| "Posthaste" | - originally "Haste Post" - "haste" written on letters when English mail was carried by mounted postriders who were known to dally; without delay. |
|
"Piker"
"Bilk" |
- originally a person who avoided paying the toll on a turnpike
road; a cheap or small person
"Bilking the Toll"
- to bilk was to cheat - again- avoiding paying the toll |
| "Pull up Stakes" | - to a wagon man who had tied his horses to picket stakes for the night, this meant to move on |
| "Throw one's weight around" |
- coachmen often requested passengers to lean left
or right to maintain the coach's stability on a curve, ie., to use the power
of their position
"Mail Coach"
|
| "In harness" | - like a draft animal, at one's regular work, eg. the old man died in harness; getting back into harness after a holiday. |
|
Did You Know?
Whether horses were first used to pull wheeled vehicles is much disputed by hippologists. We will never know for sure, but what is known is that wheels appeared at a very early date, (before 3500 BC - long before the invention of saddles and stirrups) and were in use long before general horse domestication. Since cattle were often harnessed to carts and horses were also probably kept to provide and milk and meat, the conclusion is that the horse was put to harness first. (This, of course, is my position) Around 1800 BC, horses were harnessed to war chariots thereby creating a new and enormously effective weapon. 
|
The 1768 Edition of Enclyclopaedia Britannica
(found under "Mechanics"): To be continued... |
