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John Bull
[Name of a character representing the English nation in Arbuthnot's satire (see quot. 1712).]
1. A personification of the English nation; Englishmen collectively, or the typical Englishman.
[1712Arbuthnot (title) Law is a Bottomless Pit. Exemplified in the Case of the Lord Strutt, John Bull, Nicholas Frog and Lewis Baboon: who spent all they had in a Law⁓suit. 1714Pope Key to Lock (sub init.), If an honest believing nation is to be made a Jest of, we have a story of John Bull and his wife.] 1778J. Adams in Fam. Lett. (1876) 350 France..assisted the American cause, for which John Bull abused and fought her. But John will come off wretchedly. 1788W. Skerrett in 15th Rep. Hist. MSS. Comm. App. x. 99 The French treat their slaves much better than we do..John Bull does not endeavour to conciliate their affections. a1805A. Carlyle Autobiog. ix. 374 A horse-race we met with near Chester-le-Street. This we could not resist, as some of us had never seen John Bull at his favourite amusement. 1822Byron Vis. Judgm. lix, Here crash'd a sturdy oath of stout John Bull. 1899Clifford in Daily News 3 Jan. 8/5 John Bull was now an Imperialist, and dwelt very much abroad.
attrib.1824Byron Juan xv. lxxi, Roast beef in our rough John Bull way.
b. (with a and pl.) An individual Englishman who exemplifies the national character; a typical Englishman.
1772F. Burney Early Diary (1889) I. 148 Both, like true John Bulls, fought with better will than justice for Old England. 1785Boswell Tour to Hebrides 11 He [Johnson] was..at bottom much of a John Bull; much of a blunt true⁓born Englishman. 1815Croker in C. Papers (1884) I. iii. 71 The Prince of Bavaria..is, it seems, a great John Bull, and is highly flattered at being told that he speaks English like an Englishman. 1840Dickens Barn. Rudge xlvii, By some he was called..‘a thorough-bred Englishman’, by some ‘a genuine John Bull’.
2. A kind of game of chance played by a number of persons in which a coin is pitched so as to fall on a board divided into sixteen numbered compartments.
1801Strutt Sports & Past. iii. vii. §14.
Hence John-ˈBullish a., typically English; hence John-ˈBullishness; John-ˈBullism, the typical English character; a typically English act, utterance, or characteristic; John-ˈBullist, one who favours the English.
1802Southey Lett. (1856) I. 207–8 My taste has always been right English, and I grow more *John-Bullish every time I look into a newspaper. 1842Blackw. Mag. LI. 188 This John Bullish stolidity is very high, and mighty. 1854Hawthorne Eng. Note-bks. (1883) I. 480 His face was intelligent, dark, pleasing, and not at all John-Bullish.
1895Nation (N.Y.) 14 Nov. 345/3 The stolid *John Bullishness with which England refuses arbitration of the whole question.
1796F. Burney Camilla vii. xi, This true *John Bullism Lynmere had neither sense to despise, nor humour to laugh at. 1847B. Barton Select., etc. (1849) 32 A finer sample of John Bullism you would rarely see.
1851J. H. Newman Cath. in Eng. 25 Anglo-maniacs or *John Bullists, as they are popularly termed. |