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Pāwnbroker

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The three golden balls. The Lombards were the first money-lenders in England, and those who borrowed money of them deposited some security or pawn. The Medici family, whose arms were three gilded pills, in allusion to their profession of medicine, were the richest merchants of Florence, and greatest money-lenders. (See Balls.)

⁂ Roscoe, in his Life of Lorenzo de Medici, gives a different solution. He says that Averardo deʹ Medici, a commander under Charlemagne, slew the giant Mugello, whose club he bore as a trophy. This club or mace had three iron balls, which the family adopted as their device.

Pawn is the Latin pign[us] (a pawn or pledge).

 

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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.

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Paul of the Cross
Paul’s Man (A)
Paul’s Pigeons
Paul’s Walkers
Paulianists
Paulicians
Paulina
Paulo
Pavan or Pavin
Pavilion of Prince Ahmed (The)
Pāwnbroker
Pawnee
Pax
Pay (sea term)
Pay (To)
Pay (To)
Pay (To)
Pay off old Scores (To)
Pay with the Roll of the Drum (To)
Paynising
Pea-jacket (A)