yours truly
Preserved but no longer current.
Meaning · English
This conventional ending to letters is sometimes used vulgarly to indicate the speaker — "There were X., Y., and Yours truly.
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 “yours truly” mean?
This conventional ending to letters is sometimes used vulgarly to indicate the speaker — "There were X., Y., and Yours truly.
Is “yours truly” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.