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Aqua Tofaʹna or Acqua Tofanĭca

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A poisonous liquid much used in Italy in the seventeenth century by young wives who wanted to get rid of their husbands. It was invented by a woman named Tofāna, who called it the Manna of St. Nicholas of Bari, from the widespread notion that an oil of miraculous efficacy flowed from the tomb of that saint. In Italian called also Aquella di Napoli.

 

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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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Apple-pie Order
April
April Fool
April Gentleman (An)
April Squire (An)
A priori [Latin, from an antecedent]
Apron
Apron-string Tenure (An)
A propos de bottes (French)
Aqua Regia [royal water]
Aqua Tofana or Acqua Tofanĭca
Aqua Vitæ [water of life]
Aquarians
Aquarius [the water-bearer]
Aqueous Rocks
Aquilant (in Orlando Furioso)
Aquiline
Aquinian Sage (The)
Arabesque [Arrabesk]
Arabian Bird (The)
Arabian Nights (The)