Chapter Pluck his Goose to Poets of P by Brewer's Phrase & Fable

Pluck his Goose to Poets

Pluck his Goose I'll pluck his goose for him. That is: I'll cut his crest, I'll lower his pride, I'll make him eat umble pie. Comparing the person to a goose, the threat is to pluck off his feathers in which he prides himself.

Plucked Pigeon (A). One fleeced out of his money; one plucked by a rook or sharper.

“There were no smart fellows whom fortune had troubled, ... no plucked pigeons or winged rooks, no disappointed speculators, no ruined miners.”- Sir W. Scott: Peveril of the Peak, c. xi.

Plugson of Undershot Carlyle's typical commercial Radical in the middle of the 19th century, who found that no decent Tory would shake hands with him; but at the close of the century found free-competition company with latter- day Tories.

“There are two motive forces which may impel the Plugsons of Toryism ... the pressure is not great enough to ... overcome the vis inertia of Plugson and Co.”- Nineteenth Century, Dec., 1892, p. 878.

Plum A plum bed (Devonshire). A soft bed, in which the down lies light.
   The dough plums well (Devonshire). Rises well, and will not be heavy.
   The cake is nice and plum (Devonshire). Light. (Plump, swelled out.)
   He is worth a plum. The Spanish pluma means both plumage and wealth. Hence tiene pluma (he has feathered his nest). We arbitrarily place this desideratum at £1000,000 and the man who has realised only £50,000 has got only half a plum. “Either a plum or a plumstone”- i.e. “Aut Cæsar aut nullus.”

Plume Oneself (To). To be conceited of ...; to boast of ... A plume is a feather, and to plume oneself is to feather one's own conceit.

“Mrs. Bute Crawley ... plumed herself upon her resolute manner of performing [what she thought right].”- Thackeray: Vanity Fair.

Plumes In borrowed plumes. Assumed merit; airs and graces not merited. The allusion is to the fable of the jackdaw who dressed up in peacock's feathers.

Plumper (A). Every elector represented in Parliament by two members has the power of voting for both candidates at an election. To give a plumper is to vote for only one of the candidates, and not to use the second vote. If he votes for two candidates of opposite politics, his vote is termed a split vote.

Plunger One who plunges, or spends money recklessly in bets, etc. The Marquis of Hastings was the first person so called by the turf. One night he played three games of draughts for £1,000 a game, and lost all three. He then cut a pack of cards for £500 a cut, and lost £5,000 in an hour and a half. He paid both debts at once before he left the room.

Plus Ultra The motto in the royal arms of Spain. It was once Ne plus ultra, in allusion to the pillars of Hercules, the ne plus ultra of the world; but after the discovery of America, and when Charles V. inherited the crown of Aragon and Castile, with all the vast American possessions, he struck out ne, and assumed the words plus ultra for the national motto, as much as to say Spain and the plus ultra country.

Plush (John). A gorgeous footman, conspicuous for his plush breeches.
   To take plush. To take a subordinate place in the ministry, where one can only act as a government flunkey.

“Lord Rosebery perhaps remembers that, years ago, a young politician who had just finished his education, was warned by an old and affectionate teacher `not to take plush ...' The reply was, `I have been offered plush tied with red tape, and have refused it.'”- Nineteenth Century, Jan., 1892, p. 137.

Pluto The grave, or the god of that region where the dead go to before they are admitted into Elysium or sent to Tartaros.

“Brothers, be of good cheer, this night we shall sup with Pluto.”- Leonidas to the three hundred Spartans before the battle of Thermopylae.

“Give the untasted portion you have won ...
To those who mock you, gone to Pluto's reign.”
Thomson: Castle