Starvation Dundas
Preserved but no longer current.
Henry Dundas, Horace Lord Melville (1 740-1 8 1 1) was so called by Wai- pole, because when the Opposition denounced the Bill for restraining trade and commerce with the New England colonies (1775) on the ground that it would cause a famine in which the innocent would suffer with the guilty, he said that he was "afraid" the Bill would not have this effect. The word "starvation" was first used by Dundas.
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 “Starvation Dundas” mean?
Henry Dundas, Horace Lord Melville (1 740-1 8 1 1) was so called by Wai- pole, because when the Opposition denounced the Bill for restraining trade and commerce with the New England colonies (1775) on the ground that it would cause a famine in which the innocent would suffer with the guilty, he said that he was "afraid" the Bill would not have this effect. The word "starvation" was first used by Dundas.
Is “Starvation Dundas” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.