Bartholomew baby
Bartholomew baby noun: a wooden doll, generally without arms or joints, painted and dressed in current fashions.
Noun
Bartholomew baby (plural Bartholomew babies)
- A wooden doll, generally without arms or joints, painted and dressed in current fashions.
- For He could neither Bow, nor move his Hat to any man that saluted him: No, nor so much as turn from One side to the Other; but sate as if He had been Box’d up, like a Bartlemy-Baby.1667, Roger L'Estrange (translator), The Visions of Dom Francisco de Quevedo Villegas, London: H. Herringman, The Fifth Vision of the World, p. 162
- For there is no Sober, Honest, and Discreet man, but will make choice of one, that hath Gained the Reputation of a Good and Complete Servant, for his Wife, rather than one who can do nothing but Trick up her self fine, and like a Bartholomew Baby is fit for nothing else but to be looked upon.1677, Hannah Woolley, The Compleat Servant-Maid, London: T. Passinger, The Epistle to all Young Maidens
- Synonyms:
- Bartlemy baby
Synonyms of Bartholomew baby
Forms of Bartholomew baby
| plural | Bartholomew babies |
|---|
Origin of Bartholomew baby
From Bartholomew (“because they were sold at Bartholomew Fair in London”) + baby (“doll”).
Questions about Bartholomew baby
- What does Bartholomew baby mean?
- Bartholomew baby means a wooden doll, generally without arms or joints, painted and dressed in current fashions.
- What part of speech is Bartholomew baby?
- Bartholomew baby is a noun.
- What is the plural of Bartholomew baby?
- The plural of Bartholomew baby is Bartholomew babies.
Words near Bartholomew baby in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: Bartholomew baby (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Cite this entry: “Bartholomew baby.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/bartholomew_baby. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.