Chapter Logres to Long Tail of L by Brewer's Phrase & Fable

Logres to Long Tail

Logres (See Loegria .)

Logria England, so called by the old romancers and fabulous historians.

Logris, Locris Same as Locrin or Locrine (q.v.).

Loins Gird up the loins, brace yourself for vigorous action, or energetic endurance. The Jews wore loose garments, which they girded about their loins when they travelled or worked.

“Gird up the loins of your mind.”- 1 Peter i. 13.

   My little finger shall be thicker than my father's loins (1 Kings xii. 10). My lightest tax shall be heavier than the most oppressive tax of my predecessor. The arrogant answer of Rehoboam to the deputation which waited on him to entreat an alleviation of “the yoke” laid on them by Solomon. The reply caused the revolt of all the tribes, except those of Judah and Benjamin.

Loki The god of strife and spirit of evil. He artfully contrived the death of Balder, when Odin had forbidden everything that springs “from fire, air, earth, and water” to injure him. The mistletoe not being included was made into an arrow, given to the blind Höder, and shot at random; but it struck the beautiful Balder and killed him. This evil being was subsequently chained to a rock with ten chains, and will so continue till the twilight of the gods appears, when he will break his bonds; then will the heavens disappear, the earth be swallowed up by the sea, fire shall consume the elements, and even Odin, with all his kindred deities, shall perish. (See Balder, Kissing .)

Loki's Three Children were Jörmungand (a monstrous serpent), Fenrir (a wolf), and Hela (half corpse and half queen). His wife was Siguna.
    Loki is the personification of sin. Finrir personifies the gnawings of a guilty conscience. Both Loki and Fenrir were chained by the Æsir, but not with iron chains. (Scandinavian mythology.)

Lokman A fabulous personage, the supposed author of a collection of Arabic fables. Like Æsop, he is said to have been a slave, noted for his ugliness.

Lollards The early German reformers and the followers of Wickliffe were so called. An ingenious derivation is given by Bailey, who suggests the Latin word lolium (darnel), because these reformers were deemed “tares in God's wheat-field.”
    Gregory XI., in one of his bulls against Wickliffe, urges the clergy to extirpate this lolium.

“The name of Lollards was first given (in 1300) to a charitable society at Antwerp, who lulled the sick by singing to them.”- Dr. Blair: Chronology (under the date 1300).

   German lollen, to hum.

Lollop To lounge or idle about.

Lollypops Sweets made of treacle, butter, and flour; any sweets which are sucked. A “lolly” is a small lump.

Lombard (A). A banker or moneylender, so called because the first bankers were from Lombardy, and set up in Lombard Street (London), in the Middle Ages. The business of lending money on pawns was carried on in England by Italian merchants or bankers as early at least as the reign of Richard I. By the 12 Edward I., a messuage was confirmed to these traders where Lombard Street now stands; but the trade was first recognised in law by James I. The name Lombard (according to Stow) is a contraction of Longobards. Among the richest of these Longobard merchants was the celebrated Medici family, from whose armorial bearings the insignia of three golden balls has been derived. The Lombard bankers exercised a monopoly in pawnbroking till the reign of Queen Elizabeth.