COCK-A-HOOP. As in the phrase he was all cock-a-hoop bout it, and in the sense of, a person's being in a state of over-expectation from the excitement of his wishes [hopes]. Gack er hope (hoop)! q. e. fool there! hope on [if you like it]; implying nobody would have any hope in the case in question but a fool, or one like himself. Hope, hoop, hope, confidence, reliance. Cock-tail, in the expression he is such a cock-tail fellow, or she is a cock-tail lady; and importing that he [she] assumes an undue importance, arrogates an unbecoming consequence, and in so doing makes an object of ridicule for others. Gack-teheel; q. e. quite a fool, a proper fool, a complete laughing-stock; and such is a cock-tail gentleman. Te heel, wholly, entirely; or as we say, to all intents and purposes. Unless the phrase was as gack te el, q. e. fun for others; a fool to another, and thus a voluntary and a cheap laughing stock for any one. Te el, to another, to any one, all else. A COCK AND BULL STORY. In the sense of, a tedious bothering prosy narration, concerning something in which the hearer, at least, has no interest. Er gack aen bol stoore je; q. e. a fool is always a bother to him who is not one, to him who has any understanding. Aen bol, upon the understanding. Stoore as the participle present of stooren, to disturb, to confuse, contracted from stoorend, stooring, disturbance. Bol, head, intellect. A LIGHT HEART AND A THIN PAIR OF BREECHES. In the sense of, a cheerful appearance (the putting a cheerful face upon events, viewing them on the bright side) is of great use in life, and belongs only to happy natures. I do not know that the phrase is ever used, except in the old and now vulgar saying of "a light heart and a thin pair of breeches, Er go through the world my brave boy (boys)." lightart aensien ver af berits 'es; q. e. a cheerful countenance has a great effect, goes a great way here. The words which follow the travestied phrase are an addition of an after age, implying the moral consequence of such disposition of mind. Ligtart was formerly spelt licht-hert, and is the source of our term light heart; whence light-hearted in the sense of, endued with buoyant spirits, cheerful, gay. Aensien is here in the substantive sense of countenance, aspect, appearance. Opritsen is to cause sensation, to have an effect upon, to excite attention. Ver af beritsen, to make [cause] a far spreading [far felt] sensation. 'Es, des on this account, viz. from the possession of such quality. Beritsen is the same word as opritsen, with the impletive prefix be instead of the elevating op, up. Ver af, far away, far off. The Dutch say lighthart en treurt niet; that is, light-heart lets nothing grieve him; takes all in good part. Er, there. STRUCK ALL OF A HEAP. In the sense of suddenly bewildered by some unforeseen event; caused suddenly to be in a state of mental derangement (disorder, confusion). Strack al overhoop; q. e. straight [directly, at once] in a state of confusion; turned topsy-turvy all at once. Strack (strak) in an instant, immediately. Overhoop, in a state of confusion, disorder, in a heap. Over, sounds, of a. HE CUT THE GRASS FROM UNDER HIS FOOT. In the sense of, he supplanted him, he rose from an inferior to a higher station suddenly, but foully, unfairly. Hie guit tije gerasch; vrom ander; hij's foute; q. e. here the rogue prospers [flourishes]; it is otherwise with the frank-minded [free spoken] man ; he is always in the wrong [to blame]. In the way of the world cunning insures success and applause, frank ness the reverse and implies, low cunning is an overmatch [supplanter] in a competition with unguarded candour. Hie, here. Guit, the crafty rogue. Tijen, to thrive, get on. Gerasch, rapidly, suddenly. Vrom, vromme, honest, candid, sincere, endowed with probity, integrity. Ander, on the other hand. Hij 's, he is. Foute, faute, fault itself, failure personified. If you put feet instead of foot, as is sometimes done, feet is then as vied, i. e. an object of hatred, a hateful object; and it comes to the same sense. Vied, sounds feet. HE IS NO GREAT SHAKES. A familiar way of saying the person in question is no great things; has not much in him; is of inferior quality. Hie is nauw gereed schie hexe; q. e. it can hardly be said we have here a conjuror to suit every occasion; here is one who will not