Chapter T to Taghairm of T by Brewer's Phrase & Fable

T to Taghairm

T in music, stands for Tutti (all), meaning all the instruments or voices are to join. It is the opposite of S for Solo.
   -t- inserted with a double hyphen between a verb ending with a vowel and the pronouns elle, il, or on, is called “t ephelcystic,” as, aime-t-il, dire-t-on. (See N, Marks In Grammar.)
   Marked with a T. Criminals convicted of felony, and admitted to the benefit of clergy, were branded on the brawn of the thumb with the letter T (thief). The law was abolished by 7 and 8 George IV., c. 27.
   It fits to a T. Exactly. The allusion is to work that mechanics square with a T-rule, especially useful in making right angles, and in obtaining perpendiculars on paper or wood.
   The saintly T's. Sin Tander, Sin Tantony, Sin Tawdry, Sin Tausin, Sin Tedmund, and Sin Telders; otherwise St. Andrew, St. Anthony, St. Audry, St. Austin [Augustine], St. Edmund, and St. Ethelred. Tooley is St. Olaf.

T.Y.C., in the language of horseracing, means the Two-Year-Old Course scurries. Under six furlongs.

T-Rule (A). A ruler shaped like a Greek T. (See above.)

Tab An old Tab. An old maid; an old tabby or cat. So called because old maids usually make a cat their companion.

Tabard The Tabard, in Southwark, is where Chaucer supposes his pilgrims to have assembled. The tabard was a jacket without sleeves, whole before, open on both sides, with a square collar, winged at the shoulder like a cape, and worn by military nobles over their armour. It was generally emblazoned with heraldic devices. Heralds still wear a tabard.

“Item ... a chascun ung grand tabart
De cordelier, jusques aux pieds.”
Le Petit Testament de Maistre François Villon.

Tabardar A sizar of Queen's College, Oxford. So called because his gown has tabard sleeves- that is, loose sleeves, terminating a little below the elbow in a point.

Tabarin He's a Tabarin - a merry Andrew. Tabarin was the fellow of Mondor, a famous vendor of quack medicines in the reign of Charles IX. By his antics and coarse wit he collected great crowds, and both he and his master grew rich. Tabarin bought a handsome château in Dauphiné, but the aristocracy out of jealousy murdered him.

Tabby, a cat, so called because the brindlings of the tabby were thought to resemble the waterings of the silk of the name. (French, tabis; Italian, etc., tabi; Persian, retabi, a rich figured silk.)

“Demurest of the tabby kind,
The pensive Selima reclined.” Gay.

Tabula Rasa (Latin). A clean slate on which anything can be written.

“When a girl has been taught to keep her mind a tabula rasa till she comes to years of discretion, she will be more free to act on her own natural impulses.”- W. S. R.

Table Apelles' table. A pictured table, representing the excellency of sobriety on one side, and the deformity of intemperance on the other.
   Tables of Cebes. Cebes was a Theban philosopher, a disciple of Socrates, and one of the interlocutors of Plato's Phædo. His Tables or Tableau supposes him to be placed before a tableau or panorama representing the life of man, which the philosopher describes with great accuracy of judgment and splendour of sentiment. This tableau is sometimes appended to Epictetus.
   Table of Pythagoras. The common multiplication table, carried up to ten. The table is parcelled off into a hundred little squares or cells. (See Tabulae.)
   Knights of the Round Table. A military order instituted by Arthur, the “first king of the Britons,” A.D. 516. Some say they were twenty-four in number, some make the number as high as 150, and others reduce the number to twelve. They were all seated at a round table, that no one might claim a post of honour.
   The Twelve Tables. The tables of the Roman laws engraved on brass, brought from Athens to Rome by the decemvirs.
   Turning the tables. Rebutting a charge by bringing forth a counter-charge. Thus, if a husband accuses his wife of extravagance in dress, she “turns the tables upon him” by accusing him of extravagance in his club. The Romans prided themselves on their tables made of citron wood from Mauritania, inlaid with ivory, and sold at a most extravagant price- some equal to a senator's income. When the gentlemen