Rupert Prince Rupert's drops
Preserved but no longer current.
Bubbles made by dropping molten glass into water. Their fonn! is that 'of a tadpole, and if the smallest portion of -the "t&il" is nipped off, the whole flies into fine dust with explosive violence.
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 “Rupert Prince Rupert's drops” mean?
Bubbles made by dropping molten glass into water. Their fonn! is that 'of a tadpole, and if the smallest portion of -the "t&il" is nipped off, the whole flies into fine dust with explosive violence.
Is “Rupert Prince Rupert's drops” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.