Pomʹpadour

as a colour, is claret purple. The 56th Foot is called the Pompadours, from the claret facings of their regimental uniforms. There is an old song supposed to be an elegy on John Broadwood, a Quaker, which introduces the word:—

“Sometimes he wore an old brown coat,

Sometimes a pompadore,

Sometimes ʹtwas buttoned up behind.

And sometimes down before.”

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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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