"Rubicon" - Word of the Day from the OED

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Rubicon, n.

SECOND EDITION 1989

(rubkn)  [The ancient name of a small stream on the east coast of northern Italy, forming part of the southern boundary of Cisalpine Gaul; the crossing of it by Cæsar marked the beginning of the war with Pompey.] 

    1. a. to cross or pass the Rubicon, to take a decisive or final step, esp. at the outset of some undertaking or enterprise.

1626 J. MEAD in Birch Crt. & Times Chas. I (1848) I. 180 Queen Dido did never more importune Æneas's stay at Carthage, than his mother and sister do his continuance here at London... But now he is past the Rubicon. 1643 J. OWEN Death of Death Wks. 1852 X. 150 The die being cast and Rubicon crossed. 1672 DRYDEN Conq. Granada I. III, This noyse may chill your Blood, but mine it warms: We have already past the Rubicon. 1722 DE FOE Col. Jack (1840) 214 Giving her to understand..that she had passed the Rubicon; that she had taken such a step of her own accord. 1771 Junius Lett. liv. (1788) 301 note, The very soliloquy of Lord Suffolk before he passed the Rubicon. 1827 SCOTT Napoleon IV. 21 [Bonaparte] would,..like Cæsar, have crossed the Rubicon at the head of the popular party. 1847 C. BRONTË J. Eyre vii, A pausein which I began to steady the palsy of my nerves, and to feel that the rubicon was passed.

    b. attrib. in Rubicon die (alluding to Cæsar's words alea jacta est).

a1628 F. GREVIL Life Sidney (1907) 113 [He] rather thought good to venture upon the cast of a Rubicon Dy.

    2. A boundary, bounding line, or limit, in lit. or fig. senses.

1690 CROWNE Eng. Friar v. Dram. Wks. 1874 IV. 101 I'll be hanged if this fellow got me. Some Cæsar pass'd my mother's Rubicon; wou'd I had his commentaries. 1711 in 10th Rep. Hist. MSS. Comm. App. V. 132 The bancks of the Boyn.., the ould Rubicon of the Pale. 1738 DE FOE Tour Gt. Brit. (ed. 2) III. 19 Having thus passed the Rubicon (Trent) and set my Face Northward. 1829 SYD. SMITH Wks. (1859) II. 29/2 The moment the punishment passes this Rubicon, it becomes less and less, instead of greater and greater. 1862 M. E. BRADDON Lady Audley xxvi, He was behindhand in his education, and had not yet passed the intellectual Rubicon of words of two syllables. 1895 BOSCAWEN Bible & Monuments (1896) 112 The Deluge formed the rubicon between the mythic period and the heroic and polyarchal age.

    3. attrib. Applied to varieties of bezique and piquet. Also absol. (see quots.).

1882 ‘CAVENDISH’ (title) The laws of Rubicon piquet, adopted by the Portland Club. 1887 ‘CAVENDISH’ (title), The Laws of Rubicon Bezique. 1890 BERKELEY Bezique & Cribbage 4 The game came much into vogue in France, under the name of Japanese or Rubicon Bezique. 1897 R. F. FOSTER Compl. Hoyle 438 Rubicon piquet, for two players. The chief difference between this game and the usual form, Piquet au cent, is in the manner of declaring... Rubicons. If either or both players fail to reach 100 points in the six deals, the one having the most is the winner, and adds to his own score all the points made by the loser, with 100 in addition for game. 1950 Hoyle's Games Modernized (ed. 20) 76 It is only necessary to discuss the Rubicon Game, the game of 100 or 101 points being in disuse. Ibid., There is another condition, namely, the establishment of 100 as a ‘Rubicon’. 1973 J. SCARNE Encycl. Games 604 Rubicon (piquet), failure of the loser of a game to reach 100 points. 1975 Way to Play 105/1 The procedure then depends on whether these totals exceed the ‘rubicon’ of 100 points.

    Hence rubicon v. (see quot. 1890).

1890 BERKELEY Bezique & Cribbage 10 If the loser's score, with his brisques, is less than 1,000, he is said to be rubiconed. 1897 R. F. FOSTER Complete Hoyle 623 Rubiconed, lurched, defeated before getting half way.

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