单词 | drawing dun out of the mire |
释义 | > as lemmasdrawing dun out of the mire b. A traditional Christmas parlour game in which a heavy log, representing a cart horse stuck in the mire, is lifted, manoeuvred, and eventually carried off by the players (see quot. 1816 for a fuller description). Also called drawing dun out of the mire. Now historical.Examples after the early 19th cent. are typically from historical novels. ΚΠ 1655 W. Winstanley Muses Cabinet 11 Having leap'd as much as they would do, To drawing Dun out of the mire they go, But presently they left that sport againe, And then they fell into a drinking vaine. 1816 W. Gifford in B. Jonson Wks. VII. 283 (note) Dun is in the mire! then, is a Christmas gambol, at which I have often played. A log of wood is brought into the midst of the room: this is Dun, (the cart-horse), and a cry is raised, that he is stuck in the mire. Two of the company advance, either with or without ropes, to draw him out. After repeated attempts, they find themselves unable to do it, and call for more assistance.—The game continues till all the company take part in it, when Dun is extricated of course; and the merriment arises from the awkward and affected efforts of the rustics to lift the log, and from sundry arch contrivances to let the ends of it fall on one another's toes. This will not be thought a very exquisite amusement; and yet I have seen much honest mirth at it. 1887 E. Gilliat Forest Outlaws 252 Merry games at barley-break and dun-in-the-mire. 1904 M. E. Francis Lychgate Hall xv. 162 Loud laughter proceeded from a merry company that were playing Drawing Dun out of the Mire. a1974 G. Heyer My Lord John (1977) i. iii. 55 It was dull at Bytham... Kyle-pins, closh, quoits, and even Dun-is-in-the-mire..palled. < as lemmas |
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