Inkle and Yarico The hero and heroine of a drama so called by George Colman. The story is from the Spectator, No. 11. Inkle is a young Englishman who is lost in the Spanish main; he falls in love with Yarico, an Indian maiden, whom he lives with as his wife; but no sooner does he find a vessel to take him to Barbadoes than he sells her for a slave.
Inland Navigation Francis Egerton, Duke of Bridgewater, is called the Father of British Inland Navigation. (1729-1803.) A title certainly due to James Brindley (1716-1772).
Inn (Anglo-Saxon). Chamber; originally applied to a mansion, like the French hotel. Hence Clifford's
Inn, once the mansion of De Clifford; Lincoln's Inn, the mansion of the Earls of Lincoln; Gray's Inn, that of
the Lords Gray, etc.
"Now, whenas Phoebus, with his fiery waine,Inns of Court The four voluntary societies which have the exclusive right of calling to the bar. They are the Inner Temple, the Middle Temple, Lincoln's Inn, and Gray's Inn. Each is governed by a board of benchers.
Unto his inne began to draw apace."
Spenser: Faërie Queene, vi. 3.
Innings in cricket, is the turn of the team to be bowled to by their opponents. The persons who "bat" are
having their "innings given them"; and the innings of an individual is the time he holds the bat.
A good
innings. One in which the batsman has made several runs. Figuratively, a run of luck or business.
He
has had a long innings. A good long run of luck. A term in cricket for the time that the eleven are in, or
not out as scouts.
Innis Fodhla [Island of Destiny ], an old name of Ireland.
"Long before the western districts of Innis Fodhla had any settled name ... a powerful king reigned over this part of the sacred island. [The king referred to was Connedda, who gave his name to the province of Connacht]." - W. B. Yeats: Fairy Tales and Folk-Lore, pp. 306, 318.Innocent (An). An idiot or born fool. (See Benet.)
"An idiot, or one otherwise deficient in intellect, is called an innocent." - Trench: On the Study of Words, lecture iii, p. 97.Innocents Feast of the Holy Innocents. The 28th December, to commemorate Herod's butchery of the children of Bethlehem under two years old, with the design of cutting off the infant Jesus (Matt. ii. 16.)
Innuendo An implied or covert hint of blame. It is a law term, meaning the person nodded to or indirectly
referred to (Latin, in-nuo).
"Implying or suggesting, instead of stating plainly, often increases the effect of what is intended to give pain or pleasure. This is `innuendo.' " - Bain: Composition, etc. (Innuendo), part i. p. 212.Inoculate (4 syl.) is to put in an eye (Latin, in oculus). The allusion is to a plan adopted by gardeners who insert the "eye" or small bud of a superior plant into the stock of an inferior one, in order to produce flowers or fruits of better quality.
Inogene or Ignoge (3 syl.). Wife of Brute, the mythological king of Britain.
"Thus Brute this realme unto his rule subdewd,Spenser: Faërie Queene, ii. 10.
And raignëd long in great felicity.
Loved of his friends, and of his foes eschewd,
He left three sons, his famous progeny,
Born of fayre Inogene of Italy."
Inquisition
A court instituted to inquire into offences against the Roman Catholic religion. Fully established
by Pope Gregory IX. in 1235. It was most active in Italy, Spain, and Portugal. Those found guilty were
handed over to the secular arm to be dealt with according to the secular laws of the land. Suppressed
in France in 1772, and not finally in Spain till 1834. (Latin, inquisitio, a searching into.)