E. Cobham Brewer

Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, sometimes referred to simply as Brewer's, is a reference work containing definitions and explanations of many famous phrases, allusions and figures, whether historical or mythical. The "Revised and Updated Edition" from the 1890s is now in the public domain, and web-based …

Originally published in 1892, "the object of this Handbook is to supply readers and speakers with a lucid, but very brief account of such names as are used in allusions and references, whether by poets or prose writers; - to furnish those who consult it with the plot of popular dramas, the story of epic poems, and the …