Meaning of leather and prunella | Babel Free

Definitions

That which is merely superficial and does not indicate the true nature or value of a person (or thing).

archaic, uncountable

Examples

“In the modern languages she was perfectly skilled; and if her drawings wanted the enliving touches of the master to give⟳ them effect; as an atonement, they displayed a perfect knowledge of the rules of perspective and the study⟳ of the bust. ¶ All this was however mere leather and prunella to the ladies of Glenfern […]”

““[…] Do you think⟳ he disliked her seeing him at our house? Surely your position is more than equal to his—whatever may be his relation to the Casaubons.” ¶ “No, no; it must be something else if he were really vexed. Ladislaw is a sort⟳ of gypsy; he thinks nothing of leather and prunella.””

“1880, Benjamin Disraeli, letter to Lord Salisbury, cited in Richard Faber, Beaconsfield and Bolingbroke, London: Faber and Faber, 1961, p. 19, […] I have⟳ been profoundly convinced that the greatness and character of this country depended on our landed tenure. All the rest⟳ I look⟳ upon, and have⟳ ever looked upon, as leather and prunella.”

“[…] it seems to have⟳ been tacitly assumed by the critics that Shakespeare himself was more or less indifferent to the costume of his actors, and that, could he see⟳ Mr. Irving’s production of his Much Ado about Nothing, or Mr. Wilson Barrett’s setting of his Hamlet, he would probably say⟳ that the play⟳, and the play⟳ only, is the thing, and that everything else is leather and prunella.”

“that leather-and-prunella man of fashion Mr. Adam FitzAdam”

CEFR level