bachelor's porch
Preserved but no longer current.
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 “bachelor's porch” mean?
An old name for the north door of a church. Menservants and poor men used to sit on benches down the north aisle, and maidservants and poor women on the south side. After service the men formed one line and the women another, down which the clergy and gentry passed.
Is “bachelor's porch” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.