Chapter Rondo to Rosalia of R by Brewer's Phrase & Fable

Rondo to Rosalia

Rondo Father of the rondo. Jean Baptiste Davaux; but Gluck was the first to introduce the musical rondo into France, in the opera of Orpheus.

Rone (1 syl.). (See Ron .)

Ronyon or Ronion. A term of contempt to a woman. It is the French rogneux (scabby, mangy).

“You hag, you baggage, you polecat, you ronyon! out, out!”- Shakespeare: Merry Wives of Windsor, iv. 2r

“ `Aroint thee, witch!' the rump-fed ronyon cries.” Shakespeare: Macbeth, i. 3.

Rood Lane (London). So called from a rood or “Jesus on the Cross” placed there, and in Roman Catholic times held in great veneration.

Rood-loft (The). The screen between the nave and chancel, where the rood or crucifix was elevated. In some cases, on each side of the crucifix were either some of the evangelists or apostles, and especially the saint to whom the church was dedicated.

“And then to zee the rood-loft,
Zo bravely zet with zaints.”
Percy: Ballad of Plain Truth, ii. 292.

Roodselken Vervain, or “the herb of the cross.”

“Hallowed be thou, vervain, as thou growest in the ground.
For in the Mount of Calvary thou was found.
Thou healedst Christ our Saviour, and staunchedst His bleeding wound.
In the name of Father, Son and Holy Ghost, I take thee from the ground.”
Folkard: Plant Lore, p. 47.

Rook (A). A cheat. “To rook,” to cheat; “to rook a pigeon,” to fleece a greenhorn. Sometimes it simply means, to win from another at a game of chance or skill. (See Rookery .)

“ `My Lord Marquis,' said the king, `you rooked me at piquet last night, for which disloyal deed thou shalt now atone, by giving a couple of pieces to this honest youth, and five to the girl.”- Sir Walter Scott: Peveril of the Peak, chap. xxx.

Rook's Hill (Lavant, Chichester), celebrated for the local tradition that the golden calf of Aaron is buried there.

Rookery (3 syl.). Any low neighbourhood frequented by thieves and vagabonds. A person fleeced or liable to be fleeced is a pigeon, but those who prey upon these “gulls” are called rooks.

“The demolition of rookeries has not proved an efficient remedy for overcrowding.”- A. Egmont Hake: Free Trade in Capital, chap. xv.

Rooky Wood (The). Not the wood where rooks do congregate, but the misty or dark wood. The verb reek (to emit vapour) had the preterite roke, rook, or roak; hence Hamilton, in his Wallace, speaks of the “rooky mist.”

“Light thickens, and the crow
Makes wing to the roaky wood.”
Shakespeare: Macbeth, iii. 2.

Room Your room is better than your company, occurs in Green's Quip for an Upstart Courtier.

Roost A strong current or furious tide betwixt island groups.

“This lofty promontory is constantly exposed to the current of a strong and furious tide, which, setting in betwixt the Orkney and Zetland islands, and running with force only inferior to that of the Pentland Frith, ... is called the Roost of Samburgh [from the headland].”- Sir Walter Scott: The Pirate, chap. i.

Roost Gone to roost. Gone to bed. (Anglo-Saxon, hrost.)

“The chough and crow to roost are gone.”
Glee (words by Joanna Baillie, music by Bishop).

Rope The Brahmin teaches that “whoever hangs himself will wander eternally with a rope round his neck.” (Asiatic Researches.)