- skip - Brewer’s

Autumn

.

He is come to his autumn, i.e. to be hanged, to his “fall.” A pun on the plan of “turning a man offby dropping the plank on which he stands. The drop is the “leaf,” and autumn is called the “fall,” or “fall of the leaf.”

 

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

Auspices
Auster
Austin Friars
Austrian Lip
Aut Cæsar aut nullus [Latin, Either Cæsar or no one]
Authentic Doctor
Auto da Fe. [An act of faith.]
Autolycus
Automaton
Automedon
Autumn
Ava
Avalanche
Avalon
Avant Courier. (French, avant courrier.)
Avant Garde. (French.)
Avatar
Ave Maria [Hail, Mary!] (Ave, 2 syl.)
Avenel
Avenger of Blood (The)
Avernus (Greek, a-ornis, “without a bird”)