Meaning of Alexandrian limp | Babel Free

Definitions

Noun. [B2]

Examples

“The “Alexandrian limp” is the latest eccentricity of fashion. It is produced by wearing a very high heeled boot on one foot and a flat heeled boot on the other. The young lady waddles about like a goose.”

“She was small in size, and by no means attractive in personal appearance, having undergone the usual process for rendering the feet disproportionately small; her walk was anything but graceful, her gait being a sort of indescribable cross between the double infliction of Alexandrian limp and Grecian bend.”

“The Grecian Bend and Alexandrian Limp were both to be noticed in their purity as the procession filed by.”

“The story of the man who was bathing at the time, and ran out in Adamic costume, has been told too often, and for a fictional individual he has become altogether too notorious; but it is a fact that some ladies walking in front of their Grecian Bends (rain won’t keep the dear creatures from shopping), forgot for a moment the dignity of fashion, and consigned their Alexandrian limp (the latest abomination) to the limbo of departed corns and bunions, and straightened themselves into decent looking women.”

“The high French boot heels enables^([sic]) the fashionable ladies to imitate the Alexandrian limp, which is very fascinating indeed.”

“We hope, however, that there are not many who have pretensions to lead the fashion who are so intoxicated by the classics as to exhibit the “Grecian bend” and the “Alexandrian''' limp.””

“Our anile relative of the Corner, in criticising Professor Badham’s speech, refers to the “Grecian bend” and the “Alexandrian''' limp.” The editorial staff of doctors learned in the law will probably inform us where they obtained the information which associates lameness with the far-famed city of Egypt. The fact is, that the Princess of Wales, having suffered from weakness in the knee, walks with a slight halt, and the apes of fashion have persuaded their Crispins to supply boots with one long and one short heel, in order that they may follow in the footsteps of royalty.”

“The Queen has set the example of marrying her children very early in life; the upper classes follow, and a slavish instinct of imitation leads the middle and lower classes to copy, just as they adopt the chignon, the high-heeled boot, the Alexandrian limp, or any other absurdity.”

“Decked out in silks and ribbons of many coloured hues, with Grecian bend and Alexandrian limp she comes to the door of the ’bus—“Will any gentleman please to get outside and make room for a lady?””

“Nearly all our large Eastern cities have been visited in turn by the “Grecian Bend,” the “Alexandrian Limp,” the “Boston Wriggle,” and now the latest idea is the “Kangaroo Droop,” and the “Penguin Hop.””

“When the stars are out she gracefully bends without the “Grecian bend,” and the “Alexandrian limp,” these being things of the past, over her favorite pages; […]”

“The imitators of the Grecian bend and Alexandrian limp were severely criticized; he expressed surprise that people possessing reasoning powers should desire to represent a lot of cripples, as such imitations best became monkeys.”

“They fairly charmed the (what in poetical fiction is called) hearts of some of the more susceptible of our masculine bipeds; and then as to the fashions, why we provincials received quite a lesson in that line. We had the Grecian bend and the Alexandrian limp; we had bonnets poised on the tips of noses and bonnets perched on hirsute promontaries^([sic]) that were projected from the cerebellum of their fair wearers.”

“From the Coort it has spread ower the length and breadth o’ the land, an‘ noe it seems the bit lasses wha earn 5s or 6s a week, when they gang oot, maun limp like the Princess Alexandra! / Sandy—It’s awfu’. / Jamie—It’s mair than awfu’. Besides the ‘Alexandrian limp,’ there is the ‘Grecian Bend,’ anither absurdity more stupid like.”

“Spelling is, all the world over, just as changeable as fashions. Words have their Roman falls, Alexandrian limps, and Grecian bends—the fullness of crinoline at one time, and the contracted skimpiness of the pinback mode at another.”

“Some time ago a large number of ladies had one heel of their shoes made lower than the other. Result: The “Alexandrian limp” became the height of the fashion.”

“It is, however, greatly to the credit of the New York dude that he has abandoned the Alexandrian limp, which was made by humping up the shoulders like a kangaroo, and throwing one leg over the other while walking.”

“She told of many ludicrous fashions, such as the Alexandrian limp, and thought the offer of the ballot would be no inducement to women to give up the hoop-skirt.”

“But we remember crinolines and pullbacks, Grecian bends, and Alexandrian limps, which have had their day and passed.”

“In Richard the III time every Englishman “humped himself” trying to imitate his sovereign, and when the Princess of Wales sprained her ankle, a few years ago, every giddy, fashionable woman in London limped. The newspapers dubbed it the Alexandrian limp.”

“List of the wounded: Will Wilton, bruised heel; Jack Knight, bruised finger, torn trousers, and severe hit on hip, while “Alexandrian limps” and “Grecian bends” were very noticeable.”

“Jimmy Donoghue developed the “Alexandrian limp” during the gay and festive season, owing to being dislodged by a fractious neddy.”

“Those who do not move in the inner circle of fashion have little notion how relatively trivial causes may occasionally achieve tremendous consequences. There are, of course, the historic examples of the Georgian patch, born of a queenly mole, and the Alexandrian limp, which had quite a fashionable vogue for a period in Victorian days, and was a courtier’s graceful tribute to the fascinations of a great lady who died recently.”

“The “Alexandrian Limp” was rather before my time or else did not reach my small home town. […] He was then enlightened that it was the prevailing fashion and that the Alexandrian Limp was the latest fad.”

“1869 / “Alexandrian limp” fashion fad arrives in Eau Claire — women wear very high-heeled boot on one foot and flat heel on the other, causing them to “waddle about” like geese; […]”

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