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. [...] In Three Volumes, volume I, London: Henry Colburn, […], OCLC 729841413, 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: Printed for S. Hooper, […], OCLC 1080177284.