Houndsditch. The dry ditch outside the city wall which was made the receptacle for all kinds of refuse, and dead dogs in particular.
Houp la. This exclamation on the part of a circus ringmaster as the signal for an equestrienne to leap over horizontal barriers or through paper hoops has been derived from the Californian stage drivers’ ejaculation to their horses.
Housemaids’ Knee. Housemaids are specially liable to this affection of the sac under the knee-pan through kneeling on hard or damp floors.
House of Keys. The Representative Council of the Isle of Man, so called from the Manx Kiare-as-feed, four and twenty, this being the number appointed by statute to form the “Court of Tynwald.” Tynwald is an artificial mound in the centre of the island whence a new law has from time immemorial been promulgated.
Housewarming. The name given to a party or reception of guests on taking possession of a newly built mansion. This was of old a winter function, when the lighting of large fires in all the rooms for the occasion proved serviceable in drying the plastered walls and ceilings.
Howard Street. From the town house and grounds of the Howards, Dukes of Norfolk and Earls of Arundel and Surrey, that stood on the large plot of ground now covered by the four streets bearing these names.
Howitzer. A German cannon, properly called a haubitze, from the Bohemian term haufnice, a sling.
Hoxton. Little more than a hundred years ago this district bore the name of Hogsdon on account of the great number of pigs bred here. Hog Lane still exists off the High Street.
Hub. The proud pet name of the city of Boston, the social centre of the United States, in the same sense as the hub is a centre for a wheel. The origin of the term is ascribed to Dr Oliver Wendell Holmes who, in one of his books spoke of the State House at Boston as “the hub of the solar system.”
Hudibrastic Verse. That which is in imitation of the measure and doggerel style of Samuel Butler’s “Hudibras.”