Blarney. Suave speeches intended only to gain time. When Cormack Macarthy was besieged by the English in Blarney Castle in 1662 he concluded an armistice, with the object of surrendering after a few days; but instead of doing so he sent out soft, evasive speeches, until Lord Carew and his soldiers were forced to admit that they had been duped. Hence the expression: “None of your Blarney.”
Blenheim Oranges. First cultivated at Blenheim, the seat of the Duke of Marlborough.
Blenheim Street. In compliment to the Duke of Marlborough after the battle of Blenheim.
Blind Man’s Buff. So called because if any one of those taking part in the game allowed the blind man to buff up against him he had to be blindfolded in his place.
Blood. See “[Penny Blood].”
Bloody. The addiction of the vulgar to the use of this adjective on all occasions has made it low and reprehensible. Anciently, however, it was employed in a most reverential sense, relative to the Blood of Christ--e.g. the “Bloody Sacrifice of the Mass.”
Bloody Assizes. Those held by Judge Jeffreys in 1685 for the punishment of all who had taken part in the Duke of Monmouth’s rebellion. Three hundred persons were executed, and more than a thousand transported to the plantations.
Bloody Butcher. The sobriquet of the Duke of Cumberland, son of George II., owing to his wholesale slaughter of the adherents of Prince Charles Stuart, the Young Pretender, after the battle of Culloden.
Bloody Eleventh. The 11th Foot, in memory of the terrible slaughter inflicted on this regiment at Salamanca.
Bloody Tower. Where the infant Princes were murdered at the order of their uncle, Richard, Duke of Glo’ster.