bash the bishop

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary
Jump to navigation Jump to search

English

[edit]

Etymology

[edit]

Uncertain or disputed. Goldman (1950) suggests that beat the bishop comes from a resemblance of the penis to a bishop’s miter; Partridge (7th ed., 1970) likewise derives bash the bishop from a resemblance to the Staunton bishop chess piece. Other sources, such as Green, suggest that assonance of bishop with bash, beat, bop etc. may have given rise to the phrase as a type of word play.

Pronunciation

[edit]

Verb

[edit]

bash the bishop (third-person singular simple present bashes the bishop, present participle bashing the bishop, simple past and past participle bashed the bishop)

  1. (idiomatic, slang) To masturbate.
    • 2003, Jasper Fforde, The Eyre Affair:
      “Hello, Gladys,” I said, shaking her by the hand. “Joffy here used to bash the bishop so much when he was a boy we all thought he would go blind.”

Synonyms

[edit]

Translations

[edit]

References

[edit]
  • Goldman, Hyman, editor (1950), “Beat the bishop”, in Dictionary of American Underworld Lingo, New York: Twayne
  • Partridge, Eric (1970) A Dictionary of Slang & Unconventional English, 7th edition, volume 2, →ISBN
  • bishop n.2”, in Green’s Dictionary of Slang, Jonathon Green, 2016–present, retrieved August 26, 2021