haberdasher of pronouns

English

Noun

haberdasher of pronouns (plural haberdashers of pronouns)

(obsolete slang) schoolmaster
- 1828, [Edward Bulwer-Lytton], chapter XVI, in Pelham; or, The Adventures of a Gentleman. […], volume I, London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC, page 104:
  When I first went to Paris, I took a French master, to perfect me in the Parisian pronunciation. This “Haberdasher of Pronouns” was a person of the name of Margot.

Further reading

[Francis Grose] (1785) “Haberdasher of pronouns”, in A Classical Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue, London: […] S. Hooper, […], →OCLC.

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