Darby and Joan
Preserved but no longer current.
The type of loving, old- fashioned, virtuous couples. The names belong to a ballad written by Henry Woodfall, and the characters are said to be John Darby, of Bartholomew Close, who died 1730, and his wife, "As chaste as a picture cut in alabaster. You might sooner move a Scythian rock than shoot fire into her bosom." Woodfall served his apprenticeship to John Darby; but another account localizes the couple in the West Riding of Yorkshire.
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 “Darby and Joan” mean?
The type of loving, old- fashioned, virtuous couples. The names belong to a ballad written by Henry Woodfall, and the characters are said to be John Darby, of Bartholomew Close, who died 1730, and his wife, "As chaste as a picture cut in alabaster. You might sooner move a Scythian rock than shoot fire into her bosom." Woodfall served his apprenticeship to John Darby; but another account localizes the couple in the West Riding of Yorkshire.
Is “Darby and Joan” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.