Chapter Gotham to Grace Darling of G by Brewer's Phrase & Fable

Gourre (1 syl.). A debauched woman. The citizens of Paris bestowed the name on Isabella of Bavaria.

"We have here ... a man ... who to his second wife espoused La grande Gourre." - Rabelais: Pantagruel, iii. 21.

Gout from the French goutte, a drop, because it was once thought to proceed from a "drop of acrid matter in the joints."

Goutte de Sang The Adonis flower or pheasant's eye, said to be stained by the blood of Adonis, who was gored by a boar.

"O fleur, si chère à Cytheree
Ta corolle fut, en naissant,
Du sang d'Adonis colorèe."

Goven St. Goven's Bell. (See Inchcape .)

Government Men Convicts.

"[He] had always been a hard-working man ... good at most things, and, like a lot more of the Government men, as the convicts were called, ... had saved some money." - Boldrewood: Robbery under Arms, chap. i.

Gowan A daisy; a perennial plant or flower.
   The ewe-gowan is the common daisy, apparently denominated from the ewe, as being frequently in pastures fed on by sheep.

"Some bit waefu' love story, enough to mak the pinks an' the ewe-gowans blush to the very lip." - Brownie of Bodsbeck, i. 215.

Gower called by Chaucer "The moral Gower."

"O moral Gower, this book I direct
To thee, and to the philosophical Strood,
To vouchsauf there need is to correct
Of your benignities and zealës good."
Chaucer.

Gowk (See Gouk .)

Gowk-thrapple (Maister). A pulpitdrumming "chosen vessel" in Scott's Waverley.

Gowlee (Indian). A "cow-herd." One of the Hindu castes is so called.

Gown Gown and town row. A scrimmage between the students of different colleges, on one side, and the townsmen, on the other. These feuds go back to the reign of King John, when 3,000 students left Oxford for Reading, owing to a quarrel with the men of the town. What little now remains of this "ancient tenure" is confined, as far as the town is concerned, to the bargees and their "tails."

Gownsman A student at one of the universities; so called because he wears an academical gown.

Graal (See Grail .)

Grab To clutch or seize. I grabbed it; he grabbed him, i.e. the bailiff caught him. (Swedish, grabba, to grasp; Danish, griber; our grip, gripe, grope, grupple.)
   A land grabber. A very common expression in Ireland during the last two decades of the nineteenth century, to signify one who takes the farm or land of an evicted tenant.

Grace The sister Graces. The Romans said there were three sister Graces, bosom friends of the Muses. They are represented as embracing each other, to show that where one is the other is welcome. Their names are Agloea, Thalia, and Euphrosyne.

Grace's Card or Grace-card. The six of hearts is so called in Kilkenny. At the Revolution in 1688, one of the family of Grace, of Courtstown, in Ireland, equipped at his own expense a regiment of foot and troop of horse, in the service of King James. William of Orange promised him high honours if he would join the new party, but the indignant baron wrote on a card, "Tell your master I despise his offer." The card was the six of hearts, and hence the name.
    It was a common practice till quite modern times to utilise playing-cards for directions, orders, and addresses.

Grace Cup or Loving Cup. The larger tankard passed round the table after grace. It is still seen at the Lord Mayor's feasts, at college, and occasionally in private banquets.
    The proper way of drinking the