Sancho Panza
Preserved but no longer current.
The squire of Don Quixote (#.v.), in Cervantes's romance, who became governor of Barataria; a short, pot-bellied rustic, full of common sense, but without a grain of "spirituality." He rode upon an ass, Dapple, and was famous for his pro- verbs. Panza, in Spanish, means paunch.
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 “Sancho Panza” mean?
The squire of Don Quixote (#.v.), in Cervantes's romance, who became governor of Barataria; a short, pot-bellied rustic, full of common sense, but without a grain of "spirituality." He rode upon an ass, Dapple, and was famous for his pro- verbs. Panza, in Spanish, means paunch.
Is “Sancho Panza” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.