1849. Froude [Carlyle, Life in London, xi.]. The brothers [Carlyle] went in a steamer from Liverpool to Bangor, and thence to Llanberis, again in a tub-gig, or Welsh car.
6. (Winchester).—A chest in Hall into which Dispars (q.v.) not taken by the boys were put. Whence Præfect of tub = a præfect whose duty was to examine the quality of meat sent in by the butcher, and after dinner to supervise the collection and distribution of the remains: obsolete (Collins) c. 1870. Whence (also) tub-mess = the table at which the Senior Præfects sat in Hall (see Farmer, Public School Word-Book, s.v. tub 2).
A tale of a tub. subs. phr. (old).—Any kind of nonsense, fooling, or absurdity; a cock-and-bull story (q.v.); rot (q.v.).
1538. Bale, Com. concern. Three Laws. Ye say they follow your law, And vary not a shaw, Which is a tale of a tub.
1546. Heywood, Proverbs. A tale of a tubbe.
1554. Coverdale, Exhort. to the Cross. You shall see in us that we preached no lyes, nor tales of tubs, but even the true word of God.
c.1559. Wit and Science [Dodsley, Old Plays (Hazlitt), ii. 335]. What, should I make a broad tree of every little shrub, And keep her a great while with a tale of a tub?
. 1632. Chapman, Ball, iii. 4. Lu. Do not I hear how desperate some ha' been? . . . Wi., This is a tale of a tub, lady.
1633. Jonson, Tale of a Tub, Prol. No state-affairs . . . Pretend we in our Tale here, of a Tub; But acts of clowns and constables to-day Stuff out the scenes of our ridiculous play.
1653. Urquhart, Rabelais, 11., Prol. These are no flim-flam stories, nor tales of a tub.
1690. Howell, Lex. Tetra. A tale of a tub, chose ridicule, conte de cicogne, chanson de ricoche.
1699. Swift, Tale of a Tub [Title].
d1704. Brown, Works, ii. 11. What other business can a man and woman have in the dark but . . . to make the beast with two backs? not to pick straws, I hope, or to tell tales of a tub.
To throw a tub to a whale, verb. phr. (old).—(1) To bait the hook, give a sop, or make capital; (2) to throw dust in the eyes, to divert attention, to emphasize small matters so that attention is distracted from essentials.
1809. Malkin, Gil Blas [Routledge], 41. He . . . expatiated on the honours I had gained in the schools . . . as if it was necessary for a prebendary's footman to be as learned as his master. However . . . it served as a tub to the whale.
A cat under a tub, phr. (nautical American).—A supposed cause of delay.
Every tub (vat, etc.) should stand on its own bottom, phr. (old).—A simile of independence.
1538. Lambert [Ellis, Letters, 533]. Every vat shall stand on his own bottom.
1606. Holland, Sueton., 97. Hee had used also before, to stand upon his owne bottom.
1630-40. Court and Times Chas. I. [Oliphant, New Eng., ii. 87. Bunyan was later to quote the proverb, 'Every tub must stand on its own bottom'; here men are left to do the same.]
c.1656. Hall, Cont., 45. Man, though he . . . stand upon his own bottome, yet [is] he not a little wrought upon by examples.
1680. Morden, Geog. Rect. (1685), 106. Everyone endeavours to stand on their own bottom.
1788. Reid, Aristotle, vi. i. 129. When reason acquires such strength as to stand on its own bottom.
See Tubby.
