He has a handle to his name. Some title, as “lord,” “sir,”
“doctor.” The French say Monsicur sans queue, a man without a
tail (handle to his name).
To give a handle to
... To give grounds for suspicion; as, “He certainly gave a handle
to the rumour.”
“He gave a handle to his enemies, and threw stumbling-blocks in the
way of his friends.” —Hazlitt: Spirit of the Age (James
Macintosh), p. 139.
Source: Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, E. Cobham Brewer, 1894
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