Phrases and Names, Their Origins and Meanings. Trench H. Johnson
Columbia. The only portion of North America which honours the memory, as a place name, of Christopher Columbus.
Brittany. The land anciently possessed by the kings of Britain.
Brixton. Anciently Brigestan, the bridge of stone.
Broadside. A large sheet printed straight across instead of in columns.
Broker. From the Anglo-Saxon brucan, through the Old English brocour, to use for profit.
Brompton. Anciently Broom Town, or place of the broom plant.
Brook Street. From a stream meandering through the fields from Tyburn.
Brooke Street. From the town house of Fulke Greville, Lord Brooke. In this street the boy poet Chatterton poisoned himself.
Brother Jonathan. After Jonathan Turnbull, the adviser of General Washington in all cases of military emergency. “We must ask Brother Jonathan” was the latter’s invariable reply to a suggestion made to him.
Brougham. First made to the order of Lord Brougham.
Brought under the Hammer. Put up for sale by public auction. The allusion is, of course, to the auctioneer’s hammer.
Bruce Castle. The residence of Robert Bruce after his defeat by John Baliol in the contest for the Scottish crown.
Bruges. From its many bridges.
Brummagem. The slang term for cheap jewellery made at Birmingham. In local parlance this city is “Brummagem,” and its inhabitants are “Brums.”
Brunswick Square. Laid out and built upon at the accession of the House of Brunswick.
Bruton Street. From the seat of the Berkeleys at Bruton, Somersetshire.
Bryanstone Square. From the seat, near Blandford, Dorset, of Viscount Portman, the ground landlord.
Bucephalus. A horse, after the famous charger of Alexander the Great.
Buckeye State. Ohio, from the buckeye-trees with which this state abounds. Its people are called “Buckeyes.”
Buckingham. The Anglo-Saxon Boccenham, or “beech-tree village.”
Buckingham Palace. After the residence, on this site, of John Sheffield, Duke of Buckingham.
Buckingham Street. From the older mansion of John Sheffield, Duke of Buckingham. The water-gate is still in evidence.
Buckle to. An expression descended from the days of chivalry, when a knight buckled on his armour for the tournament.
Bucklersbury. Anciently the bury or enclosed ground of a wealthy grocer named Buckle or Bukerel.
Budge Row. From the vendors of “Budge” or lambskin fur who congregated here.
Bug Bible. From the word “bugges”--i.e. bogies--in place of “the terror” (Psalm xci. 5).
Buggy. From bâghi, the Hindustani for a one-horse vehicle.
Bull. A papal edict, so called on account of the bulla, or seal.
Bull and Gate. An inn sign, corrupted from “Boulogne Gate,” touching the siege of Boulogne and its harbour by Henry VIII. in 1544.
Bulgaria. A corruption of Volgaria, the country of the Volsci.
Bull-dog. A dog originally employed in the brutal sport of bull-baiting. The name is also given to one of the two attendants of the proctor at a university while going his rounds by night.
Bullion State. Missouri, after Thomas Hart Benton, who, when representing this state in Congress, merited the nickname of “Old Bullion,” from his spirited advocacy of a gold and silver currency instead of “Greenbacks” or paper.
Bullyrag. See “Ragging.”
Bullyruffian. A corruption of the Bellerophon, the vessel on which Napoleon surrendered after the battle of Waterloo.
Bungalow. From the Bengalese bangla, a wooden house of one storey surrounded by a verandah.
Bunhill Fields. Not from the Great Plague pit in Finsbury, but from the cart-loads of human bones shot here when the charnel-house of St. Paul’s Churchyard was pulled down in 1549.
Bunkum. Originally a Congressman’s speech, “full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.” An oratorial flight not intended to carry a proposal, but to catch popular applause. The representative for Buncombe, in North Carolina, occupied the time of the house at Washington so long with a meaningless speech that many members left the hall. Asked his reason for such a display of empty words, he replied: “I was not speaking to the House, but to Buncombe.”
Bureau. French for a writing-desk, from buro, a drugget, with which it was invariably covered.
Burgess Roll. See “Roll Call.”
Burgundy. A wine produced in the French province of the same name.
Burke. To stop or gag--e.g. to burke a question. After an Irishman of this name, who silently and secretly took the lives of many peaceable citizens by holding a pitch plaster over their mouths, in order to sell their bodies to the doctors for dissection. He was hanged in 1849. His crimes were described as “Burking.”
Burleigh Street. From the residence of Lord Burleigh in Exeter Street, hard by.
Burlington Street (Old and New). After Richard Boyle, Earl of Burlington and Cork, from whom Burlington House, refronted by him, also received its name.
Burmah. From the natives, who claim to be descendants of Brahma, the supreme deity of the Hindoos.
Burton Crescent. After the name of its builder.
Bury St. Edmunds. A corruption of the Borough of St. Edmund, where the Saxon king and martyr was crowned on Christmas Day, 856. Taken prisoner and killed by the Danes, he was laid to rest here. Over the site of his tomb Canute built a Benedictine monastery.
Bury Street. Properly Berry Street, after its builder.
Bury the Hatchet. At a deliberation of war the hatchet is always in evidence among the Indians of North America, but when the calumet, or pipe of peace, is being passed round, the symbol of warfare is carefully hidden.
Busking. Theatrical slang for an al fresco performance to earn a few coppers. To “go busking on the sands” is the least refined aspect of a Pierrot Entertainment. See “Sock and Buskin.”
Buy a Pig in a Poke. A man naturally wants to see what he is bargaining for. “Poke” is an old word for a sack or large bag, of which pocket expresses the diminutive.
By Gad. A corruption of the old oath “By God.”
By George. Originally this oath had reference to the patron saint of England. In more modern times it was corrupted into “By Jove,” so that it might have applied to Jupiter; then at the Hanoverian Succession the ancient form came in again.
By Hook or by Crook. The final word here is a corruption of Croke. More than a century ago two eminent K.C.’s named