Chapter Red-breasts to Red Snow of R by Brewer's Phrase & Fable

Red-handed In the very act; with red blood still on his hand.

“I had some trouble to save him from the fury of those who had caught him red-handed.”- The Times (a correspondent).

Red Hat (The). The cardinalate.

“David Beatoun was born of good family ... and was raised to a red hat by Pope Paul III.”- Prince: Parallel History, vol. ii. p. 81.

Red Heads (See Schiites .)

Red Herring (The) of a novel is a hint or statement in the early part of the story to put the reader on the wrong scent. In all detective stories a red herring is trailed across the scent. The allusion is to trailing a red herring on the ground to destroy the scent and set the dogs at fault. A “red herring” is a herring dried and smoked.

Red Herring Drawing a red herring across the path. Trying to divert attention from the main question by some side-issue. A red herring drawn across a fox's path destroys the scent and sets the dogs at fault.
   Neither fish, flesh, nor good red herring. Something insipid and not good eating. Neither one thing nor another.

Red Indians (of Newfoundland). So called because they daub their skin, garments, canoes, weapons, and almost everything with red ochre.

“Whether it is merely a custom, or whether they daub their skin with red ochre to protect it from the attacks of mosquitos and black-flies, which swarm by myriads in the woods and wilds during the summer, it is not possible to say.”- Lady Blake: Nineteenth Century, Dec. 1888, p. 905.

Red Kettle (A). Properly a gold watch, but applied, in thieves' slang, to any watch.
   Gold is often called red, hence “red ruddocks” (gold coin).

Red-laced Jacket Giving a man a red-laced jacket. Military slang for giving a soldier a flogging.

Red Land (The). The jurisdiction over which the Vehmgericht of Westphalia extended.

Red-lattice Phrases Pot-house talk. Red-lattice at the doors and windows was formerly the sign that an alehouse was duly licensed; hence our chequers. In some cases “lattice” has been converted into lettuce, and the colour of the alternate checks changed to green: such a sign used to be in Brownlow Street, Holborn. Sometimes, without doubt, the sign had another meaning, and announced that “tables” were played within; hence Gayton, in his Notes on Don Quixote (p. 340), in speaking of our public- house signs, refers to our notices of “billiards, kettle-noddy-boards, tables, truncks, shovel-boards, fox- and-geese, and the like.” It is quite certain that shops with the sign of the chequers were not uncommon among the Romans. (See a view of the left-hand street of Pompeii, presented by Sir William Hamilton to the Society of Antiquaries.) (See Lattice .)

“I, I, I myself sometimes, leaving the fear of heaven on the left hand, ... am fain to shuffle, to hedge and to lurch; and yet you, rogue, will ensconce your rags ... your red-lattice phrases ... under the shelter of your honour.”- Shakespeare: Merry Wives of Windsor, ii. 2.

Red Laws (The). The civil code of ancient Rome. Juvenal says, “Per lege rubras majoram leges” (Satires, xiv. 193). The civil laws, being written in vermillion, were called rubrica, and rubrica vetavit means, It is forbidden by the civil laws.
   The praetor's laws were inscribed in white letters as Quintilian informs us (xii. 3 “proetores edicta sua in albo proponebant”), and imperial rescripts were written in purple.

Red-letter Day A lucky day; a day to be recalled with delight. In almanacks, saints' days and holidays are printed in red ink, other days in black.

“That day, ... writes the doctor, was truly a red-letter day to me.”- Wauters: Stanley's Emin Expedition, chap. vi. p. 111.

Red Man The French say that a red man commands the elements, and wrecks off the