Bear and Ragged Staff. A common inn sign in Warwickshire, from the heraldic device of Warwick the King Maker.
Bear Garden. This name at the corner of Sumner Street, Southwark, recalls the old Paris Garden, a famous bear-baiting establishment founded by Robert de Paris as far back in English history as the reign of Richard I. A “Bear Garden” is in our time synonymous with a place of resort for roughs or rowdies.
Bear State. Arkansas, from the Western description of the character of its people. “Does Arkansas abound with bears that it should be called the Bear State?” a Western man was once asked. “Yes, it does,” was the reply; “for I never knew a man from that state but he was a bar, and, in fact, the people are all barish to a degree.”
Bearward. The custodian of the bear at public and private bear-baiting gardens. Most English towns anciently retained a bearward. See “[Congleton Bears].”
Beats a Philadelphia Lawyer. An American expression implying that the lawyers of Philadelphia are noted for shrewdness and learning.
Beauchamp Tower. After Thomas de Beauchamp, Earl of Warwick, whom Richard II. caused to be imprisoned here for inciting the barons to remove the King’s favourite, Sir Simon de Burley.
Beauclerc. The surname of Henry I., on account of his accomplishments in an age when learning was rare.
Beckenham. The home in the vicinity of becks or brooks. The Saxon terminal en expresses the plural.
Bedad. An Irishman’s exclamation, derived from the English “Begad” or “By Gad.”
Bedford. From the Anglo-Saxon Bedican-ford, the protected ford over the Ouse.