Lombard Street to a China Orange
. Long odds. Lombard Street, London, is the centre of great banking and mercantile transactions. To stake the Bank of England against a common orange is to stake what is of untold value against a mere trifle.
“‘It is Lombard Street to a China orange,ʹ quoth Uncle Jack.”—Bulwer Lytton: The Caxtons.
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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.