Phrases and Names, Their Origins and Meanings. Trench H. Johnson
site of a barrow or sepulchral mound of the Britons and Romans slain in battle.
Barry Cornwall. The anagrammatic pseudonym of Bryan Waller Procter, the poet.
Bar Tender. An Americanism for barman or barkeeper.
Bartholomew Close. The site of the ancient cloisters of St. Bartholomew’s Priory, connected with the neighbouring church, which is the oldest in London.
Bartholomew Fair. The famous fair which for centuries survived the mediæval mart that had given rise to it in the neighbouring street, still known as Cloth Fair. It was held on the Feast of St. Bartholomew.
Barton Street. A street in Westminster built by Barton Booth, the eminent actor of Drury Lane Theatre.
Bashaw. Properly “Pashaw.” See “Pasha.”
Basinghall Street. From the mansion and grounds of the Basings, whose ancestor, Solomon Basing, was Lord Mayor of London in 1216.
Bassano. The better known, indeed to most people the only proper, name of the famous Italian artist, Jacopa da Ponte, who signed all his pictures “Il Bassano,” having been born at Bassano in the state of Venice.
Bass’s Straits. Discovered by Matthew Flinders. These straits were named by him after a young ship’s surgeon, who, with a crew of only six men, in a small vessel, accompanied him on the expedition.
Bath Chair. First introduced at Bath, the great health resort of a bygone day.
Bath Street. From a Bagnio, or Turkish Bath, established here in the seventeenth century.
Battersea. Anciently Patricesy, or St. Peter’s-ey, the manor belonging to the abbey of St. Peter’s, Westminster. The suffix ey implied not only an island, but also a creek.
Battle-born State. Nevada, because admitted into the American Union during the Civil War.
Battle Bridge Road. In this neighbourhood the Iceni, under Boadicea, sustained their total defeat at the hands of the Romans, A.D. 61.
Battle of all the Nations. The battle of Leipsic, 16th to 18th October 1813, so called because it effected the deliverance of Europe from the domination of Napoleon Buonaparte.
Battle of the Giants. That of Marignano, in which 1200 Swiss Guards, allies of the Milanese, were defeated, 13th September 1515.
Battle of the Herrings. From the sortie of the Orleaners to cut off a convoy of salted herrings on its way to the English, besieging their city, 12th February 1429.
Battle of the Standard. From the high crucifix borne as a standard on a waggon by the English at Northallerton, 29th August 1138.
Battle of the Spurs. That of Guinnegate, 16th August 1513, when the French were utterly routed in consequence of a panic; they used their spurs instead of their weapons of defence.
Battle of the Spurs of Gold. From the enormous number of gold spurs picked up on the field after the defeat of the French knights at Courtray, 11th July 1302.
Bavaria. The country of the Boii, anciently styled Boiaria.
Baynard’s Castle. See “Bayswater.”
Bayonet. Not from the town of Bayonne, but because a Basque regiment in the district of Bayonnetta in 1647, surprised by the Spaniards, stuck their knives into the muzzles of their muskets, and, charging, drove off the enemy with great slaughter.
Bay State. Massachusetts, from the original denomination of this colony in the New England Commonwealth--viz. Massachusetts Bay.
Bayon State. Mississippi, from the French bayon, watercourse, touching its great river.
Bayswater. Originally described as “Baynard’s Watering,” being a manor built by Ralph Baynard, one of the favourites of William the Conqueror, the owner of Baynard’s Castle, in what is now Thames Street, destroyed in the Great Fire of London.
B. D. V. A tobacco advertisement which stands for “Best Dark Virginia.”
Beak. The slang term for a magistrate, on account of the beag or gold collar that he wears.
Beak Street. This name has a sportive reference to the magistrate at the neighbouring police court in Great Marlborough Street.
Beanfeast. From the Bean-goose (so called from the similarity of the nail of its bill to a bean) which was formerly the invariable dinner dish.
Bear. Wherever this enters into the name of a tavern sign (with the single exception of that of “The Bear and Ragged Staff”) it denotes a house that had originally a bear garden attached to it.
Bear and Ragged Staff. A common inn sign in Warwickshire, from the heraldic device of Warwick the King Maker.
Bear Garden. This name at the corner of Sumner Street, Southwark, recalls the old Paris Garden, a famous bear-baiting establishment founded by Robert de Paris as far back in English history as the reign of Richard I. A “Bear Garden” is in our time synonymous with a place of resort for roughs or rowdies.
Bear State. Arkansas, from the Western description of the character of its people. “Does Arkansas abound with bears that it should be called the Bear State?” a Western man was once asked. “Yes, it does,” was the reply; “for I never knew a man from that state but he was a bar, and, in fact, the people are all barish to a degree.”
Bearward. The custodian of the bear at public and private bear-baiting gardens. Most English towns anciently retained a bearward. See “Congleton Bears.”
Beats a Philadelphia Lawyer. An American expression implying that the lawyers of Philadelphia are noted for shrewdness and learning.
Beauchamp Tower. After Thomas de Beauchamp, Earl of Warwick, whom Richard II. caused to be imprisoned here for inciting the barons to remove the King’s favourite, Sir Simon de Burley.
Beauclerc. The surname of Henry I., on account of his accomplishments in an age when learning was rare.
Beckenham. The home in the vicinity of becks or brooks. The Saxon terminal en expresses the plural.
Bedad. An Irishman’s exclamation, derived from the English “Begad” or “By Gad.”
Bedford. From the Anglo-Saxon Bedican-ford, the protected ford over the Ouse.
Bedfordbury. The bury or enclosed land of the Duke of Bedford. Bedford Street and Bedford Square likewise point to the great ground landlord.
Bedlam. Short for Bethlehem Hospital, a “Lazar House” in South London which in 1815 was converted into an asylum for lunatics. See “Bethlehem.”
Bedouins. From the Arabic badawiy, “dwellers in the desert.”
Beech Street. Said to have been the property of Nicholas de la Beech, Lieutenant of the Tower, temp. Edward III.
Beefeaters. Although it has been proved that the word Buffetier cannot be met with in any old book, the Yeomen of the Guard instituted by Henry VII. certainly waited at the royal table,