A poor, high-minded officer, who tries to conceal his poverty by bold speech and ostentatious bearing. Colman’s Poor Gentleman (Lieutenant Worthington) is a similar character. (Fielding: Amelia (a novel) 1751.)
· ·
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
Entry taken from Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, edited by the Rev. E. Cobham Brewer, LL.D. and revised in 1895.