Chapter Stilling to Stone Jug of S by Brewer's Phrase & Fable

Stilling to Stone Jug

Stilling (John Henry), surnamed Jung, the mystic or pietist; called by Carlyle the German Dominie Sampson; “awkward, honest, irascible, in old-fashioned clothes and bag-wig.” A real character. (1740- 1817.)

Stilo Novo New-fangled notions. When the calendar was reformed by Pope Gregory XIII. (1582), letters used to be dated stilo novo, which grew in time to be a cant phrase for any innovation.

“And so I leave you to your stilo novo. ”
Beaumont and Fletcher.

Stimulants of Great Men
   BONAPARTE took snuff when he wished to stimulate his intellect, or when he was greatly annoyed.
   BRAHAM (the singer) drank bottled porter.
   The REV, WILLIAM BULL, the Nonconformist, was an inveterate smoker.
   LORD BYRON took gin and water.
   G. F. COOKE took all sorts of stimulants.
   LORD ERSKINE took large doses of opium.
   GLADSTONE'S restorative is an egg beaten up in sherry.
   HOBBES drank cold water.
   ED. KEAN drank raw brandy.
   J. KEMBLE was an opium eater.
   NEWTON smoked.
   POPE drank strong coffee.
   WEDDERBURNE (the first Lord Ashburton) placed a blister on his chest when he was about to make a great speech. (Dr. Paris: Pharmacologia.)

Stinkomalee' So Theodore Hook called University College, London. The fun of the sobriquet is this: the buildings stand on the site of a large rubbish store or sort of refuse field, into which were cast potsherds and all sorts of sweepings. About the same time the question respecting Trincomalee in Ceylon was in agitation, so the wit spun the two ideas together, and produced the word in question, which was the more readily accepted as the non-religious education of the new college, and its rivalry with Oxford and Cambridge, gave for a time very great offence to the High Church and State party.

Stipulate (3 syl.). The word is generally given from the Latin stipula (a straw), and it is said that a straw was given to the purchaser in sign of a real delivery. Isidore (v. 24) asserts that the two contracting parties broke a straw between them, each taking a moiety, that, by rejoining the parts, they might prove their right to the bargain. With all deference to the Bishop of Seville, his “fact” seems to belong to limbo- lore. All bargains among the Romans were made by asking a question and replying to it. One said, An stipem vis? the other replied, Stipem volo (“Do you require money?” “I do”); the next question and answer were, An dabis? Dabo (“Will you give it?” “I will”); the third question was to the surety, An spondes? to which he replied, Spondeo (“Will you be security?” “I will”), and the bargain was made. So that stipulate is compounded of stips-volo (stipulo), and the tale about breaking the straws seems to be concocted to bolster up a wrong etymology.

“Stir Up” Sunday The last Sunday in Trinity. So called from the first two words of the collect. It announces to schoolboys the near approach of the Christmas holidays.

Stirrup (A). A rope to climb by. (Anglo-Saxon,. sti'g-ra'p, a climbing rope. The verb sti'g-an is to climb, to mount.)

Stirrup Cup A “parting cup,” given in the Highlands to guests on leaving when their feet are in the stirrups. In the north of the Highlands called “cup at the door.” (See Coffee .)

“Lord Marmion's bugles blew to horse;
Then came the stirrup-cup in course;
Between the baron and his host
No point of courtesy was lost.”
Sir Walter Scott: Marmion, i. 21.

Stirrup-Oil A beating; a variety of “strap oil” (q.v.). The French De l'huile de cotret (faggot or stick oil).

Stiver Not a stiver. Not a penny. The stiver was a Dutch coin, equal to about a penny. (Dutch, stuiver.)

Stock From the verb to stick (to fasten, make firm, fix).
   Live stock. The fixed capital of a farm.
   Stock in trade. The fixed capital.
   The village stocks, in which the feet are stuck or fastened.
   A gun stock, in which the gun is stuck or made fast.
   It is on the stocks. It is in hand, but not yet finished. The stocks is the