Words - skip - Brewer’s

Corcēca [Blind-heart]

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Superstition is so named in Spenser’s Faërie Queene. Abessa tried to make her understand that danger was at hand, but, being blind, she was dull of comprehension. At length she was induced to shut her door, and when Una knocked would give no answer. Then the lion broke down the door, and both entered. The meaning is that England, the lion, broke down the door of Superstition at the Reformation. Corcēca means Romanism in England. (Book i. 3.)

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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.