Brewer's: Questions and Commands

A Christmas game, in which the commander bids his subjects to answer a question which is asked. If the subject refuses, or fails to satisfy the commander, he must pay a forfeit or have his face smutted.

“While other young ladies in the house are dancing, or playing at questions and commands, she [the devotee] reads aloud in her closet.” —The Spectator, No. 354 (Hotspur's Letter), April 16, 1712.

Source: Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, E. Cobham Brewer, 1894
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