/ · 1894 Brewer’s · E · Empty Champagne Bottles
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
Fellow-commoners at Cambridge used to be so called, their academical dress being a gaudy purple and silver gown, resembling the silver foil round the neck of a champagne bottle. Very few of these wealthy magnates took honours.
The nobleman’s gown was silk.
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Entry taken from Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, edited by the Rev. E. Cobham Brewer, LL.D. and revised in 1895.
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