1894 Brewer’s / B / Belted Will
Lord William Howard, warden of the western marches (1563–1640).
“His Bilboa blade, by marchmen felt,
Hung in a broad and studded belt;
Hence, in rude phrase, the borderers still
Called noble Howard Belted Will.”
Scott.
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Entry taken from Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, edited by the Rev. E. Cobham Brewer, LL.D. and revised in 1895.