quword 趣词
Word Origins Dictionary
- husting




- husting: [11] In the late Old English period, a husting was a sort of deliberative assembly or council summoned by the king. The word was borrowed from Old Norse hústhing, literally ‘house assembly’, which denoted a council consisting of members of the king’s immediate household, rather than a general assembly (thing, which is the same word as modern English thing, is represented in modern Scandinavian languages by ting or thing ‘parliament, court’).
In the 12th century the word came to be used for a court of law held in London’s Guildhall, which for many centuries was the City of London’s senior court, and in the 17th century it is recorded as meaning the ‘platform at the upper end of the Guildhall’, on which the Lord Mayor and Aldermen sat during sessions of the court. In the early 18th century this was transferred metaphorically to the ‘platform on which candidates stood to address electors’, and subsequently it was widened to include the whole ‘election proceedings’.
=> house, thing - Dick Whittington




- The story is an old one, told under other names throughout Europe, of a poor boy who sends a cat he had bought for a penny as his stake in a trading voyage; the captain sells it on his behalf for a fortune to a foreign king whose palace is overrun by rats. The hero devotes part of his windfall to charity, which may be why the legend attached in England since 16c. to Sir Richard Whittington (d.1423), three times Lord Mayor of London, who died childless and devoted large sums in his will to churches, almshouses, and St. Bartholomew's Hospital.
- hustings (n.)




- Old English husting "meeting, court, tribunal," from Old Norse husðing "council," from hus "house" (see house (n.)) + ðing "assembly" (see thing); so called because it was a meeting of the men who formed the "household" of a nobleman or king. The native Anglo-Saxon word for this was folc-gemot. The plural became the usual form c. 1500; sense of "temporary platform for political speeches" developed by 1719, apparently from London's Court of Hustings, presided over by the Lord Mayor, which was held on a platform in the Guildhall. This sense broadened to encompass the whole election process.
- Three Rs (n.)




- 1824; said to have been given as a toast by Sir William Curtis (1752-1829), a beloved lord mayor of London in the 1820s, who seems to have been a figure of fun to whom many mangled phrases were attributed. Among the toasts he is alleged to have given at public dinners were "The Female Ladies of London;" "The three C's--Cox, King, and Curtis;" and "The three R's--Reading, Writing, and Rithmetic."
It has been very much the fashion amongst a class of persons to attribute to Sir W. C. ... a vulgarity and ignorance of speech which are by no means consistent with his character and conduct. The worthy and hospitable baronet has a rapid mode of speech, but it is always correct ; and although some eccentricities are mixed up in his composition, he is highly honourable, and has been a very useful member of society, particularly to his London constituents. ["The Mirror," Jan. 29, 1825]
After listing some examples, the article continues:
It is, however, very certain, that at a city festival some years ago, having indulged very freely, he fell asleep, when some wag, choosing to consider him dead, wrote his epitaph, which was found next morning pinned to the baronet's dress coat:--
"Here lies the great Curtis,
Of London, Lord May'r:
He's left this here world,
And gone to that there."