Page:Farmer - Slang and its analogues past and present - Volume 1.pdf/352

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pocket, or waste everything eatable in the house. The censure is well understood, and the hint is generally effective.

1850. Notes and Queries, June 15, p. 44. I well remember the phrase brozier-my-dame, signifying to eat her out of house and home.

1888. Rev. W. Rogers, Reminiscences, p. 15. Etonians of my standing will remember John Francis Plumptre, one of the Fellows . . . I once behaved very shabbily to him, for I joined a conspiracy to 'brozier' him. There were ten or twelve of us [at breakfast], and we devoured everything within reach.

Brother-Blade, subs. (old).—A soldier. Formerly brother of the blade, i.e., of the sword; a fellow-soldier. For synonyms, see Mudcrusher.

1785. Grose, Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue. Brother of the blade, a soldier.

1834. H. Ainsworth, Rookwood, bk. IV., ch. ii. 'I heard some devilish good stories of you at D'Osyndar's t'other day; the fellow who told them to me little thought I was a brother BLADE.'

Brother Chip (provincial workmen's).—One of the same calling or trade; formerly a fellow carpenter.

1820. Clare, Poems of Rural Life, Familiar Epistle, st. 3. And, brother chip, I love ye dearly, poor as ye be!

Brother of the Brush, subs. phr. (old).—An artist; a house-painter.

1687. Bp. Cartwright, in Hist. Magd. Coll. (Oxf. Hist. Soc.), 143. Pray make use of my brother of the brush. [m.]

1759. Sterne, Tr. Shandy (1793), I., 133. The honourable devices which the Pentagraphic bretheren of the brush have shewn in taking copies. [m.]

1833. Byron, wks. (1846), p. 585, col. 1. A young American brother of THE BRUSH. [M.]

Brother of the Bung, subs. phr. (old).—A brewer; one of the same trade. [Bung here is used as an emblem of the trade of a brewer.]

Brother of the Buskin, subs. phr. (old).—A player; actor—one of the same profession. [Buskin is in allusion to the covering for the foot and leg (cothurnus) worn by actors in trag dy among the ancients; in contrast to the sock (soccus) worn by comedians. Stage buskins had very thick soles to give an appearance of height. Hence buskin as symbolical of tragedy, but used in the phrase brother of the buskin in a transferred and general sense.] Quoted by Grose [1785]. Cf., Barn-stormer and Booth-burster.

Brother of the Coif, subs. (old).—A serjeant-at-law. [The coif was a close-fitting cap worn by the serjeants-at-law—hence the term.] Quoted by Grose [1785].

Brother of the Gusset, subs. (old).—A pimp or ponce (q.v.). For synonyms, see Bully.

Brother of the Quill, subs. phr. (old).—An author. [Quill = pen.] For synonyms, see Ink-slinger.

1754. B. Martin, Eng. Dict. (2 ed.). Brother of the quill, an author, one of the same profession.

Brother of the String, subs. phr. (old).—A fiddler. [A reference to the violin or fiddle as a stringed instrument.]

Brother of the Whip, subs. phr. (old).—A coachman, the whip