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Warming-pan (A)

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One who keeps a place warm for another, i.e. holds it temporarily for another. The allusion is to the custom in public schools of making a fag warm his “superior’s” bed by lying in it till the proper occupant was ready to turn him out.

“If Mr. Mellor took a judgeship, Grantham might object to become a warming-pan for ambitious lawyers.”—Newspaper paragraph, March 5th, 1886.

 

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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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War of the Meal-sacks
War of the Roses
Ward
Ward (Artemus)
Ward Money, Ward-penny, or Wardage
Warden-pie
Ware
Warlock
Warm Reception (A)
Warm as a Bat
Warming-pan (A)
Warming-pan
Warning Stone
Warp (To)
Warp and Weft, or Woof
Warrior Queen (The)
Warwick
Warwick Lane (City)
Warwolf
Washed Out (I am thoroughly)
Washing