Chicken of St Nicholas
Preserved but no longer current.
So the Pied- montese call our "ladybird," the little red beetle with spots of black. The Russians know it as "God's little cow," and the Germans, who say it is sent as a messenger of love, "God's little horse.
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 “Chicken of St Nicholas” mean?
So the Pied- montese call our "ladybird," the little red beetle with spots of black. The Russians know it as "God's little cow," and the Germans, who say it is sent as a messenger of love, "God's little horse.
Is “Chicken of St Nicholas” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.