the pardoner's mitten
Preserved but no longer current.
Whoever put this mitten on would be sure to thrive in all things. He that his honde put in this metayn, He shal have multiplying of his grayn, Whan he hath sowen, be it whete or otes, So that ye offre pans [pence] or elles grootes.
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 “the pardoner's mitten” mean?
Whoever put this mitten on would be sure to thrive in all things. He that his honde put in this metayn, He shal have multiplying of his grayn, Whan he hath sowen, be it whete or otes, So that ye offre pans [pence] or elles grootes.
Is “the pardoner's mitten” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.