English · Idiom Historical

to deserve the bauble

Preserved but no longer current.

Meaning · English

To be so foolish as to be qualified to carry the fool's emblem of office.

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.

Topics: Historical slang (1800s)

Common questions

What does “to deserve the bauble” mean?

To be so foolish as to be qualified to carry the fool's emblem of office.

Is “to deserve the bauble” formal or informal?

No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.

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