Reference > Brewer’s Dictionary > Goat and Compasses.

 Goat.Goats. 
CONTENTS · BIBLIOGRAPHIC RECORD
E. Cobham Brewer 1810–1897. Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. 1898.
 
Goat and Compasses.
 
A public-house sign in the Commonwealth; a corruption of “God en-compasses [us].”   1
   Some say it is the carpenters’ arms—three goats and a chevron. The chevron being mistaken for a pair of compasses.   2
 


 Goat.Goats. 

 
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