stuffed shirt
See also: stuffed-shirt
English
Alternative forms
Etymology
(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)
Pronunciation
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Noun
stuffed shirt (plural stuffed shirts)
- (idiomatic) One who is pompous or self-important, especially one who is officious in a position of authority.
- 1914, Samuel Hopkins Adams, The Clarion, ch. 30:
- "Don't you come the high-and-holy on me. You and your smooth, big, phony stuffed-shirt of a father."
- 1952, "Medicine: Mind Matters," Time, 26 May:
- Dr. Laughlin was the only one in a movie party who detested the second male lead—"I regarded him as overserious, pedantic, a stuffed shirt."
- 1914, Samuel Hopkins Adams, The Clarion, ch. 30:
- (usually hyphenated) Used attributively.
- 2000, Frederik Balfour, "Return of a Hong Kong Highflier ," BusinessWeek, 10 July:
- The opportunistic style that was the bank's trademark still prevails and continues to attract talented young Hong Kongers looking for an alternative to the stuffed-shirt culture of most U.S. and European banks.
- 2000, Frederik Balfour, "Return of a Hong Kong Highflier ," BusinessWeek, 10 July:
Translations
one who is overly-officious
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References
- “stuffed shirt”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.