Reference > Brewer’s Dictionary > Ivy Bush.

 Ivy (in Christian art).Ivy Lane (London). 
CONTENTS · BIBLIOGRAPHIC RECORD
E. Cobham Brewer 1810–1897. Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. 1898.
 
Ivy Bush.
 
Like an owl in an ivy-bush. Having a sapient, vacant look, as some persons have when in their cups; having a stupid vacant stare. Owls are proverbial for their judge-like solemnity, and ivy is the favourite plant of Bacchus. Gray, in his Elegy, refers to the Owl and the Ivy.   1
       
“From yonder ivy-mantled tower
The moping owl doth to the moon complain
Of such as, wandering near her secret bower,
Molest her ancient solitary reign.”
       
Stanza 3.
 


 Ivy (in Christian art).Ivy Lane (London). 

 
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