Peascod

Father of Peasblossom, if Bottom’s pedigree may be accepted.

“I pray you commend me to Mistress Squash your mother, and to Master Peascod your father, good Master Peasblossom.”—Shakespeare: Midsummer Night’s Dream, iii. 1.

Winter for shoeing, peascod for wooing. The allusion in the latter clause is to the custom of placing a peascod with nine peas in it on the door-lintel, under the notion that the first man who entered through the door would be the husband of the person who did so. Another custom is alluded to by Browne—

“The peascod greene oft with no little toyle

Heeʹd seeke for in the fattest, fertiFʹst soile,

And rend it from the stalke to bring it to her,

And in her bosome for acceptance woo her.”

Britanmia’s Pastorals.

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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.