Chapter Hull Cheese to Hundred-handed of H by Brewer's Phrase & Fable

Hull Cheese to Hundred-handed

Hull Cheese Strong ale, or rather intoxicating cake, like "tipsy cake," thus described by Taylor, the water- poet: "It is much like a loafe out of a brewer's basket; it is composed of two simples - mault and water, ... and is cousin-germane to the mightiest ale in England. (See vol. ii. of Taylor's Works.)

Hullabaloo Uproar. Irish pullalue, a coronach or crying together at funerals. (See Hurly-Burly.)

"All this the poor ould creathure set up such a pullalue, that she brought the seven parishes about her." - Dublin and London Magazine (Loughleagh), 1825.

Hulsean Lectures Instituted by the Rev. John Hulse, of Cheshire, in 1777. Every year some four or six sermons are preached at Great St. Mary's, Cambridge, by what is now called the Hulsean Lecturer, who, till 1860, was entitled the Christian Advocate. Originally twenty sermons a year were preached and afterwards printed under this benefaction.

Hum and Haw (To). To hesitate to give a positive plain answer; to hesitate in making a speech. To introduce hum and haw between words which ought to follow each other freely.

Huma (The). A fabulous Oriental bird which never alights, but is always on the wing. It is said that every head which it overshadows will wear a crown (Richardson). The splendid little bird suspended over the throne of Tippoo Saib at Seringapatam represented this poetical fancy.
   In the first chapter of the Autocrat of the Breakfast Table a certain popular lecturer is made to describe himself, in allusion to his many wanderings, to this bird: "Yes, I am like the Huma, the bird that never lights; being always in the cars, as the Huma is always on the wing."

Human Race (h soft). Father of the human race. Adam.

Human Sacrifice A custom still subsisting seems to prove that the Egyptians formerly sacrificed a young virgin to the god of the Nile, for they now make a statue of clay in shape of a girl, which they call the "betrothed bride," and throw it into the river. (Savary.)

Humanitarians Those who believe that Jesus Christ was only man. The disciples of St. Simon are so called also, because they maintain the perfectibility of human nature without the aid of grace.

Humanities or Humanity Studies. Grammar, rhetoric, and poetry, with Greek and Latin (literæ humaniores); in contradistinction to divinity (literæ divinæ).

"The humanities ... is used to designate those studies which are considered the most specially adapted for training ... true humanity in every man." - Trench: On the Study of Words, Lecture iii. p. 69.

Humber Chief of the Huns, defeated by Locrin, King of England, and drowned in the river Abus, ever since called the Humber. (Geoffrey of Monmouth: Chronicles.)

"Their chieftain Humber named was aright
Unto the mighty streame him to betake,
Where he an end of battall and of life did make."
Spenser: Faërie Queene, ii. 10.

Humble Bee A corruption of the German hummel bee, the buzzing bee. Sometimes called the Dumble-dor. Also Bumble-bee, from its booming drone.

Humble Cow (A) A cow without horns.

" `That,' said John with a broad grin, was Grizzel chasing the humble cow out of the close." - Sir W. Scott: Guy Mannering, chap. ix.

Humble Pie To eat humble pie. To come down from a position you have assumed, to be obliged to take "a lower room." "Umbles" are the heart, liver, and entrails of the deer, the huntsman's perquisites. When the lord and his household dined the venison pasty was served on the daïs, but the umbles were made into a pie for the huntsman and his fellows.
   N.B. Pie and patty are both diminutives of pasty. Pasty and patty are limited to venison, veal, and some few other meats; pie is of far wider signification, including fruit, mince, etc.