Civil List
Preserved but no longer current.
The grant voted annually by Parliament to pay the personal expenses of the Sovereign, the household expenses, and the pensions awarded by Royal bounty; before the reign of William III it embraced all public expenditure, except that on the army and navy.
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 “Civil List” mean?
The grant voted annually by Parliament to pay the personal expenses of the Sovereign, the household expenses, and the pensions awarded by Royal bounty; before the reign of William III it embraced all public expenditure, except that on the army and navy.
Is “Civil List” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.