1) under the weather means not feeling well.
2) It means that a person is currently unemployed — having quit, been fired, or laid off from his or her previous job, or the previous job was temporary and has now ended — and the person has not yet found a new job.
acid chowder, barking at the ants, the big spit, arguing with the worms, etc.
well-seasoned, experienced, elderly, time lasted, antique
William of Normandy was obviously a French conqueror, so his own people tended to see him more favorably than the English. He came to England, killed its ruler, and took the throne for himself (thus becoming William I), so the English may have seen him as a usurper and a tyrant, whereas the French saw him as a victorious hero. This all happened in 1066, at the Battle of Hastings.