Here may be arranged two or three obsolete colloquialisms—SIGN OF A HOUSE TO LET = a widow’s weeds (GROSE); the SIGN OF THE FEATHERS = a woman’s best good graces; at THE SIGN OF THE HORN = in cuckoldom; the SIGN OF THE PRANCER = the Nag’s Head; the SIGN OF THE THREE BALLS = a pawnbroker’s; SIGN OF THE FIVE (TEN or FIFTEEN) SHILLINGS = The Crown (The Two Crowns, or The Three Crowns).—GROSE (1785); TO LIVE AT THE SIGN OF THE CATS’ FOOT = to be hen-pecked.
1567. HARMAN, A Caveat or Warening for Common Cursetors (1869), 85. A bene mort hereby at THE SIGN OF THE PRAUNCER.
