greenwich barbers
Preserved but no longer current.
Meaning · English
Retailers of sand; so called because the inhabitants of Greenwich used to "shave the pits" in the neighbourhood to supply London with sand.
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 “greenwich barbers” mean?
Retailers of sand; so called because the inhabitants of Greenwich used to "shave the pits" in the neighbourhood to supply London with sand.
Is “greenwich barbers” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.