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Prince Rupert’s Drops

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Drops of molten glass, consolidated by falling into water. Their form is that of a tadpole. The thick end may be hammered pretty smartly without its breaking, but if the smallest portion of the thin end is nipped off, the whole flies into fine dust with explosive violence. These toys, if not invented by Prince Rupert, were introduced by him into England.

 

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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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Prime
Primed
Primero
Primitive Fathers (The)
Primrose (George)
Primrose
Primum Mobile
Primus
Prince
Prince of Wales (The)
Prince Rupert’s Drops
Prince’s Peers
Princox or Princocks
Prink
Printer’s Devil
Printers Marks
Printing
Priori
Priscian’s Head
Priscillianists
Prisoner at the Bar