Conʹstable

(Latin, comēs-stabʹuli) means “Master of the Horse.” The constable of England and France was at one time a military officer of state, next in rank to the crown.

To overrun or outrun the constable. To get into debt; spend more than one’s income; to talk about what you do not understand. (See below.)

“Quoth Hudibras, Friend Ralph, thou hast

Outrun the constable at last;

For thou hast fallen on a new

Dispute, as senseless as untrue.”

Butler: Hudibras, i. 3.

Who’s to pay the constable? Who is to pay the score?

The constable arrests debtors, and, of course, represents the creditor; wherefore, to overrun the constable is to overrun your credit account. To pay the constable is to give him the money due, to prevent an arrest.

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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.

Conʹstable

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