be found a wizard ready for all cases; and being ironically spoken implies he is no conjuror, as we say, and mean he is a fool [stupid person]. Hie, hier, here. Nauw, scarcely, hardly. Gereed, ready, at hand. Schie, schielick, at once. Hexe, heckse, a witch, an enchantress, a conjuror, in a general sense; the same word with our hag in the same sense, also with the Spanish hechizera, and evidently connected with Hecate, as the vaticinating goddess; hecateia carmina, magic verses, spells, charms. Nauw, sounds no; gereed, great; schie hexe, shakes. HE PAID THROUGH THE NOSE. In the sense of, he paid too much; made a disadvantageous bargain. Hij paijt seer rouw die noose; q. e. he paid severely [cruelly, atrociously, in a shameful manner] for this misfortune [bad concern]; he paid a cruelly high price for that which could only be the cause of repentance and regret to him (for having done so), when he viewed the case in a cooler moment. Paeijen, paijen, to satisfy, to pay, to appease. Seer rouw, very roughly; we say he was roughly handled, in the sense of he was illtreated, misused. Noose, noyse, nuisance, mis chief. Seer, very; and seer rouw, sounds as we utter throw. HE DOES'NT CARE TWO STRAWS FOR HER, In the sense of, he has ceased to be her dupe [to be made a fool of by her]; and implying, she is vexed at the loss, feels herself to blame and would treat him otherwise if he would give her an opportunity. Hie dus endt keye'r; t'u sterre rouwe 's voor eer; q. e. here [on his side] the fool's part is closed for ever; to you, you stern (perverse) one, regret presents itself for your share; folly ends with him; with you [the female in question] repen tance comes too late into the field. Hie, in his case. Dus, thus, so. Enden, einden, to finish, to cease. Kay, key, keye, fool, madman. Maar wat een malle kay is Meester Kachedoris; q, e, but what a whimsical fool this Master Kackedoris is. Nterre, starre, a very antient, but sound, term for obstinate, inflexible, hard-hearted. Rouwe, regret, grief, sor row, mourning. Voor eer, for ever. A' KIMBO, As in the phrase to set the arms a' kimbo, and in its well known sense. In respect to the source of this word, it appears to me Johnson has been misled in referring it to the Italian a schembo; q, e, in a slanting position; and for which purpose the term a schimbescio might have served him better. The word kimbo is spelt also kembo, kembow, and by Chaucer, kenebowe. "The boost made a bidouse cry in gesolreut her I take the word to be compounded of keen, in the meaning of pointed and of bow, in that of the instrument known by the term; and to be as a keenbow in the import of a bow a bending [formed into a point; with a point]; and to set the arm [hand]; a kimbo, is to place it so as necessarily to cause the representation of a pointed arch [bow, bend] by the inflexion made. To bend the arm aslant, as former derivations import, is not necessarily to place it in the position known by the term a' kimbo; for, if we point to something at a short distance from us, we place the arm aslant, but not a' kimbo. Upon such quicksands, I suspect, words are never grounded. Keen in the original import is strictly as pointed, but applied in the course of usage, for sharp in all the relations of that word; and suits either the razor or the sword, and with equal propriety, when the state of either is such as to answer [point out] that term. The word is of the same stock as kiem, kene, keen, the shoot of a germ [a sprout] and thus affording in itself a simple and natural type of pointedness. The word derives from the thema ke-en (to turn, to change into) and thus implies the first turning or change of appearance of all germination, viz. the point. Of this in another page. Bow, means simply a bend, hence the use of the term in rainbow, the bow of the ship, the bow of the dancing master, the courtier, the bowstick of the fiddle, or as Johnson defines it, "the instrument with which string-intruments are struck." TO RUN A RIG. As in the familiar phrase, to run a rig upon a person; in the sense of to make a butt of him, to make him the aim [object] of ridicule, to reduce him to silence, to put him in the wrong, to make him the sufferer and so silence him, quiet him. Te ruwen arig; q. e. to quiet the malicious one; to silence the arch-taunter, to settle to rest the |