Narrowdale Noon
Preserved but no longer current.
To defer a matter till Narrowdale noon is to defer it indefinitely. Narrowdale is the local name for the narrowest part of Dovedale, Derbyshire, in which dwell a few cotters, who never see the sun all the winter, and when its beams first pierce the dale in the spring it is only for a few minutes in the afternoon.
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 “Narrowdale Noon” mean?
To defer a matter till Narrowdale noon is to defer it indefinitely. Narrowdale is the local name for the narrowest part of Dovedale, Derbyshire, in which dwell a few cotters, who never see the sun all the winter, and when its beams first pierce the dale in the spring it is only for a few minutes in the afternoon.
Is “Narrowdale Noon” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.