Sayings.- By hook or by crook
By hook or by crook - by any means possible; by fair means or foul
The modern meaning is different from the original one, which was that only two means were allowed - the hook or billhook, a chopper with a hooked end, used for pruning, and the shepherd's crook, a long staff with a bigger hook at the end for catching the back leg of a sheep. The reference is to medieval laws or rights that restricted the gathering of firewood to prevent depredations: one was allowed to cut off, with the hook, only those branches that could be pulled down with the crook.
By jingo
Like hocus-pocus and abracadabra, jingo was originally a word from conjurers' gibberish when calling for something to appear. It passed into more general use in several emphatic expressions underlining the firmness of a speaker's declaration; by jingo is still sometimes heard as a mild asseveration in this way. It was probably slightly stronger when it was used in a popular British music-hall song during the Baltic crisis of 1877-8: 'We don't want to fight but, by jingo, if we do/We've got the ships, we've got the men, and got the money too .../The Russians shall not have Constantinople'. From this, those who supported the sending of the British fleet into Turkish waters to halt the Russian advance in 1878 were nicknamed jingoes. Jingoism was coined at the same time to denote belligerent patriotism or warmongering, as it still does.
By Jove - exclamation of surprise or emphasis
Jove is the older Roman name for the god Jupiter, deriving from an alteration of Jovis pater, father Jove. Jupiter was the god of the sky, the sovereign deity who had powers over both gods and men. From medieval times, Jove has been used in English as a poetical form of Jupiter. It has also been linked with Jehovah, a form of the Hebrew name of God used in some translations of the Bible. By Jove, used as a mild oath, dates back to the 16th century. It was originally a way of calling on a higher power without using the blasphemous by God
The modern meaning is different from the original one, which was that only two means were allowed - the hook or billhook, a chopper with a hooked end, used for pruning, and the shepherd's crook, a long staff with a bigger hook at the end for catching the back leg of a sheep. The reference is to medieval laws or rights that restricted the gathering of firewood to prevent depredations: one was allowed to cut off, with the hook, only those branches that could be pulled down with the crook.
By jingo
Like hocus-pocus and abracadabra, jingo was originally a word from conjurers' gibberish when calling for something to appear. It passed into more general use in several emphatic expressions underlining the firmness of a speaker's declaration; by jingo is still sometimes heard as a mild asseveration in this way. It was probably slightly stronger when it was used in a popular British music-hall song during the Baltic crisis of 1877-8: 'We don't want to fight but, by jingo, if we do/We've got the ships, we've got the men, and got the money too .../The Russians shall not have Constantinople'. From this, those who supported the sending of the British fleet into Turkish waters to halt the Russian advance in 1878 were nicknamed jingoes. Jingoism was coined at the same time to denote belligerent patriotism or warmongering, as it still does.
By Jove - exclamation of surprise or emphasis
Jove is the older Roman name for the god Jupiter, deriving from an alteration of Jovis pater, father Jove. Jupiter was the god of the sky, the sovereign deity who had powers over both gods and men. From medieval times, Jove has been used in English as a poetical form of Jupiter. It has also been linked with Jehovah, a form of the Hebrew name of God used in some translations of the Bible. By Jove, used as a mild oath, dates back to the 16th century. It was originally a way of calling on a higher power without using the blasphemous by God
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