court holy water
Preserved but no longer current.
Meaning · English
An obsolete Elizabethan term for fair speeches, which look like promises of favour, but end in nothing.
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 “court holy water” mean?
An obsolete Elizabethan term for fair speeches, which look like promises of favour, but end in nothing.
Is “court holy water” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.