Chapter Salient Angles to Salt on His Tail of S by Brewer's Phrase & Fable

Salient Angles to Salt on His Tail

Salient Angles, in fortification, are those angles in a rampart which point outwards towards the country; those which point inwards towards the place fortified are called “re-entering angles.”

Salisbury Cathedral Begun in 1220, and finished in 1258; noted for having the loftiest spire in the United Kingdom. It is 400 feet high, or thirty feet higher than the dome of St. Paul's.

Salisbury Craigs Rocks near Edinburgh; so called from the Earl of Salisbury, who accompanied Edward III. on an expedition against the Scots.

Sallee A seaport on the west coast of Morocco. The inhabitants were formerly notorious for their piracy.

Sallust of France César Vichard, Abbé de St. Réal; so called by Voltaire. (1639-1692.)

Sally Saddle. (Latin, sella; French, selle.)

“The horse ... stopped his course by degrees, and went with his rider ... into a pond to drink; and there sat his lordship upon the sally.”- Lives of the Norths.

“Vaulting ambition ... o'erleaps its sell,
And falls o' the other ...”
Shakespeare: Macbeth, i. 7.

Sally Lunn A tea-cake; so called from Sally Lunn, the pastrycook of Bath, who used to cry them about in a basket at the close of the eighteenth century. Dalmer, the baker, bought her recipe, and made a song about the buns.

Sallyport The postern in fortifications. It is a small door or port whence troops may issue unseen to make sallies, etc. (Latin, salio, to leap.)

Salmacis A fountain of Caria, which rendered effeminate all those who bathed therein. It was in this fountain that Hermaphroditus changed his sex. (Ovid: Metamorphoses, iv. 285, and xvi. 319.)

“Thy moist limbs melted into Salmacis.”
Swinburne: Hermaphroditus.

Salmagundi A mixture of minced veal, chicken, or turkey, anchovies or pickled herrings, and onions, all chopped together, and served with lemon-juice and oil; said to be so called from Salmagondi, one of the ladies attached to the suite of Mary de Medicis, wife of Henri IV. of France. She either invented the dish or was so fond of it that it went by her name.

Salmon (Latin, salmo, to leap). The leaping fish.

Salmon as food for servants. At one time apprentices and servants stipulated that they should not be obliged to feed on salmon more than five days in a week. Salmon was one penny a pound.

“A large boiled salmon would now-a-days have indicated most liberal housekeeping; but at that period salmon was caught in such plenty (1679) ... that, instead of being accounted a delicacy, it was generally applied to feed the servants, who are said sometimes to have stipulated that they should not be required to eat food so luscious and surfeiting ... above five times a week.”- Sir W. Scott: Old Mortality, chap. vii.

Salmoneus (3 syl.). A king of Elis, noted for his arrogance and impiety. He wished to be called a god, and to receive divine honour from his subjects. To imitate Jove's thunder he used to drive his chariot over a brazen bridge, and darted burning torches on every side to imitate lightning, for which impiety the king of gods and men hurled a thunder-bolt at him, and sent him to the infernal regions.

Salsabil A fountain in Paradise. (Al Koran, xxvi.)

“Mahomet was taking his afternoon nap in his Paradise. A houri had rolled a cloud under his head, and he was snoring serenely near the fountain of Salsabil.”- Croquemitaine, ii. 8.