Chapter Josaphat to Judas Kiss of J by Brewer's Phrase & Fable

Journey-weight The weight of certain parcels of gold in the mint. A journey of gold is fifteen pounds Troy, which is coined into 701 sovereigns, or double that number of half-sovereigns. A journey of silver is sixty pounds Troy, which is coined into 3,960 shillings, or double that number of sixpences, half that number of florins, etc. So called because this weight of coin was at one time esteemed a day's mintage. (French, journée.)

Jouvence (2 syl.). You have been to the fountain of Jouvence - i.e. You have grown young again. This is a French phrase. Jouvence is a town of France in the department of Saône-et-Loire, and has a fountain called la fontaine de Jouvence; but Jouvence means also youth, and la fontaine de jouvence may be rendered "the fountain of youth." The play on the word gave rise to the tradition that whoever drank of this fountain would become young again.

Jove (1 syl.). (See Jupiter.) The Titans made war against Jove, and tried to dethrone him.

"Not stronger were of old the giant crew,
Who sought to pull high Jove from regal state."
Thomson: Castle of Indolence, cauto 1.

   Milton, in Paradise Lost, makes Jove one of the fallen angels (i. 512).

Jovial Merry and sociable, like those born under the planet Jupiter, which astrologers considered the happiest of the natal stars.

"Our jovial star reigned at his birth."
Shakespeare: Cymbeline, v. 4.

Joy The seven joys of the Virgin: (1) The annunciation; (2) the visitation; (3) the nativity; (4) the adoration of the three kings; (5) the presentation in the temple; (6) the discovery of her youthful Son in the temple in the midst of the doctors; (7) her assumption and coronation. (See Sorrow.)

Joyeuse (2 syl.). Charlemagne's sword, which bore the inscription Decem præceptorum custos Carolus; the sword of Guillaume au Court-Nez; anyone's sword. It was buried with Charlemagne. (See Swords.)

Joyeuse Garde or Garde-Joyeuse. The estate given by King Arthur to Sir Launcelot of the Lake for defending the Queen's honour against Sir Mador.

Juan Fernandez A rocky island in the Pacific Ocean, off the coast of Chili. Here Alexander Selkirk, a buccaneer, resided in solitude for four years, and his history is commonly supposed to be the basis of Defoe's Robinson Crusoe.
   Sailors commonly believe that this island is the scene of Crusoe's adventures; but Defoe distinctly indicates an island on the east coast of South America, somewhere near Dutch Guiana.

Jubal [a trumpet ]. The son of Lamech and Adah. He is called the inventor of the lyre and flute (Gen. iv. 19-21).

"Then when he [Javan ] heard the voice of Jubal's lyre,
Instinctive genius caught the ethereal fire."
Montgomery: The World Before the Flood, c. 1.

Jubilee (Jewish). The year of jubilee. Every fiftieth year, when land that had passed out of the possession of those to whom it originally belonged was restored to them; all who had been reduced to poverty, and were obliged to let themselves out for hire, were released from bondage; and all debts were cancelled. The word is from jobil (a ram's horn), so called because it was proclaimed with trumpets of rams' horns. (See Leviticus xxv. 11-34, 39-54; and xxvii. 16-24.)
   Jubilee (in the Catholic Church). Every twenty-fifth year, for the purpose of granting indulgences. Boniface VIII. instituted it in 1300, and ordered it to be observed every hundred years. Clement VI. reduced the interval to fifty years, Urban IV. to thirty, and Sixtus IV. to twenty-five.
   Protestant Jubilee, celebrated in Germany in 1617, the centenary of the Reformation.
   Shakespeare Jubilee, held at Stratford-on-Avon, September 6th, 1769.
   Jubilee to commemorate the commencement of the fiftieth year of the reign of George III., October 25th, 1809.
   Jubilee to celebrate the close of the Revolutionary War, August 1st, 1814.
   1887. The Jubilee to commemorate the fiftieth year of the reign of Queen Victoria.

Judaise (3 syl.). To convert or conform to the doctrines, rites, or manners of the Jews. A Judaising spirit is a desire to convert others to the Jewish religion.