Bottom the Weaver
Preserved but no longer current.
A man who fancies he can do everything, and do it better than any- one else. Shakespeare has drawn him as profoundly ignorant, brawny, mock heroic, and with an overflow of self-conceit. He is in one part of Midsummer Night's Dream represented with an ass's head, and Titania, queen of the fairies, under a spell, caresses him as an Adonis.
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 “Bottom the Weaver” mean?
A man who fancies he can do everything, and do it better than any- one else. Shakespeare has drawn him as profoundly ignorant, brawny, mock heroic, and with an overflow of self-conceit. He is in one part of Midsummer Night's Dream represented with an ass's head, and Titania, queen of the fairies, under a spell, caresses him as an Adonis.
Is “Bottom the Weaver” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.