Piccadilly Weepers
Preserved but no longer current.
See WEEPERS. Piccaninny, or Piccanin (West Indian Negro, from Sp. pequeno, small). A little Negro child of the West Indies and southern U.S.A.; also, in South Africa, applied to small Kafir children, and sometimes to native children in Australia.
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 “Piccadilly Weepers” mean?
See WEEPERS. Piccaninny, or Piccanin (West Indian Negro, from Sp. pequeno, small). A little Negro child of the West Indies and southern U.S.A.; also, in South Africa, applied to small Kafir children, and sometimes to native children in Australia.
Is “Piccadilly Weepers” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.