happy family
Preserved but no longer current.
The name given in travelling menageries to a collection of all sorts of animals of different and antagonistic habits living together peaceably. It is now more generally associated with a children's card game.
Era: ca. 1898 (Victorian)
Examples
Tatoeba sentence #2044687 (CC BY 2.0 FR, tatoeba.org, retrieved 2026-07-31)
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 “happy family” mean?
The name given in travelling menageries to a collection of all sorts of animals of different and antagonistic habits living together peaceably. It is now more generally associated with a children's card game.
Is “happy family” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.