Chapter Stelvio to Still Waters Run Deep of S by Brewer's Phrase & Fable

Stelvio to Still Waters Run Deep

Stelvio The pass of the Stelvio. The highest carriage-road in Europe (9,176 feet above the sea-level). It leads from Bormio to Glurns.

Stentor The voice of a Stentor. A very loud voice. Stentor was a Greek herald in the Trojan war. According to Homer, his voice was as loud as that of fifty men combined.

Stentorian Lungs Lungs like those of Stentor.

Stentorophonic Voice A voice proceeding from a speaking-trumpet or stentorophonic tube, such as Sir Samuel Moreland invented to be used at sea.

“I heard a formidable noise
Loud as the stentrophonic voice,
That roared far off, `Dispatch! and strip!' ”
Butler: Hudibras, iii. i.

Stepfather and Father-in-law. The stepfather is the father of one bereaved of his natural father by death. A stepmother is the mother of one bereaved of his mother by death. A stepfather must be married to a widow, and thus become the stepfather of her children by a previous husband; and a stepmother must be married to a widower, and thus become the stepmother of his children by a former wife. Similarly, stepson and stepdaughter must be the son and daughter by the father or mother deceased, the relict marrying again. FATHER-IN-LAW and MOTHER-IN-LAW are the father and mother of the wife to her husband, and of the husband to the wife. Similarly, sons-in-law and daughters-in-law are the sons and daughters of the parents of the wife to the husband and of the husband to the wife. (Anglo-Saxon, steop, bereaved.)

Stephen Crown of St. Stephen. The crown of Hungary.

“If Hungarian independence should be secured through the help of Prince Napoleon, the Prince himself should receive the crown of St. Stephen.”- Kossuth: Memoirs of my Exile (1880).

Stephen's Bread (St.). Stones. Fed with St. Stephen's bread. Stoned. In French, “Miches de St. Etienne. ” In Italian, “Pan di St. Stefano. ” Of course the allusion is to the stoning of Stephen.

Stephens (Joanna) professed to have made a very wonderful discovery, and Drummond, the banker, set on foot a subscription to purchase her secret. The sum, she asked was £5,000. When £1,500 had been raised by private subscription, government voted £3,500. The secret was a decoction of soap, swine's cresses, honey, egg-shells, and snails, made into pills, and a powder to match. Joanna Stephens got the money and forthwith disappeared.

Stepney Papers A voluminous collection of political letters between Mr. Stepney, the British minister, and our ambassadors at various European courts, the Duke of Marlborough, and other public characters of the time. Part of the correspondence is in the British Museum, and part in the Public Record Office. It is very valuable, as this was the period called the Seven Years' War. The original letters are preserved in bound volumes, but the whole correspondence is in print also. (Between 1692 and 1706.)

Sterling Money Spelman derives the word from esterlings, merchants of the Hanse Towns, who came over and reformed our coin in the reign of John. Others say it is starling (little star), in allusion to a star impressed on the coin. Others refer it to Stirling Castle in Scotland, where money was coined in the reign of Edward I. (Sir Matthew Hale.)

“In the time of King Richard I., monie coined in the east parts of Germany began to be of especiall request in England for the puritie thereof, and was called Easterling monie, as all the inhabitants of those parts were called Easterlings; and shortly after some of that countrie, skillfull in mint matters and allaies, were sent for into this realm to bring the coine to perfection, which since that time was called of them sterling for Easterling.”- Camden.