This is the foul fiend Flibbertigibbet
Preserved but no longer current.
Meaning · English
He begins at curfew, and walks till the first cock. He . . . squints the eye and makes the hare-lip. — King Lear, iii, 4.
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 “This is the foul fiend Flibbertigibbet” mean?
He begins at curfew, and walks till the first cock. He . . . squints the eye and makes the hare-lip. — King Lear, iii, 4.
Is “This is the foul fiend Flibbertigibbet” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.