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Uncle

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Donʹt come the uncle over me. In Latin, “Ne sis patruus mihi” (IIrace: 2 Sat., iii. 88)—i.e. do not overdo your privilege of reproving or castigating me. The Latin notion of a patruus or uncle left guardian was that of a severe castigator and reprover. Similarly, their idea of a step-mother was a woman of stern, unsympathetic nature, who was unjust to her step-children, and was generally disliked.

“Metuentes patruæ verbera linguæ.”—Horace: 3 Odes, xii. 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.

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Umbra
Umbrage
Umbrella
Umbrella
Una (Truth, so called because truth is one)
Una Serranilla [a little mountain song]
Unaneled
Uncas
Uncial Letters
Uncircumcised in Heart and Ears (Acts vii. 51)
Uncle
Uncle
Uncle Sam
Uncle Tom
Unco
Uncumber (St.)
Under-current
Under-spur-leather
Under the Rose [sub rosa]
Under Weigh
Under which King, Bezonian?