Chapter Pennalism to Pentreath of P by Brewer's Phrase & Fable

Penny Weddings Wedding banquets in Scotland, to which a number of persons were invited, each of whom paid a small sum of money not exceeding a shilling. After defraying the expenses of the feast, the residue went to the newly-married pair, to aid in furnishing their house. Abolished in 1645.

“Vera true, vera true. We'll have a' to pay ... a sort of penny-wedding it will prove, where all men contribute to the young folks' maintenance.”- Sir Walter Scott: Fortunes of Nigel, chap. xxvii.

Penny Wise Unwise thrift. The whole proverb is Penny wise and pound foolish, like the man who lost his horse from his penny wisdom in saving the expense of shoeing it a fresh when one of its shoes was loose.

Pennyroyal Flea-bane, the odour being, as it is supposed, hateful to fleas. This is a real curiosity of blundering derivation. The Latin word is pulecium, the flea destroyer, from pulex, a flea, softened into pulegium, and corrupted into the English-Latin pule'-regium. “Pule,” changed first into puny, then into penny, gives us “penny-regium,” whence “penny-royal.” The French call the herb pouliot, from pou (a louse or flea).

Pennyweight So called from being the weight of an Anglo-Norman penny. Dwt. is d = penny wt.

Pennyworth or Pen'oth. A small quantity, as much as can be bought for a penny. Butler says, “This was the pen'oth of his thought” (Hudibras, ii. 3), meaning that its scope or amount was extremely small.
   He has got his pennyworth. He has got due value for his money.
   To turn an honest penny. To earn a little money by working for it.

Pension is something weighed out. Originally money was weighed, hence our pound. When the Gauls were bribed to leave Rome the ransom money was weighed in scales, and then Brennus threw his sword into the weight-pan. (Latin, pendo, to weigh money.)

Pensioners at the Universities and Inns of Court. So called from the French pension (board), pensionnaire (a boarder, one who pays a sum of money to dine and lodge with someone else).

Pentacle A five-sided head-dress of fine linen, meant to represent the five senses, and worn as a defence against demons in the act of conjuration. It is also called Solomon's Seal (signum Salamonis). A pentacle was extended by the magician towards the spirits when they proved contumacious.

“And on her head, lest spirits should invade,
A pentacle, for more assurance, laid.”
Rose: Orlando Furioso, iii. 21.

   The Holy Pentacles numbered forty-four, of which seven were consecrated to each of the planets Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, and the Sun: five to both Venus and Mercury: and six to the Moon. The divers figures were enclosed in a double circle, containing the name of God in Hebrew, and other mystical words.

Pentapolin An imaginary chieftain, but in reality the drover of a flock of sheep. Don Quixote conceived him to be the Christian King of the Garamantians, surnamed the Naked Arm, because he always entered the field with his right arm bare. The driver of a flock from the opposite direction was dubbed by the Don the Emperor Alifanfaron of the isle of Taprobana, a pagan. (Cervantes. Don Quixote, pt. i. bk. iii. 4.)

Pentapolis (Greek, pente polis.)
   (1) The five cities of the plain: Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, Zeboim, and Zoar, four of which were consumed with fire, and their site covered with the Lake Asphaltites, or the Dead Sea.
   (2) The five cities of Cyrenaica, in Egypt: Berenice, Arsinoe, Ptolemais, Cyrene, and Apollonia.
   (3) The five cities of the Philistines: Gaza, Gath, Ascalon, Ashdod, and Ekron.
   (4) The five cites of Italy in the exarchate of Ravenna: Rimini, Pesaro, Fano, Sinigaglia, and Ancona. These were given by Pepin to the Pope.
   (5) The Dorian pentapolis: Cnidos, Cos, Lindos, Ialysos, and Camiros.

Pentateuch The first five books of the Old Testament, supposed to be written by Moses. (Greek, pente, five; teuchos, a book.)
   The Chinese Pentateuch. The five books of Confucius:- (1) The Shoo-King, or Book of History; (2) The Lee-King, or Book of Rites; (3) The Book of Odes, or Chinese Homer; (4)