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Burglar-time

Posted by Henry on November 09, 2003

In Reply to: Burglar-time posted by Miguel on November 09, 2003

: I´ve found this expresions in a story of Mark Twain:
: "It is fast getting along toward burglar-time",
: "Child to the bone"
: and this phrase:
: "guilded disks of lead".
: What are the meaning?

Chilled to the bone - his body is so cold that even his bones are cold.

On Mississippi steamboats, a leadsman measured the depth of water using a lead weight on a rope. Mark twain indicated a depth of two fathoms - twelve feet. Perhaps the leadsman used gilded disks of lead. Mark Twain is the pen name of Samuel Langhorne Clemens.

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