Simon Puren.adj.

1772 New Mod. Story-teller I. 45 This rogue with phiz demure, (So semblant to a Simon Pure)..eggs to plead.

1785 Times 14 Feb. It would almost seem..that those who attack them are all saints, Simon Pure's, and of incorruptible description.

1786 ‘P. Pindar’ Lyric Odes for 1785 (new ed.) ix. 28 Flattery's a Mountebank..; Truth, a plain Simon Pure, a Quaker Preacher.

1792 Speech J. Gardiner House of Representatives 17 [The Act] could not be given up by certain Simon Pures, the sanctified zealots, of former Senates.

1828 Daily National Jrnl. (Washington, D.C.) 20 Nov. To this position the advocates of General Jackson would take no denial. It is, therefore, but just and proper that we should mete out to these Simon Pures—these exclusive patriots, the measure of their own prescription.

1887 Newcastle Weekly Courant 18 Feb. 2/7 It is the boast of the Irish patriots in the House of Commons that they are unbribed and unbribable, that as politicians they are the only ‘Simon Pures’.

1906 Daily Mail 2 May 7/6 If clergymen knew what [swimming] costume was worn, they would waive their objections, and the Simon Pures in the corporation would be satisfied with it.

1989 Sydney Morning Herald (Nexis) 14 Feb. 12 True, there are no Simon Pures in trade policy. The Japanese, the Americans and even the Europeans all spout impeccable free trade rhetoric while shutting out all manner of imports.

1776 Monthly Rev. Jan. 58 We find this pretended Yankee attempting to foist himself upon us for the genuine Simon Pure.

1791 J. O'Keeffe Wild Oats iv. 51 Somebody called Harry—zounds, if the real Simon Pure, that is, should be arrived, I'm in a pure [i.e. poor] way.

1795 T. Wilkinson Wandering Patentee III. 34 She in her rage denounced vengeance heartily, and said that she would advertise my production as a flimsy disgraceful imposture: But she was mistaken—for mine was the true Simon Pure.

1815 W. Scott Guy Mannering III. xvii. 327 Here's the real Simon Pure—here's Godfrey Bertram Hewit.

1860 W. C. Prime Boat Life Egypt xxxiii. 357 If we would come with him the other way he would show us the real mummy, the Simon Pure.

1882 E. A. Floyer Unexplored Baluchistan 381 I believe the real Simon pure had been in the crowd all the time.

1903 Flora & Sylva Oct. 234/1 Someone wrote and stated with the confidence of personal knowledge, that the label and not the book was the true Simon Pure.

1946 Times of India 9 Sept. 6/4 The presence of British troops is denounced as a flagrant threat to peace and security. In that sacred article Russia is the real Simon Pure.

1956 A. Kennelly Marry Me, Carry Me xv. 251 When a cheap imitation gets put alongside of the real 24-carat article, the real simon-pure stands out like a sore thumb.

1890 Logansport (Indiana) Chron. 20 Dec. The Melbourne Club has framed a new amateur definition. A man may accept money and still be a ‘Simon pure’, only those who actually live by their winnings being considered professionals.

1909 Motorcycle Illustr. 1 Aug. 23/1 Some of the men—who are calling for protection for the pure amateur, are at this very moment trying to bribe certain Simon Pures to ride their machines.

1951 Call (Perth, Austral.) 2 Aug. 7/4 Denny is on his way to the National lightweight title over there, and it's only 6 months since he left here as a simon pure.

1995 Herald (Glasgow) (Nexis) 10 Aug. 10 Will any game survive on a largely amateur basis?.. Probably shinty still survives as the last resort of the Simon Pures.

1834 Star & Republican Banner (Gettysburg, Pa.) 7 Jan. A thing stole the skin of a noble beast for the purpose of covering its own deformity, and deceiving the credulous into a belief that it was of the real Simon Pure breed.

1869 ‘M. Twain’ Innocents Abroad xli. 436 Soon the bell—a genuine, simon-pure bell—rang.

1889 Cent. Mag. Jan. 337 The home of the Simon-pure wild horse is on the southern plains.

1934 Chicago Defender 21 July 12/8 Youth demands the simon-pure article, and refuses to be hoodwinked.

1972 Lubbock (Texas) Avalanche-Jrnl. 15 Aug. b4/1 He's a Simon-pure oldtimer in the trade and every U.S. editor of experience knows Bill.

2006 N.Y. Observer (Nexis) 17 July 4 In the sticky morass which is Iraq, no one can tell which statements are lies,..which are oil-related and which are simon-pure insanity.

1835 Knickerbocker Sept. 179 He..was at the head of the real Simon Pure democrats.

1889 Lebanon (Pa.) Daily News 26 Sept. I am confident not even the most simon pure landlord would ever regret the change when once our system was in full operation.

1913 Jrnl. Industr. & Engin. Chem. June 504/1 Willard Gibbs..was simon pure—in his best days he did not soil his hands even with the grime of a laboratory.

1951 Manch. Guardian Weekly 28 June 2/3 The [drug] peddlers have gone underground and the specified retailers have turned Simon-pure.

1981 Register (Orange County, Calif.) 7 Oct. e18/2 Not that he always made the right decisions..and not that he was a simon-pure person who never entertained an unworthy thought.

2016 N.Z. Herald (Nexis) 29 July The US itself is not simon-pure on the protectionist front.

1891 Boston Daily Globe 31 Mar. 4/4 There are 13 clubs in the above association [sc. the Interscholastic Athletic Association], with a membership of 2000, all simon pure amateurs.]

1905 Motor Boat (N.Y.) 10 May 5/1 It [sc. the New York Athletic Club] held the first athletic games for amateurs, gave the first prizes, and kept an ever-watchful eye on simon-pure athletics.

1919 W. C. Johnson et al. Official Athletic Almanac of Amer. Expeditionary Forces ii. 357 Never before did real professional scrappers mix up with the ‘simon-pure’ athletes of track and field events.

1942 N.Y. Times 26 Jan. 20/8 The university's policy of simon-pure football without player subsidization.

1993 E. J. B. Allen From Skisport to Skiing iv. 59 Prize money caused much soul searching among those who believed that jumping competitions should be simon-pure.