shakespeare has introduced the character in his Midsummer Night's Dream, where he betroths her to Theseus, Duke of Athens. In classic fable it is her sister Antiope who married Theseus, although some writers justify Shakespeare's account. Hippolyta was famous for a girdle given her by her father, and it was one of the twelve labours of Hercules to possess himself of this prize.

Hippolytos Son of Theseus (2 syl.), King of Athens. He was dragged to death by wild horses, and restored to life by Esculapios.

Hippolytus the cardinal to whom Ariosto dedicated his Orlando Furioso.

Hippomenes (4 syl.). A Grecian prince, who ran a race with Atalanta for her hand in marriage. He had three golden apples, which he dropped one by one, and which the lady stopped to pick up. By this delay she lost the race.

Hippothadee The theologian consulted by Panurge (2 syl.) on the all-important question, "S'il doit semarier?" (Rabelais: Pantagruel, book iii.)

Hired Grief Mutes and other undertakers' employees at funerals. The Undersheriff Layton, in his will, desired that he might be "buried without hired grief" (1885).

Hiren A strumpet. From Peele's play, The Turkish Mahomet and Hyren the Fair Greek. (See 2 Henry IV., ii. 4.)

Hispania Spain. So called from the Punic word Span (a rabbit), on account of the vast number of rabbits which the Carthaginians found in the peninsula. Others derive its from the Basque Expana (a border).

Historicus The nom de plume in the Times of Sir W. Vernon Harcourt, now (1895) Chancellor of the Exchequer.

History Our oldest historian is the Venerable Bede, who wrote in Latin an Ecclesiastical History of very great merit (672-735). Of secular historians, William of Poitiers, who wrote in Latin The Gests or Deeds of William, Duke of Normandy and King of the English (1020-1088). His contemporary was Ingulphus, who wrote a history of Croyland Abbey (1030-1109). The oldest prose work in Early English is Sir John Mandeville's account of his Eastern travels in 1356.
   The Father of History. Herodotos the Greek historian