/ · 1894 Brewer’s · L · Linsey-woolsy Million (The)
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
The great unwashed. The artisan class, supposed to dress in linsey-woolsy. “Broadcloth” being for the gentry.
“Truth needs not, John, the eloquence of oaths;
Not more than a decent suit of clothes
Requires of broad gold lace thʹ expensive glare,
That makes the linsey-woolsy million stare.”
Peter Pindar: Silvanus Urban.
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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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