E. Cobham Brewer 1810–1897. Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. 1898.
Cow.
The cow that nourished Ymir with four streams of milk was called Audhumla. (Scandinavian mythology.) (See AUDHUMLA.)
1
Curst cows. (See under CURST.)
2
The whiter the cow, the surer is it to go to the altar. The richer the prey, the more likely is it to be seized.
3
“The system of impropriations grew so rapidly that, in the course of three centuries, more than a third part of all the benefices in England became such, and those the richest, for the whiter the cow, the surer was it to go to the altar.”—Blunt: Reformation in England, p. 63.
