Napoleon III
Preserved but no longer current.
Meaning · English
It is said to be the name of the workman whose clothes he wore when he contrived to escape from the fortress of Ham, in 1846.
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 “Napoleon III” mean?
It is said to be the name of the workman whose clothes he wore when he contrived to escape from the fortress of Ham, in 1846.
Is “Napoleon III” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.