real McCoy
Definition from Wiktionary, the free dictionary
Contents |
English[edit]
Alternative forms[edit]
Etymology[edit]
Corruption of Scots the real MacKay, this latter attested in 1856 as “A drappie o’ the real MacKay” (A drop of the real MacKay).[1][2]
How “MacKay” became “McCoy” is unclear; first attested with this spelling in Canada in 1881. In James S. Bond's The Rise and Fall of the "Union club": or, Boy life in Canada, a character utters, "By jingo! yes; so it will be It's the 'real McCoy,' as Jim Hicks says. Nobody but a devil can find us there."[3]
The term is the subject of many folk etymologies, discussed at the Wikipedia entry.
Noun[edit]
- (idiomatic) The genuine thing, neither a substitute nor an imitation.
Synonyms[edit]
References[edit]
- ^ Scottish National Dictionary
- ^ 2007 OED
- ^ Bond, James S. The rise and fall of the "Union club": or, Boy life in Canada. Yorkville, Ontario. p. 1
