Chapter Suds to Sun and Moon Falling of S by Brewer's Phrase & Fable

Suds to Sun and Moon Falling

Suds (Mrs.). A facetious name for a washwoman or laundress. Of course, the allusion is to soap-suds.
   To be in the suds - in ill-temper. According to the song, “Ne'er a bit of comfort is upon a washing day,” all are put out of gear, and therefore out of temper.

Suffolk The folk south of Norfolk.

Suffrage means primarily the hough or pastern of a horse; so called because it bends under, and not over, like the knee-joint. When a horse is lying down and wants to rise on his legs, it is this joint which is brought into action; and when the horse stands on his legs it is these “ankle-joints” which support him. Metaphorically, voters are the pastern joints of a candidate, whereby he is supported.
   A suffragan is a titular bishop who is appointed to assist a prelate; and in relation to an archbishop all bishops are suffragans. The archbishop is the horse, and the bishops are his pasterns.

Sugar-candy Rhyming slang for “brandy.”

Sugar-lip Hâfiz, the great Persian lyrist. (*-1389.)

Sugar and Honey Rhyming slang for “money.” (See Chivy .)

Sugared Words Sweet, flattering words. When sugar was first imported into Europe it was a very great dainty. The coarse, vulgar idea now associated with it is from its being cheap and common.

Sui Generis (Latin). Having a distinct character of its own; unlike anything else.

Sui Juris Of one's own right; the state of being able to exercise one's legal rights- i.e. freedom from legal disability.

Suicides were formerly buried ignominiously on the high-road, with a stake thrust through their body, and without Christian rites. (Chambers: Encyclopædia, lx. p. 184, col. 1.)

“They buried Ben at four cross roads,
With a stake in his inside.”
Hood: Faithless Nelly Gray.

Suisse Tu fais suisse. You live alone; you are a misanthrope. Suisse means porter or door-keeper, hence “Parler au Suisse” (“Ask the porter,” or “Enquire at the porter's lodge”). The door-keeper lives in a lodge near the main entrance, and the solitariness of his position, cut off from the house and servants, gave rise to the phrase. At one time these porters were for the most part Swiss.

Suit (1 syl.). To follow suit. To follow the leader; to do as those do who are taken as your exemplars. The term is from games of cards.

Suit of Dittos (A). A suit of clothes in which coat, waistcoat, and trousers are all of one cloth.

Sullt [starvation ]. The knife which the goddess Hel (q.v.) is accustomed to use when she sits down to eat from her dish Hunger.

Sultan of Persia Mahmoud Gazni, founder of the Gaznivide dynasty, was the first to assume in Persia the title of Sultan (A.D. 999).

Sultan's Horse, Deadly (The).

“Byzantians boast that on the clod
Where once the Sultan's horse hath trod
Grows neither grass, nor shrub, nor tree.”
Swift: Pethox the Great.

Sultana A beautiful bird, allied to the moorhen, with blue feathers, showing beautiful metallic gloss, generally with red beak and legs.

“Some purple-winged sultana.”
Moore: Paradise and the Peri.

Summa Diligentia On the top of a diligence. “Caesar crossed the Alps `summa diligentia.' ” This is a famous schoolboy joke, and one of the best of the kind.