pickle-herring

Noun

pickle-herring (plural pickle-herrings)

1. (obsolete) A herring preserved in brine; a pickled herring.
   • 'Tis a Gentleman heere. A plague o'these
     pickle herring: How now Sot.c. 1601–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “Twelfe Night, or What You Will”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and...
2. (obsolete) A buffoon.
   • The first who made the experiment was a merry-andrew, who was put into my hands by a neighbouring justice of peace, in order to reclaim him from that profligate kind of life. Poor Pickle-herring had not taken above one turn in it, when he came out of the cave, like a hermit from his cell, with a...1714 September 24 (Gregorian calendar), [Joseph Addison], “MONDAY, September 14, 1714”, in The Spectator, number 599; republished in Alexander Chalmers, editor, The Spectator; a New Edition, […]...