Chapter Soul and Spirit to Speaking of S by Brewer's Phrase & Fable

Soul and Spirit to Speaking

Soul and Spirit hyuch (the soul) contains the passions and desires, which animals have in common with man.(the spirit) is the highest and distinctive part of man. In 1 Thess. Paul says, “I pray God your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.” (See also Heb. iv. 12; 1 Cor. ii. 14 and 15; xv. 45, 46.)

Soul of a Goose or Capon. The liver, called by the French ame. The renowned Strasbourg “patés de foie gras” are made of these souls.

“Draw out all the entrails ... but leave the soul.”- Brigg: English Dictionary of Cookery.

Sound, a narrow sea, is the Anglo-Saxon sund; hence such words as Bomarsund, etc.

Sound Dues A toll or tribute which was levied by the king of Denmark on all merchant vessels passing through the Sound. (Abolished 1857.)

Sound as a Bell Quite sound. A cracked bell is useless as a bell.

“Blinde Fortune did so happily contrive,
That we, as sound as bells, did safe arive
At Dover.” Taylor's Workes, ii. 22 (1630).

Sound as a Roach Quite sound. A pun upon roach or roche the fish, and the French roche, a rock.

Soundings In nautical language, the depths of water in rivers, harbours, along shores, etc.

Sour Grapes Things despised because they are beyond our reach. Many men of low degree call titles and dignities “sour grapes;” and men of no parts turn up their noses at literary honours. The phrase is from Æsop's fable called The Fox and the Grapes.

Sour Grapeism An assumed contempt or indifference to the unattainable. (See above.)

“There, economy was always `elegant' and money-spending always `vulgar' and ostentaious- a sort of sour grapeism which made us very peaceful and satisfied.”- Mrs. Gaskell: Cranford, chap. i.

South-Sea Scheme or Bubble. A stock-jobbing scheme devised by Sir John Blunt, a lawyer. The object of the company was to buy up the National Debt, and to be allowed the sole privilege of trading in the South Seas. The £100 shares soon realised ten times that sum, but the whole bubble burst in 1720 and ruined thousands. (1710-1720.) The term is applied to any hollow scheme which has a splendid promise, but whose collapse will be sudden and ruinous. (See Mississippi Bubble .)

Southampton Street (London). So called in compliment to the noble family of that title, allied to the Bedford family, the proprietors.

Southampton's Wise Sons In the early part of the present century, the people of Southampton cut a ditch for barges between Southampton and Redbridge; but as barges could go without paying dues through the “Southampton Water,” the ditch or canal was never used. This wise scheme was compared to that of the man who cut two holes through the wall- one for the great cat and the other for its kitten.

Southern Gate of the Sun The sign Capricornus or winter solstice. So called because it is the most southern limit of the sun's course in the ecliptic.

Soutras The discourses of Buddha. (See Tripitaka .)

Sovereign: A strangely misspelled word, the last syllable being mistaken for the word reign. It is the Latin supern (supreme over all), with the p changed to v. The French souverain is nearer the Latin word; Italian, sovrano; Spanish, soberano.
   Sovereign, a gold coin of the value of twenty shillings, was first issued by Henry VIII., and so called because he was represented on it in royal robes.