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Corbeaux

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Bearers, i.e. persons who carry the dead to the grave; mutes, etc. So called from the corbillards, or coches dʹeau, which went from Paris to Corbeil with the dead bodies of those who died in the 16th century of a fatal epidemic.

“Jʹai lu quelque part que ce coche [the Gorbillard] servit, sous Henri IV., a transporter des morts, victimes dʹune épidémie de Paris à Corbeil. Le nom de Corbillard resta depuis aux voitures funèbres.”—Alf. Bonnardot.

 

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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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Copy
Copyhold Estate
Copyright
Coq-à-lâne
Corah
Coral Beads
Coral Master
Coram Judice (Latin)
Coranach
Corbant
Corbeaux
Corcēca [Blind-heart]
Corcyrean Sedition (The)
Cordelia
Cordelia’s Gift
Cordeliers
Cordeliers (The)
Cordon (The)
Cordon (Un grand)
Cordon Bleu (Un) (French)
Cordon Noir (Un)