it is all leather or prunella
Preserved but no longer current.
Meaning · English
Nothing of any moment, all rubbish; through a misunder- standing of the lines by Pope, who was drawing a distinction between the work of a cobbler and that of a parson.
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 “it is all leather or prunella” mean?
Nothing of any moment, all rubbish; through a misunder- standing of the lines by Pope, who was drawing a distinction between the work of a cobbler and that of a parson.
Is “it is all leather or prunella” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.