Chapter Jean Crapaud to Jericho of J by Brewer's Phrase & Fable

Redbreast.

"Robin promised Jenny, if she would be his wife, she should `feed on cherry-pie and drink currant-wine'; and he says: -

`I'll dress you like a goldfinch,
Or any peacock gay;
So, dearest Jen, if you'll be mine,
Let us appoint the day.'

   Jenny replies: -

`Cherry-pie is very nice,
And so is currant wine;
But I must wear my plain brown gown,
And never go too fine."'

Jeofail i.e. J'ai failli (Lapsus sum I have failed), an omission or oversight in a law proceeding. There are several statutes of Jeofail for the remedy of slips or mistakes.

Jeopardy (3 syl.). Hazard, danger. Tyrwhitt says it is the French jeu parti and Froissart uses the phrase, "Si nous les voyons à jeu parti " (vol. i. c. 234). Jeu parti is a game where the chances are exactly balanced, hence a critical state.

Jereed A javelin with which the Easterns exercise. (Turkish and Arabic.)

Jeremiad (4 syl.). A pitiful tale a tale of woe to produce compassion; so called from the "Lamentations" of the prophet Jeremiah.

Jeremiah derived from "Cucumber." The joke is this: King Jeremiah = Jere'-king, contracted in Jer'-kin', or gher-kin, and gherkin is a young cucumber.
   The British Jeremiah. Gibbon so calls Gildas, author of Lamentations over the Destruction of Britain (516-570).

Jeremy Diddler An adept at raising money on false pretences. From Kenny's farce called Raising the Wind.

Jeremy Twitcher A cunning, treacherous highwayman, in Gay's Beggar's Opera. Lord Sandwich, a member of the New Kit Kat Club, was so called in 1765.

Jericho Gone to Jericho. No one knows where. The manor of Blackmore, near Chelmsford, was called Jericho, and was one of the houses of pleasure of Henry VIII. When this lascivious prince had a mind to be lost in the embraces of his courtesans, the cant phrase among his courtiers was "He is gone to Jericho." Hence, a place of concealment.
   Go to Jericho with you. I wish he had been at Jericho. A euphemistic turn of phrase for "Go and hang yourself," or something more offensive still. This saying is derived from 2 Sam. x. 5 and 1 Chron, xix. 5.

"And the king said, Tarry at Jericho until your beards be grown."

   I wish you were at Jericho. Anywhere out of my way. (See above.)