Hare-lip.

A cleft lip; so called from its resemblance to the upper lip of a hare. It was said to be the mischievous act of an elf or malicious fairy.

“This is the foul flend Flibbertigibbet. He begins at curfew, and walks till the first cock. He … . squints the eye and makes the hare-lip.”—Shakespeare: King Lear, iii. 4.

previous entry · index · next entry

Entry taken from Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, edited by the Rev. E. Cobham Brewer, LL.D. and revised in 1895.

Hard Lines
Hard Up
Hard as Nails
Hard as a Stone
Hard as the Nether Millstone
Hardouin
Hardy (Letitia)
Hare
Hare-brained, or Hair-brained
Harefoot
Hare-lip
Hare-stone = Hour-stone
Hare and the Tortoise (The)
Hares shift their Sex
Haricot Mutton
Harĭkĭrĭ. [Happy despatch.]
Hark Back (To)
Harlequin
Harlot
Harlowe (Clarissa)
Harm