Benicia Boy
Preserved but no longer current.
Meaning · English
John C. Heenan, the American pugilist, who challenged and fought Tom Sayers for "the belt" in 1860; so called from Benicia in California, his birth- place.
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 “Benicia Boy” mean?
John C. Heenan, the American pugilist, who challenged and fought Tom Sayers for "the belt" in 1860; so called from Benicia in California, his birth- place.
Is “Benicia Boy” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.