A suit in Birchin Lane
Preserved but no longer current.
Meaning · English
Birchin Lane was once famous for all sorts of apparel; references to second-hand clothes m Birchin Lane are common enough in Elizabethan books.
Era: ca. 1898 (Victorian)
Sources & notes
Reproduced from Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable (1898 edition, public domain; archive.org, retrieved 2026-07-31; OCR text, minor errors possible). Reflects the scholarship and attitudes of its era.
Common questions
What does “A suit in Birchin Lane” mean?
Birchin Lane was once famous for all sorts of apparel; references to second-hand clothes m Birchin Lane are common enough in Elizabethan books.
Is “A suit in Birchin Lane” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.