Act of Parliament

Act of Parliament: One dictionary does define an Act of Parliament as a small glass of beer specifically a beer English innkeepers were once obliged to provide free-of-charge to soldiers of the Crown. Under an Act of Parliament, of course, according to The Chronicle Herald. Dictionaries were in the news this week and about time, too. The Oxford English Dictionary OED , a bible for philologists, is holding a symposium on its future. This happens every century and a half or so, about as often as the Brits switch monarchs and Chances are if I drop into Toms Little Havana next Friday and order an Act of Parliament, the bartender wont pour me a beer. Mores the pity, because its time we put some life back into the language. You can find the reference in Francis Groses 1811 Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue, a book I imbibed during a blissfully misspent youth. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.