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Fan

.

I could brain him with his lady’s fan (1 Henry IV., ii. 3)—i.e. knock his brains out with a fan handle. The ancient fans had long handles, so that ladies used their fans for walking-sticks, and it was by no means unusual for very testy dames to chastise unruly children by beating them with their fansticks.

“Werʹt not better


Your head were broken with the handle of a fan?”


Beaumont and Fletcher: Wit at Several Weapons, v.

 

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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.

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Fallow Land
False (The Rule of)
False Ceiling
Falstaff
Falutin (High)
Familiar
Familiar Spirits
Familiarity
Familists
Family
Fan
Fan-light (A)
Fanatic
Fancy
Fancy-free
Fancy Man (A)
Fancy-sick
Fanesii
Fanfaron
Fanfaronade
Fang

See Also:

Fan