Chapter Publicans of the New Testament to Punch of P by Brewer's Phrase & Fable

Puisne Judges means the younger-born judges, at one time called puny judges. They are the four, inferior judges of the Court of Queen's Bench, and the four inferior judges of the Court of Common Pleas. (French, puisné, subsequently born; Latin, post natus.)

Pukwana (North American Indian). The curling smoke of the Peace-pipe; a signal or beacon.

Pull A long pull, a strong pull, and a pull all together- i.e. a steady, energetic, and systematic co-operation. The reference may be either to a boat, where all the oarsmen pull together with a long and strong pull at the oars; or it may be to the act of hauling with a rope, when a simultaneous strong pull is indispensable.

Pull Bacon (To). To spread the fingers out after having placed one's thumb on the nose.

“The officers spoke to him, when the man put his fingers to his nose and pulled bacon.”- Leeds Police Report, Oct. 6, 1887.

Pull Devil, Pull Baker Let each one do the best for himself in his own line of business, but let not one man interfere in that of another.

“It's all fair pulling, `pull devil, pull baker;' someone has to get the worst of it. Now it's us [bushrangers], now it's them [the police] that gets ... rubbed out.”- Boldrewood: Robbery under Arms, chap. xxxvii.

Pulling A jockey trick, which used to be called “playing booty”- i.e. appearing to use every effort to come in first, but really determined to lose the race.

“Mr. Kemble [in the Iron Chest] gave a slight touch of the jockey, and `played booty.' He seemed to do justice to the play, but really ruined its success.”- George Colman the Younger.

Pumblechook (Uncle). He bullied Pip when only a poor boy, but when the boy became wealthy was his lick-spittle, fawning on him most servilely with his “May I, Mr. Pip” [have the honour of shaking hands with you]; “Might I, Mr. Pip” [take the liberty of saluting you]. (Dickens: Great Expectations.)

Pummel or Pommel. To beat black and blue. (French, pommeler, to dapple.)

Pump To sift, to extract information by indirect questions. In allusion to pumping up water.

“But pump not me for politics.”
Otway.

Pumpernickel Brown George or rye-bread used by Westphalian peasants.
   His Transparency of Pumpernickel. So the Times satirised the minor German princes, “whose ninety men and ten drummers constituted their whole embattled host on the parade-ground before their palace; and whose revenue was supplied by a percentage on the tax levied on strangers at the Pumpernickel Kursaal.” (July 18, 1866.)
   Thackeray was author of the phrase.

Pun is the Welsh pun, equivalent; it means a word equally applicable to two things. The application should be remote and odd in order to give piquancy to the play. (See Calembourg .)

Pun and Pickpocket He who would make a pun would pick a pocket. Dr. Johnson is generally credited with this silly dictum (1709-1784), but Dennis had said before to Purcell, “Any man who would make such an execrable pun would not scruple to pick my pocket” (1657-1734). (Sir W. H. Pyne: Wine and Walnuts, vol. ii. p. 277.)
   The “execrable pun” was this: Purcell rang the bell for the drawer or waiter, but no one answered it. Purcell, tapping the table, asked Dennis “why the table was like the tavern?” Ans. “Because there is no drawer in it.”

Punch from the Indian word punj (five); so called from its five ingredients- viz. spirit, water, lemon, sugar, and spice. It was introduced into England from Spain, where it is called ponche. It is called “Contradiction,” because it is composed of spirits to make it strong, and water to make it weak; of lemon-juice to make it sour, and sugar to make it sweet.
   Mr. Punch. A Roman mime called Maccus was the original of Punch. A statuette of this buffoon was discovered in 1727, containing all the well-known features of our friend— the long nose and goggle eyes, the hunch back and protruding breast.
   The most popular derivation of Punch and Judy is Pontius cum Judæis (Matt. xxvii. 19), an old mystery play of Pontius Pilate and the Jews; but the Italian policinello seems to be from pollice, a thumb (Tom-thumb figures),