Chapter Polydore to Pope of P by Brewer's Phrase & Fable

Pons Asinorum The fifth proposition, book i., of Euclid- the first difficult theorem, which dunces rarely get over for the first time without stumbling. It is anything but a “bridge;” it is really pedica asinorum, the “dolt's stumbling-block.”

Pontefract Cakes Liquorice lozenges impressed with a castle; so called from being made at Pontefract.
   “Pontefract” pronounce “Pomfret.”

Pontiff means one who has charge of the bridges. According to Varro, the highest class of the Roman priesthood had to superintend the construction of the bridges (ponies). (See Ramsay: Roman Antiquities, p. 51.)

“Well has the name of Pontifex been given
Unto the church's head, as the chief builder
And architect of the invisible bridge
That leads from earth to heaven.”
Longfellow: Golden Legend, v.

    Here Longfellow follows the general notion that “pontiff” is from pons-facio, and refers to the tradition that a Roman priest threw over the Tiber, in the time of Numa, a sublician, or wooden bridge.
   Sablicius means made of timber or piles. There were subsequently eight stone bridges, and Æmilius converted the sublician bridge into a stone one. There were fifteen pontiffs in the time of Sylla.

Pontius Pilate's Body-Guard The 1st Foot Regiment, now called the Royal Scots, the oldest regiment in the service. When called Le Regiment de Douglas, and in the French service, they had a dispute with the Picardy regiment about the antiquity of their respective corps. The Picardy officers declared they were on duty on the night of the Crucifixion, when the colonel of the 1st Foot replied, “If we had been on guard, we should not have slept at our posts.”

Pony (A). Twenty-five pounds. A sporting term; a translation crib = to carry one over a difficulty.
   Pony in vingt-et-un. The person on the right-hand of the dealer, whose duty it is to collect the cards for the dealer; so called from the Latin ponc, “behind,” being behind the dealer.

Poona A sovereign. Lingua Franca for pound.

Poor Poor as Job. The allusion is to Job, who was by Satan deprived of everything he possessed.
   Poor as Lazarus. This is the beggar Lazarus, full of sores, who was laid at the rich man's gate, and desired to be fed from the crumbs that fell from Dives' table (Luke xvi. 13-31).
   Poor as a church mouse. In a church there is no cupboard or pantry, where mice most do congregate.
   There are none poor but those whom God hates. This does not mean that poverty is a punishment, but that the only poverty worthy of the name is poverty of God's grace. In this sense Dives may be the poor man, and Lazarus the beggar abounding in that “blessing of the Lord which maketh rich.”

Poor Jack or John (A). Dried hake. We have “john-dory,” a “jack” (pike), a “jack shark,” and a “jack of Dover.” Probably the word Jack is a mere play on the word “Hake,” and John a substitute for Jack.

“ 'Tis well thou art not fish; if thou hadst, thou hadst been poor-john.”- Shakespeare: Romeo and Juliet, i. 1.

    We have a similar perversion in the school-boy proof that a pigeon-pie is a fish-pie. A pigeon-pie is a pie-john, and a pie-john is a jack-pie, and a jack-pie is a fish-pie.

Poor Man The blade-bone of a shoulder of mutton, so called in Scotland. In some parts of England it is termed a “poor knight of Windsor,” because it holds the same relation to Sir Loin as a Windsor knight does to a baronet. Sir Walter Scott tells of a Scotch laird who, being asked by an English landlord what he would have for dinner, produced the utmost consternation by saying, “I think I could relish a morsel of a poor man.” (See Bride of Lammermoor, chap. xix.)

Poor Richard The assumed name of Benjamin Franklin in a series of almanacks from 1732 to 1757. These almanacks contain maxims and precepts on temperance, economy, cleanliness, chastity, and other homely virtues; and to several of the maxims are added the words, “as poor Richard says.” Nearly