driving unicorn
Preserved but no longer current.
Two wheelers and one leader. The leader is the one horn. Unigenitus (u ni jen' i tus) (Lat., the Only- Begotten). A Papal bull, so called from its opening sentence. Unigenitus Dei Films, issued in 1713 by Clement XI in condemnation of Quesnel's Reflexions Morales which favoured Jansenism. It was a damnatio in globo — i.e. a condemnation of the whole book without exception.
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 “driving unicorn” mean?
Two wheelers and one leader. The leader is the one horn. Unigenitus (u ni jen' i tus) (Lat., the Only- Begotten). A Papal bull, so called from its opening sentence. Unigenitus Dei Films, issued in 1713 by Clement XI in condemnation of Quesnel's Reflexions Morales which favoured Jansenism. It was a damnatio in globo — i.e. a condemnation of the whole book without exception.
Is “driving unicorn” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.