|
Dames-violet (Dames-wort) is a British perennial plant of the family Cruciferae. It grows to about 60 to 90 centimetres tall and flowers in May and June.
 Research Dames-violet
Pierre de Bourdeilles (Seigneur de Brantome) was a French writer. He was born in about 1540 at Perigord and died in 1614. He was of an old and noble family, and early entered the profession of arms. After a brilliant life in courts and camps he withdrew to his estate in Perigord, and spent his time in writing memoirs, which give an admirable picture of an age, with particulars which a chaster and more fastidious pen could hardly have set down. His memoirs consist of Vies des Hommes illustres et des grands Capitaines Francais; Vies des grands Capitaines Etrangers; Vies des Dames illustres; Vies des Dames galantes.
Research Pierre de Bourdeilles
Pin money was formerly a lady's allowance of money for her own personal expenditure. For a long time pin makers were only allowed to sell their pins on Januarythe 1st and 2nd,. It was then that the court ladies and city dames flocked to the depots to buy them; having been first provided with money by their husbands. When pins became cheap and common, the ladies spent their allowance on other fancies, but the term pin money remained in vogue.
Research Pin Money
Dames is a musical comedy starring Joan Blondell, Dick Powell and Ruby Keeler in a story about a songwriter struggling to find the money to stage his musical until he meets a chorus girl who believes she can raise the money. Dames was directed by Ray Enright in 1934 and choreographed by Busby Berkeley.
Research Dames
DAMES is an abbreviation for Demonstration of Avionics Module Exchangeability via Simulation
Research DAMES
The standard English deck of cards consists of four suits of cards: diamonds, clubs, hearts and spades; each suit containing pip cards ranging in value from one (ace) to ten, plus three court cards: knave (jack), queen, and king.
The Spanish deck of playing cards comprised four suits: pinks (diamonds); rabbits (clubs); roses (hearts) and columbines (spades) which later evolved into dineros (diamonds); bastos (clubs); copas (hearts) and espados (spades).
The French deck comprised four suits: carreaux (artisans, equivalent to diamonds); trefle (clover, equivalent to clubs); choeur (ecclesiastics, equivalent to hearts) and pique (pikemen, equivalent to spades).
From the French and Spanish playing card decks evolved the British form, with spades being represented by the French form of a pike with an evolution of the Spanish name (swords); clubs being the French trefoil clover and hearts being a corruption of the French choeur into coeur.
The court cards are so named on account of their heraldic dress. The king of clubs originally represented the arms of the pope; the king of spades the King of France; the king of diamonds the King of Spain and the king of hearts the King of England. In the French deck the king of spades is called David; the king of clubs Alexander; the king of diamonds Caesar and the king of hearts is called Charles - representing the Jewish, Greek, Roman and Frankish empires.
The queens or dames are Argine - the queen of hearts is Juno, the queen of clubs Judith, the queen of diamonds Rachel and the queen of spades is Pallas representing royalty, fortitude, piety and wisdom. The four queens were originally depicted in likeness of Marie d'Anjou, the queen of Charles VII; Isabeau, the queen mother; Agnes Sorel, the king's mistress; and Joan of Arc, the dame of war.
Playing cards are typically manufactured from pasteboard, but sometimes from plastic which is much more har wearing, and are produced in a number of shapes and sizes. The standard deck or bridge deck consists of rectangular cards 3.5 inches by 2.25 inches with rounded corners. The poker deck is slightly larger, 3.5 inches by 2.375 inches. Patience decks are roughly half the size of a standard deck and are designed for sole play.
In ancient times, the best playing cards were known as Mogul cards, because the wrapper they were contained within carried a picture of the Great Mogul. Playing cards with a speck, mark or imperfection were known as Harrys.
Formerly in Britain playing cards were taxed. In 1862 a government duty of 3d was levied on each pack. Previously it was 1 shilling, and in the earlier part of the 19th century century 2 shillings and 6d. Manufacturers in Britain formerly had to pay an annual license of twenty shillings.
Research Playing Cards
|
The Probert Encyclopaedia was designed, edited and programed by
Matt and Leela Probert
©1993 - 2009 The Probert Encyclopaedia
Southampton, United Kingdom
|
|
|
Abbreviations
