Reference > Brewer’s Dictionary > Blue Bottle.

 Blue Books.Blue Caps 
CONTENTS · BIBLIOGRAPHIC RECORD
E. Cobham Brewer 1810–1897. Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. 1898.
 
Blue Bottle.
 
A beadsman, a policeman; so called from the colour of his dress. Shakespeare makes Doll Tearsheet denounce the beadle as a “blue-bottle rogue.”   1
        “You proud varlets, you need not be ashamed to wear blue, when your master is one of your fellows.”—Dekker: The Honest Whore (1602).
        “I’ll have you soundly swinged for this, you blue-bottle rogue.”—Shakespeare: 2 Hen. IV., act v. 4.
 


 Blue Books.Blue Caps 

 
Loading
Click here to shop the Bartleby Bookstore.
Shakespeare · Bible · Saints · Anatomy · Harvard Classics · Lit. History · Quotations · Poetry
© 1993–2013 Bartleby.com · [Top 150]