ROUNDHEAD, n. A member of the Parliamentarian party in the English
civil war -- so called from his habit of wearing his hair short,
whereas his enemy, the Cavalier, wore his long. There were other
points of difference between them, but the fashion in hair was the
fundamental cause of quarrel. The Cavaliers were royalists because
the king, an indolent fellow, found it more convenient to let his hair
grow than to wash his neck. This the Roundheads, who were mostly
barbers and soap-boilers, deemed an injury to trade, and the royal
neck was therefore the object of their particular indignation.
Descendants of the belligerents now wear their hair all alike, but the
fires of animosity enkindled in that ancient strife smoulder to this
day beneath the snows of British civility.
-- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary"
civil war -- so called from his habit of wearing his hair short,
whereas his enemy, the Cavalier, wore his long. There were other
points of difference between them, but the fashion in hair was the
fundamental cause of quarrel. The Cavaliers were royalists because
the king, an indolent fellow, found it more convenient to let his hair
grow than to wash his neck. This the Roundheads, who were mostly
barbers and soap-boilers, deemed an injury to trade, and the royal
neck was therefore the object of their particular indignation.
Descendants of the belligerents now wear their hair all alike, but the
fires of animosity enkindled in that ancient strife smoulder to this
day beneath the snows of British civility.
-- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary"
Related:
- Much to his Mum and Dad's dismay, Horace ate himself one day.
He didn't stop to say his grace, he just sat down and... - CABBAGE, n. A familiar kitchen-garden vegetable about as large and
wise as a man's head.
The cabbage is so called from Cabagius, a prince who... - The Poet Whose Badness Saved His Life
The most important poet in the seventeenth century was George
Wither.
Alexander Pope called him "wretched Wither" and Dryden... - SUCCESS, n. The one unpardonable sin against one's fellows.
In literature, and particularly in poetry, the elements... - LAUREATE, adj. Crowned with leaves of the laurel. In England the
Poet Laureate is an officer of the sovereign's court,
acting as dancing skeleton at every royal feast and... - Incens'd with indignation Satan stood
Unterrify'd, and like a comet burn'd
That fires the length of Ophiuchus huge
In th' arctic sky,
and from his horrid hair Shakes pestilence and war... - Thou wilt quarrel with a man that hath a hair more or a hair less
in his beard than thou hast.
Thou wilt quarrel with a man for cracking nuts, having... - MAMMON, n. The god of the world's leading religion.
The chief temple is in the holy city of New York. ... - SORCERY, n. The ancient prototype and forerunner of political
influence.
It was, however, deemed less respectable and sometimes...
