apothecary's Latin

English

Pronunciation

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Noun

apothecary's Latin (uncountable)

1. (idiomatic, obsolete) barbarous Latin; badly-spoken Latin.
   • 1842, Colburn's New Monthly Magazine and Humorist, page 333:

     As this bit of apothecary's Latin was quoted to the town-clerk at a corporation dinner, and was by him translated to the mayor to mean that the municipal body had not a leg to stand upon, it gave very serious offence indeed.

Synonyms

• law Latin, dog Latin, bog Latin

Related terms

• pig Latin
• talk like an apothecary

See also

• greengrocer's apostrophe

References

[Francis] Grose [et al.] (1811) “Apothecary's Latin”, in Lexicon Balatronicum. A Dictionary of Buckish Slang, University Wit, and Pickpocket Eloquence. […], London: […] C. Chappell, […], →OCLC.