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Knights Errant In France, from 768 to 987, the land was encumbered with fortified castles; in England this was not the case
till the reign of Stephen. The lords of these castles used to carry off females and commit rapine, so that a class of men sprang
up, at least in the pages of romance, who roamed about in full armour to protect the defenceless and aid the oppressed.
And the Knights Arrant were the ones who committed the rapes.
I remember learning the word "arrant" from R.L.Stevenson poem "My Shadow"
the last stanza being:
One morning, very early, before the sun was up,
I rose and found the shining dew on every buttercup;
But my lazy little shadow, like an arrant sleepy-head,
Had stayed at home behind me and was fast asleep in bed.
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Lachesis [Lak'-e-sis ]. The Fate who spins life's thread, working into the woof the sundry events destined
to occur. Clotho held the distaff, and Atropos cut off the thread when life was to be ended. (Greek,
klótho, to draw thread from a distaff; Lachesis from lagchano, to assign by lot; and Atropos = inflexible.)
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Dr. Bill:
How knights of you to bring up this topic. For some strange reason, your mentioning that word reminded me of one of the least-known knights of the Round Table, Sir Humphrey, little known because he had little money. How poor was he? He was so poor that he didn't have a charger on which to gad about. He had to make do with a cart pulled by a pair of Toggenburgs, hence his sometimes moniker: Sir Humprey Goatcart.
One day King Abdul remarked that he hadn't seen Sir Humprey around the old camel lot in some time (and here you thought this was about King Arthur;s round table, didn't you?) No one else had seen him in weeks, but it was reported that his goats had returned without him, dragging the cart behind them.
So King Abdul decided to send someone out looking for Sir Humphrey. All of the other knights were busy on various quests, so Lady Pamela volunteered. At first old Abdul wasn't too happy, but finally he relented. So Lady Pamela, suitably clad in a slinky two piece suit of fe-mail, set out on her pretty grey mare to find the errant knight.
Some weeks later, after many adventures which may be read about elsewhere, she found Sir Humphrey, who had been captured by a fierce magical dragon and imprisoned, grievously wounded, in the dank confines of a cave. Lady Pamela engaged the dragon in combat and cut off its head with her trusty sewing scissors. As she was binding up Humphrey's wounds, he saw over her shoulder that the dragon, a magical beast, had raised itself from the dead and was creeping up behind her.
So Sir Humphrey shouted to his would-be rescuer, "Slay it again, Pam."
TEd
TEd
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Laconic Very concise and pithy. A Spartan was called a Lacon from Laconia, the land inwhich he dwelt.
The Spartans were noted for their brusque and sententious speech. When Philip of Macedon wrote to the
Spartan magistrates, “If I enter Laconia, I will level Lacedæmon to the ground,” the ephors wrote word
back the single word, “If.”
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Lady A woman of wealth, of station, or of rank. Verstegan says, “It was anciently written Hleafdian [?
hlæfdige], contracted first into Lafdy, and then into Lady. Laf or Hláf (loaf) means food in general or
bread in particular, and dig-ian or dug-an, to help, serve, or care for; whence lady means the
`bread-server.' The lord (or loaf-ward supplied the food, and the lady saw that it was properly served, for
the ladies used to carve and distribute the food to the guests.”
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Ladies' Smocks Garden cress, botanically called Cardamine, a diminutive of the Greek kardamon, called
in Latin nasturtium, sometimes called Nose-smart (Kara-damon, head-afflicting); so nasturtium is
Nasi-tortium (nose-twisting), called so in consequence of its pungency.
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Lager Beer A strong German beer. Lager means a “storehouse,” and lager beer means strong beer made
(in March) for keeping.
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Laissez Faire, Laissez Passer Lord John Russell said: “Colbert, with the intention of fostering the
manufactures of France, established regulations limiting the webs woven in looms to a particular size. He
also prohibited the introduction of foreign manufactures Then the French vine-growers, finding they could
no longer get rid of their wine, began to grumble. When Colbert asked a merchant what relief he could
give, he received for answer, `Laissez faire, laissez passer;' that is to say, Don't interfere with our mode
of manufactures, and don't stop the introduction of foreign imports.”
The laissez-faire system. The let-alone system.
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veteran
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So Sir Humphrey shouted to his would-be rescuer, "Slay it again, Pam."
The piano player stopped dead in his tracks. A sudden patter of feet and the barman was beside them, clearing away the glasses.
He glared sharply at TEd, and with a slight sneer said,
"That's it, mate. You're bard."
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Lake School (The). The school of poetry introduced by the Lake poets Wordsworth, Coleridge, and
Southey, who resided in the Lake district of Cumberland and Westmoreland, and sought inspiration in the
simplicity of nature. The name was first applied in derision by the Edinburgh Review to the class of poets
who followed the above-named trio.
N.B. Charles Lamb, Lloyd, and Professor William (Christopher North) are sometimes placed among
the “Lakers.”
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