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Brewer's: Black Acts

Acts of the Scottish Parliament between the accession of James I. and the year 1587; so called because they were printed in black characters. Source: Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, E.…

Brewer's: Black Art

The art practised by conjurors, wizards, and others, who professed to have dealings with the devil. Black here means diabolical or wicked. Some derive it from nigromancy, a corruption of…

Brewer's: Black as a Crow

(or as a raven ); “as a raven's wing;” as ink; as hell, i.e. hades (2 syl.), meaning death or the grave; as your hat, etc. (See Similes.) Source: Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, E.…

Brewer's: Black Assize

July 6th, 1577, when a putrid pestilence broke out at Oxford during the time of assize. Source: Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, E. Cobham Brewer, 1894Black-balledBlack Art A B C D E…

Brewer's: Black-balled

Not admitted to a club; the candidate proposed is not accepted as a member. In voting by ballot, those who accept the person proposed drop a white or red ball into the box, but those who…

Brewer's: Black Book

A book exposing abuses in Church and State, which furnished much material for political reform in the early part of the present century. (See Black Books.) Amherst speaks of the Proctor's…

Brewer's: Black Books

To be in my black books. In bad odour; in disgrace; out of favour. The black books were those compiled in the reign of Henry VIII. to set forth the scandalous proceedings of the English…

Brewer's: Black Brunswickers

A corps of 700 volunteer hussars under the command of Frederick William, Duke of Brunswick, who had been forbidden by Napoleon to succeed to his father's dukedom. They were called “Black…

Brewer's: Black Cap

or the Judgment Cap, worn by a judge when he passes sentence of death on a prisoner. This cap is part of the judge's full dress. The judges wear their black caps on November 9th, when the…

Brewer's: Black Cattle

Negro slaves. “She was chartered for the West Coast of Africa to trade with the natives, but not in black cattle, for slavery was never our line of business.” —J. Grant: Dick Rodney, chap…