Chapter Peony to Perillo Swords of P by Brewer's Phrase & Fable

Peony to Perillo Swords

Peony (The). So called, according to fable, from Paeon, the physician who cured the wounds received by the gods in the Trojan war. The seeds were, at one time, worn round the neck as a charm against the powers of darkness. Virgil and Ovid speak of its sanative virtues. Others tell us Paeon was a chieftain who discovered the plant.

“Vetustissima inventu paeonia est, nomenque auctoris retinet, quam quidam pentorobon appellant, alii glycysiden.”- Pliny, xxv. 10.

People The people's friend. Dr. William Gordon, the philanthropist. (1801- 1849.)

People's Charter (The).- The six points of the People's Charter, formulated in 1848, are:-
   Manhood Suffrage (now practically established).
   Annual Parliaments.
   Vote by Ballot (established).
   Abolition of Property.
   Qualification for Members of Parliament (the Qualification Test is abolished).
   Equal Electoral Districts.

Pepper To pepper one well. To give one a good basting or thrashing.
   To take pepper i' the nose. To take offence. The French have a similar locution, “La moutarde lui monte au nez.”

“Take you pepper in your nose, you mar our sport.”- The Spanish Gipsy, iv. 190.

Pepper Gate When your daughter is stolen close Pepper Gate. Pepper Gate used to be on the east side of the city of Chester. It is said that the daughter of the mayor eloped, and the mayor ordered the gate to be closed up. “Lock the stable-door when the steed is stolen.” (Albert Smith: Christopher Tadpole, chap. i.)

Pepper-and-Salt A light grey colour, especially applied to cloth for dresses.

Peppercorn Rent (A). A nominal rent. A pepper-berry is of no appreciable value, and given as rent is a simple acknowledgment that the tenement virtually belongs to the person to whom the peppercorn is given.

Peppy Bap A large erratic boulder, east of Leith.

Per Saltum (Latin). By a leap. A promotion or degree given without going over the ground usually prescribed. Thus, a clergyman on being made a bishop has the degree of D.D. given him per saltum- i.e. without taking the B.D. degree, and waiting the usual five years.

“They dare not attempt to examine for the superior degree but elect per saltum.”- Nineteenth Century, January, 1893, p. 66.

Perceforest (King). A prose romance, printed at Paris in 1528, and said to have been discovered in a cabinet hid in the massive wall of an ancient tower on the banks of the Humber, named Burtimer, from a king of that name who built it. The MS was said to be in Greek, and was translated through the Latin into French.
   It is also used for Perceval, an Arthurian knight, in many of the ancient romances.

Perceval (Sir), of Wales. A knight of the Round Table, son of Sir Pellinore, and brother of Sir Lamerock. He went in quest of the St. Graal (q.v.). Chrétien de Troyes wrote the Roman de Perceval. (1541-1596.) Menessier wrote the same in verse.

Percinet A fairy prince, who thwarts the malicious designs of Grognon, the cruel stepmother of Graciosa. (Fairy Tales.)

Percy [pierce-eye ]. When Malcolm III. of Scotland invaded England, and reduced the castle of Alnwick, Robert de Mowbray brought to him the keys of the castle suspended on his lance; and, handing them from the wall, thrust his lance into the king's eye; from which circumstance, the tradition says, he received the name of “Pierce-eye,” which has ever since been borne by the Dukes of Northumberland.

“This is all a fable. The Percies are descended from a great Norman baron, who came over with William, and who took his name from his castle and estate in Normandy.”- Sir Walter Scott: Tales of a Grandfather, iv.

Perdita Daughter of Leontes and Hermione of Sicily. She was born when her mother was imprisoned