chermadion

Updated: May 7, 2025

In the Homeric sense, as allusive to the hurling of the ponderous chermadion, the figure is correct and expressive. And here, as everywhere, we see the Horatian parenthesis upon Homer, as one, qui nil molitur inepte, who never speaks vaguely, never wants a reason, and never loses sight of a reality, amply sustained.

Thomas De Quincey - Theological Essays and Other Papers — Volume 2

Here, then, is a local resource to the British tourist besides the imported one of the bull-dog. And it is remarkable that, except where the dogs are preternaturally audacious, a mere hint of the chermadion suffices. Late in our own experience too late for glory, we made the discovery that all dogs have a mysterious reverence for a trundling stone.

Thomas De Quincey - Theological Essays and Other Papers — Volume 2