List of English-language idioms of the 19th century
This is a list of idioms that were recognizable to literate people in the late-19th century, and have become unfamiliar since.
As the article list of idioms in the English language notes, a list of idioms can be useful, since the meaning of an idiom cannot be deduced by knowing the meaning of its constituent words. See that article for a fuller discussion of what an idiom is, and what it is not. In addition, the often-obscure references or shared values that lie behind an idiom will themselves lose applicability over time, although the surviving literature of the period relies on their currency for full understanding.
A
Abbot of Misrule - Lord of Misruleadmirable doctor - Roger BaconAttic bee - Sophocles, from the sweetness and beauty of his productionsB
bidding prayer - an exhortation to prayer in some special reference, followed by the Lord's Prayer, in which the congregation joinsblue-gown - a beggar, a bedesman of the Scottish king, who wore a blue gown, the gift of the king, and had his license to begbonnet-piece - a gold coin of James V of Scotland, so called from the king being represented on it as wearing a bonnet instead of a crownBrown, Jones, and Robinson - three middle-class Englishmen on their travels abroad, as figured in the pages of ''Punch''C
chicard - French loanword; the harlequin of the French carnival, grotesquely dressed upCircumlocution Office - a name employed by Charles Dickens in his serial novel Little Dorrit to designate wearisome government bureaucracy; it is mentioned in Anthony Trollope’s 1857 novel The Three Clerkscomity of nations - the name given for the effect given in one country to the laws and institutions of another in dealing with a native of it; see extraterritorialitycorn-cracker - the nickname of a Kentucky man; pejorativecorpuscular philosophy - the philosophy which accounts for physical phenomena by the position and the motions of corpusclesCincinnatus of the Americans - George Washington, after the original Roman CincinnatusConscript Fathers - translates from the Latin Patres Conscripti, a term for members of the Roman SenateD
diamond necklace - specifically, the one belonging to Marie AntoinetteDircaean swan or Dircæan swan - Pindar, so called from the fountain Dirce, near Thebes, his birthplaceF
Faggot vote - a vote created by the partitioning of a property into as many apartments as will entitle the holders to voteFirst Gentleman of Europe - George IV of the United Kingdom, from his fine style and mannersFederal Union - generally any union of states in which each state has jurisdiction in local matters, such as the United StatesG
Gehenna bailiffs - ministers of hell's justice, whose function is to see to and enforce the rights of hellGens Braccata - the Gauls, from braccæ or breechesGens Palliata - the Greeks, from wearing the pallium Gens Togata - the Romans, from wearing the togaGerman Voltaire - name given sometimes to Christoph Martin Wieland and sometimes to Johann Wolfgang von GoetheGothamite - a native of New York City; still in use in some contextsH
hectic fever - a fever connected with tuberculosis, and showing itself by a bright-pink flush on the cheekshorn gate - the gate of dreams which come true, as distinct from the ivory gate, through which the visions seen are shadowy and unrealI
in-and-in - breeding of animals from the same parentage; also an old two-dice game, where "in" is a double and "in-and-in" is double doubles, which sweeps the boardIsland of Saints - a poetic name given to Ireland in the Middle AgesIvan Ivanovitch - a term invoking a lazy, good-natured Russian, akin to John Bull the Englishman or Brother Jonathan the AmericanJ
Jack Brag - a pretender who ingratiates himself with people above him- ''Jackaroo''