Chapter Ship to Shoe of S by Brewer's Phrase & Fable

East, carries nothing with him of all his wealth and greatness, save a shirt for his shroud and ensign.” (Knolles: Turkish History.)
   Close sits my shirt, but closer my skin- i.e. My property is dear to me, but dearer my life; my belongings sit close to my heart, but “Ego proximus mihi.”

Shittim Wood The acacia.

“The scented acacia of Palestine furnished the shittim wood so much esteemed by the ancient Jews.”- Bible Flowers, p. 142.

Shivering Mountain Mam Tor, a hill on the Peak of Derbyshire; so called from the waste of its mass by “shivering”- that is, breaking away in “shivers” or small pieces. This shivering has been going on for ages, as the hill consists of alternate layers of shale and gritstone. The former, being soft, is easily reduced to powder, and, as it crumbles away, small “shivers” of the gritstone break away from want of support.

Shoddy properly means the flue and fluff thrown off from cloth in the process of weaving. This flue, being mixed with new wool, is woven into a cloth called shoddy- i.e. cloth made of the flue “shod” or thrown off. Shoddy is also made of old garments torn up and re-spun. The term is used for any loose, sleazy cloth, and metaphorically for literature of an inferior character compiled from other works. (Shed, provincial pret. “shod;” shoot, obsolete pret. shotten.)
   Shoddy characters. Persons of tarnished reputation, like cloth made of shoddy or refuse wool.

Shoe (See Chopine .)
   Shoe. It was at one time thought unlucky to put on the left shoe before the right, or to put either shoe on the wrong foot. It is said that Augustus Caesar was nearly assassinated by a mutiny one day when he put on his left shoe first.

“Auguste, cet empereur qui gouverna avec tant de sagesse, et dont le règne fut si florissant, restoit immobile et consterné lorsqu'il lui arrivoit par megarde de mettre le soulier droit au pied gauche et le soulier gauche au pied droit.”- St. Foix.

   A shoe too large trips one up. A Latin proverb, “Calceus major subvertit.” An empire too large falls to pieces; a business too large comes to grief; an ambition too large fails altogether.
   Loose thy shoe from off thy foot, for the place whereon thou standest is holy (Josh. v. 15). Loosing the shoe is a mark of respect in the East, among Moslems and Hindus, to the present hour. The Mussulman leaves his slippers at the door of the mosque. The Mahometan moonshee comes barefooted into the presence of his superiors. The governor of a town, in making a visit of ceremony to a European visitor, leaves his slippers at the tent entrance, as a mark of respect. There are two reasons for this custom: (1) It is a mark of humility, the shoe being a sign of dignity, and the shoeless foot a mark of servitude. (2) Leather, being held to be an unclean thing, would contaminate the sacred floor and offend the insulted idol. (See Sandal.)
   Plucking off the shoe among the Jews, smoking a pipe together among the Indians, breaking a straw together among the Teutons, and shaking hands among the English, are all ceremonies to confirm a bargain, now done by “earnest money.”
   Put on the right shoe first. One of the auditions of Pythagoras was this: “When stretching forth your feet to have your sandals put on, first extend your right foot, but when about to step into a bath, let your left foot enter first.” Iamblichus says the hidden meaning is that worthy actions should be done heartily, but base ones should be avoided. (Protreptics, symbol xii.).
   Throwing the wedding-shoe. It has long been a custom in England, Scotland, and elsewhere, to throw an old shoe, or several shoes, at the bride and bridegroom when they quit the bride's home, after the wedding breakfast, or when they go to church to get married. Some think this represents an assault and refers to the ancient notion that the bridegroom carried off the bride with force and violence. Others look upon it as a relic of the ancient law of exchange, implying that the parents of the bride give up henceforth all right of dominion to their daughter. This was a Jewish custom. Thus, in Deut. xxv. 5- 10 we read that the widow refused by the surviving brother, asserted her independence by “loosing his shoe;” and in the story of Ruth we are told “that it was the custom” in exchange to deliver a shoe in token of renunciation. When Boaz, therefore, became possessed of his lot, the kinsman's kinsman indicated his assent by giving Boaz his shoe. When the Emperor Wladimir proposed marriage to the daughter of Reginald, she rejected him, saying, “I will not take off my shoe to the son of a slave.” Luther being at a wedding, told the bridegroom that he had placed the husband's shoe on the head of the bed, “afin qu'il prit ainsi la domination et le gouvernement.” (Michel : Life of Luther.)
   In Anglo-Saxon marriages