/ · 1894 Brewer’s · C · Cub
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An ill-mannered lout. The cub of a bear is said to have no shape until its dam has licked it into form.
“A bear’s a savage beast, of all
Most ugly and unnatural;
Whelped without form until the dam
Has licked it into shape and frame.”
Butler: Hudibras, i. 3.
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Entry taken from Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, edited by the Rev. E. Cobham Brewer, LL.D. and revised in 1895.
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