Chapter Word to Wraxen of W by Brewer's Phrase & Fable

rank and dignities, and endow you with my wealth; the worthship attached to my person I share with you, and the wealth which is mine is thine also.
   Never worship the gods unshod. So taught Pythagoras, and he meant in a careless and slovenly manner. (See Iamblichus: Protreptics, symbol 3.) The Jews took off their shoes when they entered holy ground (Exodus iii. 5). This custom was observed by the ancient Egyptians. Mahometans and Brahmins enter holy places bare-footed; indeed, in British India, inferiors take off their shoes when they enter the room of a British officer, or the wife of an officer. The idea is that shoes get covered with dust, and holy ground must not be defiled by dirt. (Justin Martyr: Apology, i. 62.)
   The command given to the disciples by Christ was to shake off the dust of their feet when they left a city which would not receive them.

Worsted Yarn or thread made of wool; so called from Worsted in Norfolk, now a village, but once a large market-town with at least as many thousand inhabitants as it now contains hundreds. (Camden.)

Worth = betide.

“Thus saith the Lord God: Howl ye, wo worth the day!”- Ezekiel xxx. 2.

“Wo worth the chase! wo worth the day
That costs thy life, my gallant grey.”
Sir Walter Scott.

Worthies (The Nine). (See Nine .)
    The Nine Worthies of London.
   (1) Sir William Walworth, fishmonger, who stabbed Wat Tyler, the rebel. Sir William was twice Lord Mayor. (1374, 1380.)
   (2) Sir Henry Pritchard, who (in 1356) feasted Edward III., with 5,000 followers; Edward the Black Prince; John, King of Austria; the King of Cyprus; and David, King of Scotland.
   (3) Sir William Sevenoke, who fought with the Dauphin of France, built twenty almshouses and a free school. (1418.)
   (4) Sir Thomas White, merchant tailor, son of a poor clothier. In 1553 he kept the citizens loyal to Queen Mary during Wyatt's rebellion. Sir John White founded St. John's College, Oxford, on the spot where “two elms grew from one root.”
   (5) Sir John Bonham, entrusted with a valuable cargo for the Danish market, and made commander of the army raised to stop the progress of the great Solyman.
   (6) Christopher Croker. Famous at the siege of Bordeaux, and companion of the Black Prince when he helped Don Pedro to the throne of Castile.
   (7) Sir John Hawkwood. One of the Black Prince's knights, and immortalised in Italian history as Giovanni Acuti Cavaliero.
   (8) Sir Hugh Caverley. Famous for ridding Poland of a monstrous bear.
   (9) Sir Henry Maleverer, generally called Henry of Cornhill, who lived in the reign of Henry IV. He was a crusader, and became the guardian of “Jacob's well.”
   The chronicle of these worthies is told in a mixture of prose and verse by Richard Johnson, author of The Seven Champions of Christendom. (1592.)
    Among these nine worthies we miss the names of Whittington, Gresham, and Sir John Lawrence (Lord Mayor in 1664), second to none.

Wound Bind the wound, and grease the weapon. This is a Rosicrucian maxim. These early physicians applied salve to the weapon instead of to the wound, under the notion of a magical reflex action. Sir Kenelm Digby quotes several anecdotes to prove this sympathetic action.

Wraith The spectral appearance of a person shortly about to die. It appears to persons at a distance, and forewarns them of the event.” (High-land superstition.) (See Fairy .)

Wrangler in Cambridge phrase, is one who has obtained a place in the highest mathematical tripos. The first man of this class is termed the senior wrangler, the rest are arranged according to respective merit, and are called second, third, fourth, etc., wrangler, as it may be. In the Middle Ages, when letters were first elevated to respectability in modern Europe, college exercises were called disputations, and those who performed them disputants, because the main part consisted in pitting two men together, one to argue pro and the other con. In the law and theological “schools” this is still done for the bachelor's and doctor's degrees. The exercise of an opponent is called an opponency. Wrangling is a word-battle carried on by twisting words and trying to obfuscate an opponent- a most excellent term for the disputations of school-men. The opponency begins with an essay on the subject of dispute.

Wrath's Hole (Cornwall). The legend is that Bolster, a gigantic wrath or evil spirit, paid embarrassing attention to St. Agnes, who told him she would listen to his suit when he filled with his blood a small