- skip - Brewer’s

White Stone (Rev. ii. 17)

.

To him that overcometh will I give . . a white stone; and in the stone a new name [is] written which no man knoweth saving he that receiveth it [i.e. the stone]. In primitive times, when travelling was difficult for want of places of public accommodation, hospitality was exercised by private individuals to a great extent. When the guest left, the host gave him a small white stone cut in two; on one half the host wrote his name, and on the other the guest; the host gave the guest the half containing his [host’s] name, and vice versâ. This was done that the guest at some future time might return the favour, if needed. Our text says, “I will give him to eat of the hidden manna”—i.e. I will feed or entertain him well, and I will keep my friendship, sacred, inviolable, and known only to himself.

 

previous entry · index · next entry

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

Entry taken from Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, edited by the Rev. E. Cobham Brewer, LL.D. and revised in 1895.

previous entry · index · next entry

White Ladies [Les Dames Blanches]
White Lies
White Moments of Life (The)
White Moon (Knight of the)
White Night (A)
White Poplar
White Rose
White Sheep [Ak-koin-loo]
White Squall
White Stone
White Stone (Rev. ii. 17)
White Surrey
White Tincture
White Water-lotus [Pe-lien-kaou]
White Widow
White Witch (A)
White as Driven Snow
White in the Eye
Whitebait Dinner
Whiteboys
Whitehall (London)