Chapter Lemnian Earth to Lerna of L by Brewer's Phrase & Fable

Lemnian Earth to Lerna

Lemnian Earth A species of earth of a yellowish-grey colour, found in the island of Lemnos, said to cure the bites of serpents and other wounds. It was called terra sigillata, because it was sealed by the priest before being vended. Philoctetes was left at Lemnos when wounded in the foot by Hercules.

Lemnian Women (The). A somewhat similar story is told of these women to that of the Danaides (q.v.). When they found that their husbands liked the Thracian women better than themselves, they agreed together to murder every man in the island. Hypsiphyle saved her father, and was sold to some pirates as a slave.

Lemnos The island where Vulcan fell when Jupiter flung him out of heaven. Probably it was at one time volcanic, though not so now.

Lemon Soles which abound on the south coast of England and about Marseilles. Lemon is a corruption of the French limande, a dab or flat-fish. The “flounder-sole.” There are several varieties. (Latin lima, mud.)

Lemster Ore Fine wool, of which Leominster carpets are made.

“A bank of moss,
Spongy and swelling, and far more
Soft, than the finest Lemster ore.”
Herrick: Oberon's Palace.

Lemures (3 syl.). The spirits of the dead. Good lemures were called Lares, but bad ones Larvae, spectres who wandered about at night-time to terrify the living. (Ovid. Fasti, v.)

“The lars and lemures moan with midnight plaint.” Milton: Ode on the Nativity.

Lend a Hand (See Hand .)

Length (A). Forty-two lines. This is a theatrical term; an actor says he has one, two, or more lengths in his part, and, if written out for him, the scribe is paid by the length.

Length-month (See Lent .)

Lens (Latin, a lentil or bean). Glasses used in mathematical instruments are so called because the double convex one, which may be termed the perfect lens, is of a bean shape.

Lenson As much akin as Lenson hill to Pilsen pin; i.e. not at all. Lenson hill and Pilsen pin are two high hills in Dorsetshire, called by sailors the Cow and Calf. Out at sea they look like one elevation, though in reality several hills separate them.

Lent (Anglo-Saxon, lencten). Lenctentid (spring-tide) was the Saxon name for March, because in this month there is a manifest lengthening of the days. As the chief part of the great fast falls in March, this period of fast received the name of the Lencten-fæsten, or Lent. It is from Ash Wednesday to Easter.
    The Fast of thirty-six days was introduced in the fourth century. Felix III. added four more days in 487, to make it correspond with our Lord's fast in the wilderness.
   Galeazzo's Lent. A form of torture devised by Galeazzo Visconti, calculated to prolong the unfortunate victim's life for forty days.

Lent Lily (The). The daffodil, which blooms in Lent.

Lenten Frugal, stinted, as food in Lent. Shakespeare has “lenten entertainment” (Hamlet, ii. 2); “a lenten answer” (Twelfth Night, i. 5); “a lenten pye” (Romeo and Juliet, ii. 4).

“And with a lenten salad cooled her blood.”
Dryden: Hind and Panther, iii. 27.

Leodogrance of Camiliard, the father of Guinevere, wife of King Arthur.

Leon (in Orlando Furioso), son of Constantine, the Greek emperor, is promised Bradamant in marriage by her parents, Amon and Beatrice; but Bradamant loves Rogero. By-and-by a friendship springs up between Leon and Rogero, and when the prince learns that Bradamant and Rogero are betrothed to each other, he nobly withdraws his suit, and Rogero marries Bradamant.