Chapter Stannary Courts to Steeplechase of S by Brewer's Phrase & Fable

Stannary Courts to Steeplechase

Stannary Courts Courts of record in Cornwall and Devon for the administration of justice among the tinners. (Latin, stannum, tin.)

Star (A), in theatrical language, means a popular actor.

Star (in Christian art). St. Bruno bears one on his breast; St. Dominic, St. Humbert, St. Peter of Alcantare, one over their head, or on their forehead, etc.
   Star. The ensign of knightly rank. A star of some form constitutes part of the insignia of every order of knighthood.
   His star is in the ascendant. He is in luck's way; said of a person to whom some good fortune has fallen and who is very prosperous. According to astrology, those leading stars which are above the horizon at a person's birth influence his life and fortune; when those stars are in the ascendant, he is strong, healthy, and lucky; but when they are depressed below the horizon, his stars do not shine on him, he is in the shade and subject to ill-fortune.

“The star of Richelieu was still in the ascendant.”- St. Simon.

Star Chamber A court of civil and criminal jurisdiction at Westminster, abolished in the reign of Charles I. So called because the ceiling or roof was decorated with gilt stars. Its jurisdiction was to punish such offences as the law had made no provision for.
    The chamber where the “starrs” or Jewish documents were kept was a separate room. The Star Chamber was the Camera Stellata, not Camera Starrata.

“It is well known that, before the banishment of the Jews by Edward I., their contracts and obligations were denominated ... starra, or stars. ... The room in the exchequer where the chests ... were kept was ... the starr-chamber.”- Blackstone: Commentaries, vol. ii. book iv. p. 266, a note.

Star-crossed Not favoured by the stars; unfortunate.

Star of Bethlehem (The), botanically called ornithogalum. The French peasants call it “La dame d'onze heures,” because it opens at eleven o'clock. Called “star” because the flower is star-shaped; and “Bethlehem” because it is one of the most common wild flowers of Bethlehem and the Holy Land generally.

Star of the South A splendid diamond found in Brazil in 1853.

Stars and Garters! (My). An expletive, or mild kind of oath. The stars and garters of knighthood. Shakespeare makes Richard III. swear “By my George, my garter, and my crown !” (Richard III., iv. 4.)

Stars and Stripes (The) or the Star-spangled Banner, the flag of the United States of North America.
   The first flag of the United States, raised by Washington June 2, 1776, consisted of thirteen stripes, alternately red and white, with a blue canton emblazoned with the crosses of St. George and St. Andrew.
   In 1777 Congress ordered that the canton should have thirteen white stripes in a blue field.
   In 1794 (after the admission of Vermont and Kentucky) the stripes and stars were each increased to fifteen.
   In 1818 S. R. Reid suggested that the original thirteen stripes should be restored, and a star be added to signify the States in the union.
    The flag preceding 1776 represented a coiled rattlesnake with thirteen rattles, and the motto Don't tread on me. This was an imitation of the Scotch thistle and the motto Nemo me impune lacessit.

“Oh! say, does that star-spangled banner yet wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave?”

Starboard and Larboard Star- is the Anglo-Saxon steor, rudder, bord, side; meaning the right side of a ship (looking forwards). Larboard is now obsolete, and “port” is used instead. To port the helm is to put the helm to the larboard. Byron, in his shipwreck (Don Juan), says of the ship-

“She gave a heel [i.e. turned on one side], and then a lurch to port,
And going down head foremost, sunk, in short.”

Starch Mrs. Anne Turner, half-milliner, half-procuress, introduced into England the French custom of using yellow starch in getting up bands and cuffs. She trafficked in poison, and being concerned in the