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Brewer's: Star

(A), in theatrical language, means a popular actor. Star (in Christian art). St. Bruno bears one on his breast; St. Dominic, St. Humbert, St. Peter of Alcantare, one over their head, or…

Brewer's: Starboard and Larboard

Star-is the Anglo-Saxon steor, rudder, bord, side; meaning the right side of a ship (looking forwards). Larboard is now obsolete, and “port” is used instead. To port the helm is to put the…

Brewer's: Starch

Mrs. Anne Turner, half-milliner, half-procuress, introduced into England the French custom of using yellow starch in getting up bands and cuffs. She trafficked in poison, and being…

Brewer's: Starry Sphere

The eighth heaven of the Peripatetic system; also called the “Firmament.” The Crystal Heaven is this, whose rigour guides And binds the starry sphere. Camoens: Lusiad, bk. x. Source:…

Brewer's: Stars and Garters!

(My). An expletive, or mild kind of oath. The stars and garters of knighthood. Shakespeare makes Richard III. swear “By my George, my garter, and my crown !” (Richard III., iv. 4.)…

Brewer's: Stars and Stripes

(The) or the Star-spangled Banner, the flag of the United States of North America. The first flag of the United States, raised by Washington June 2, 1776, consisted of thirteen stripes,…

Brewer's: Starvation Dundas

Henry Dundas, first Lord Melville, who was the first to introduce the word starvation into the language, on an American debate: in 1775. (Anglo-Saxon, steorfan, to perish of hunger; German…

Brewer's: Starved with Cold

Half-dead with cold. (Anglo-Saxon, steorfan, to die.) Source: Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, E. Cobham Brewer, 1894StationsStarvation Dundas A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O…

Brewer's: Stations

The fourteen stations of the Catholic Church. These are generally called “Stations of the Cross,” and the whole series is known as the via Calvaria or via Crucis. Each station represents…

Brewer's: Statira

A stock name of those historical romances which represented the fate of empires as turning on the effects produced on a crack-brained lover by some charming Mandana or Statira. In La…