Chapter Learn by Heart to Left of L by Brewer's Phrase & Fable

Learn by Heart to Left

Learn by Heart (To). The heart is the seat of understanding; thus the Scripture speaks of men “wise in heart;” and “slow of heart” means dull of understanding. To learn by heart is to learn and understand, to learn by rote is to learn so as to be able to repeat; to learn by memory is to commit to memory without reference to understanding what is so learnt. However, we employ the phrase commonly as a synonym for committing to memory.

Learned (2 syl.). Coloman, king of Hungary, was called The Learned (1095-1114). (See Beauclerc .)
   The Learned Blacksmith. Elihu Burritt, the linguist, who was at one time a blacksmith (1811-1879).
   The Learned Painter. Charles Lebrun, so called from the great accuracy of his costumes (1619-1690).
   The Learned Tailor. Henry Wild, of Norwich, who mastered, while he worked at his trade, the Greek, Latin, Hebrew, Chaldaic, Syriac, Persian, and Arabic languages (1684-1734).

Least Said the soonest Mended (The) or The Less Said ... Explanations and apologies are quite useless, and only make bad worse.

Leather Nothing like leather. My interest is the best nostrum. A town, in danger of a siege, called together a council of the chief inhabitants to know what defence they recommended. A mason suggested a strong wall, a shipbuilder advised “wooden walls,” and when others had spoken, a currier arose and said, “There's nothing like leather.”
   In Botallack, Cornwall, a standing toast is Tin and Pilchards, the staples of the town.
   Another version is, “Nothing like leather to administer a thrashing”.

Leather or Prunella It is all leather or prunella. Nothing of any moment, all rubbish. Prunella is a woollen stuff, used for the uppers of ladies' boots and shoes. (See Salt .)

“Worth makes the man, and want of it the fellow,
The rest is all but leather or prunella.”
Pope: Essay on Man.

Leathering To give one a leathering is to beat him with a leather belt, such as policemen wear, and boys used to wear. (The Welsh lathen is a rod.)

Leatherstocking (Natty). The nickname of Natty Bumpo (q.v.), in Cooper's novel, called The Pioneers. A half-savage and half-Christian hero of American wild life.

Leave in the Lurch (To). (See Left In The Lurch .)

Leave out in the Cold (To). To slight, to take little or no interest in a person; to pass by unnoticed. The allusion is to a person calling at a house with a friend and the friend not being asked to come in.

Leave some for Manners In Ecclesiasticus it is written:

“Leave off first for manners' sake: and be not unsatiable, lest thou offend.”- Chap. xxxi. 17.

Leaves without Figs Show of promise without fulfilment. Words without deeds. Keeping the promise to the ear and breaking it to the sense. Of course, the allusion is to the barren figtree referred to in Luke xiii.

Led Captain (A). An obsequious person, who dances attendance on the master and mistress of a house, for which service he has a knife and fork at the dinner table. He is led like a dog, and always graced with the title of captain.

Leda and the Swan This has been a favourite subject with artists. In the Orléans gallery is the chef-d'- oeuvre of Paul Veronese. Correggio and Michael Angelo have both left paintings of the same subject.

Ledger (A). A book “laid up” in the counting-house, and containing the debits and credits of the merchant or tradesman, arranged under “heads.” (Dutch legen, to lay, whence legger.)

Ledger-lines in music, are lines which lie above or below the staff. (Dutch, legger, to lie.)

Lee Under the lee of the land. Under the shelter of the cliffs which break the force of the winds. (Anglo- Saxon, hleo, a shelter.)
   Under the lee of a ship. On the side opposite to the wind, so that the ship shelters