generalist september - confirmation please

[yapisle]

would appreciate some confirmation of the answer to 49a).

(� ..... as the rector of Wickham Bishops in Essex�)

I have found this reference online .... http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/like-billy- o.html

There isn't a clear-cut explanation of this phrase's origin. As it involves a common name, it is easy to come up with eponymous suggestions.
For example, the 19th century steam locomotive the Puffing Billy.
Alternatively, the derivation is said to be from Joseph Billio, the zealous 17th/18th century Puritan preacher. Billio preached at the United Reformed Church in Market Hill, Maldon, Essex, in and around 1696. He was an enthusiastic 'hellfire and damnation' preacher and, given his name and reputation, ought to be a serious contender as the source of the phrase. They are certainly convinced in Maldon, and it must be true - they have a plaque to prove it.

Regrettably, the phrase didn't become common until long after Billio's death and disappearance into obscurity.

The earliest printed record of the phrase in print is in the US newspaper The Fort Wayne Daily Gazette, March 1882: "He lay on his side for about two hours, roaring like billy-hoo with the pain, as weak as a mouse." Around the same time, a similar phrase emerged in the USA. In the North Dakota newspaper The Bismarck Tribune, September 1883:

"You say Ol Grant was 'yar with the gang And the capital's one hoo-doo And the people cheered him like billy-be dang Why, pardner, it can't be true!"

Those citations both have the ring of minced oaths, i.e. euphemistic phrases that endeavor to avoid speaking the name of religious figures. It seems probable that 'billy-be damned' and 'billy-o' were references to the Devil.

[ventpeg]

hi

I cannot find a definite online confirmation, either.

But, must be the answer.