Chapter Weak-kneed Christian to Well of St. Keyne of W by Brewer's Phrase & Fable

Weak-kneed Christian to Well of St. Keyne

Weak-kneed Christian or Politician (A). Irresolute; not thorough; a Laodicean, neither hot nor cold.

“If any weak-kneed Churchman, now hesitating between his [political] party and his Church, is trying to persuade himself that no mischief is in the air, let him take warning.”- Newspaper paragraph, October 16th, 1885.

Weapon Salve A salve said to cure wounds by sympathy. The salve is not applied to the wound, but to the instrument which gave the wound. The direction “Bind the wound and grease the nail” is still common when a wound has been given by a rusty nail. Sir Kenelm Digby says the salve is sympathetic, and quotes several instances to prove that “as the sword is treated the wound inflicted by it feels. Thus, if the instrument is kept wet, the wound will feel cool; if held to the fire, it will feel hot;” etc.

“But she has taen the broken lance,
And washed it from the clotted gore,
And salved the splinter o'er and o'er.”
Sir Walter Scott: Lay of the Last Minstrel, iii. 23.

    If grease must be used to satisfy the ignorant, it can do no harm on the rusty nail, but would certainly be harmful on the wound itself.

Wear Never wear the image of Deity in a ring. So Pythagoras taught his disciples, and Moses directed that the Jews should make no image of God. Both meant to teach their disciples that God is incorporeal, and not to be likened to any created form. (See Iamblichus: Protreptics, symbol xxiv.)
   Never wear a brown hat in Friesland. (See Hat.)
   To wear the wooden sword. (See Wooden.)
   To wear the willow. (See Willow.)
   To wear one's heart upon one's sleeve. (See under Heart.)

Weasel Weasels suck eggs. Hence Shakespeare-

“The weazel Scot
Comes sneaking, and so sucks the princoly egg.”
Henry V., i. 2.

“I can suck melancholy out of a song, as a weazel sucks eggs.”- As You Like It, ii. 5.

   To catch a weasel asleep. To expect to find a very vigilant person nodding, off his guard; to suppose that one who has his weather-eye open cannot see what is passing before him. The French say, Croir avoir trouvé la pie au nid (To expect to find the pie on its nest). The vigilant habits of these animals explain the allusions.

Weather Breeder (A). A day of unusual fineness coming suddenly after a series of damp dull ones, especially at the time of the year when such a genial day is not looked for. Such a day is generally followed by foul weather.

Weather-cock By a Papal enactment made in the middle of the ninth century, the figure of a cock was set up on every church-steeple as the emblem of St. Peter. The emblem is in allusion to his denial of our Lord thrice before the cock crew twice. On the second crowing of the cock the warning of his Master flashed across his memory, and the repentant apostle “went out and wept bitterly.”

Weather-eye I have my weathereye open. I have my wits about me; I know what I am after. The weathereye is towards the wind to forecast the weather.

Weather-gage To get the weathergage of a person. To get the advantage over him. A ship is said to have the weather gage of another when it has got to the windward thereof.

“Were the line
Of Rokeby once combined with mine,
I gain the weather-gage of fate.”
Sir Walter Scott: Rokeby.

Weather-glass (The Peasant's) or “Poor man's warning.” The scarlet pimpernel, which closes its petals at the approach of rain.

“Closed is the pink-eyed pimpernel:
`Twill surely rain; I see with sorrow,
Our jaunt must be put off to-morrow.”
Dr. Jenner.

Web of Life The destiny of an individual from the cradle to the grave. The allusion is to the three Fates who, according to Roman mythology, spin the thread of life, the pattern being the events which are to occur.

Wed is Anglo-Saxon, and means a pledge. The ring is the pledge given by the man to avouch that he will perform his part of the contract.