See Banbury story of a cock and a bull on Wiktionary
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"ref": "[1725, “BANBURY STORY”, in A New Canting Dictionary: Comprehending All the Terms, Antient and Modern, Used in the Several Tribes of Gypsies, Beggars, Shoplifters, Highwaymen, Foot-Pads, and All Other Clans of Cheats and Villains. …, London: Printed; and sold by the booksellers of London and Westminster, →OCLC:",
"text": "BANBURY STORY, of a Cock and a Bull, an Idle relation, in order to pick Acquaintance on the Road, till a convenient Place and Opportunity offer to rob or plunder.",
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"ref": "[1785, [Francis Grose], “Banbury story of a cock and a bull”, in A Classical Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue, London: Printer for S. Hooper, No. 212, High Holborn, →OCLC:",
"text": "Banbury story of a cock and a bull. A roundabout nonſenſical ſtory.",
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"ref": "[1856 April 26, Supplement to the Illustrated London News, volume XXVIII, number 796, London: Illustrated London News & Sketch, →OCLC, page 455:",
"text": "A Banbury Story of a Cock and a Bull.—The saying \"It is a cock and bull story\" is common enough, as every one knows, at the present day; but in former times—I mean in the last century—the phrase always ran thus \"It is a Banbury story of a cock and a bull.\" Can you inform me why was Banbury in particular fixed upon as the locality of the story? —Falgate.",
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"ref": "1955, Georgette Heyer, Bath Tangle, London: William Heinemann, →OCLC, page 149:",
"text": "Fanny, how is this? I promise you I thought the whole tale a Banbury story, but, upon my soul, what do I find but that fellow closeted with you!",
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"ref": "1981, Joan Aiken, The Stolen Lake, London: Jonathan Cape; republished Boston, Mass.: Houghton Mifflin, 2000, page 75",
"text": "Balderdash! Do not seek to pull wool over my eyes, miss! Fabricate me no Banbury stories!"
},
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"ref": "2003, Connie Lane [pseudonym; Constance Laux], The Viscount's Bawdy Bargain, New York, N.Y.: Pocket Books, →ISBN, page 56:",
"text": "Nor was she uncaring, mean-spirited or likely to go about spreading a Banbury story of a cock and a bull.",
"type": "quote"
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"ref": "2010, Michelle Styles, chapter 4, in Compromising Miss Milton (Mills & Boon Historical), Richmond, Surrey: Mills & Boon, →ISBN:",
"text": "'I never got the chance. Mama sent me to my room for telling fibs.' Nella's bottom lip trembled. 'She threatened to paddle me with a hairbrush. Called it a Banbury story of a cock and bull.'",
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"word": "Banbury story of a cock and bull"
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"word": "una història sense cap ni peus"
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"word": "une histoire sans queue ni tête"
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"word": "unha historia sen pés nin cabeza"
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"sense": "roundabout, nonsensical story",
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"note": "ска́зка про белого бычка (skázka pro belovo byčka, literally “tale of the white bull”)",
"sense": "roundabout, nonsensical story"
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"note": "бред си́вой кобы́лы (bred sívoj kobýly, literally “rave of the grey mare”)",
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"text": "BANBURY STORY, of a Cock and a Bull, an Idle relation, in order to pick Acquaintance on the Road, till a convenient Place and Opportunity offer to rob or plunder.",
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"ref": "[1856 April 26, Supplement to the Illustrated London News, volume XXVIII, number 796, London: Illustrated London News & Sketch, →OCLC, page 455:",
"text": "A Banbury Story of a Cock and a Bull.—The saying \"It is a cock and bull story\" is common enough, as every one knows, at the present day; but in former times—I mean in the last century—the phrase always ran thus \"It is a Banbury story of a cock and a bull.\" Can you inform me why was Banbury in particular fixed upon as the locality of the story? —Falgate.",
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"ref": "1955, Georgette Heyer, Bath Tangle, London: William Heinemann, →OCLC, page 149:",
"text": "Fanny, how is this? I promise you I thought the whole tale a Banbury story, but, upon my soul, what do I find but that fellow closeted with you!",
"type": "quote"
},
{
"ref": "1981, Joan Aiken, The Stolen Lake, London: Jonathan Cape; republished Boston, Mass.: Houghton Mifflin, 2000, page 75",
"text": "Balderdash! Do not seek to pull wool over my eyes, miss! Fabricate me no Banbury stories!"
},
{
"ref": "2003, Connie Lane [pseudonym; Constance Laux], The Viscount's Bawdy Bargain, New York, N.Y.: Pocket Books, →ISBN, page 56:",
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},
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"text": "'I never got the chance. Mama sent me to my room for telling fibs.' Nella's bottom lip trembled. 'She threatened to paddle me with a hairbrush. Called it a Banbury story of a cock and bull.'",
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{
"word": "Banbury story of a cock and bull"
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"translations": [
{
"code": "ca",
"lang": "Catalan",
"sense": "roundabout, nonsensical story",
"word": "una història sense cap ni peus"
},
{
"code": "fr",
"lang": "French",
"sense": "roundabout, nonsensical story",
"word": "une histoire sans queue ni tête"
},
{
"code": "gl",
"lang": "Galician",
"sense": "roundabout, nonsensical story",
"word": "unha historia sen pés nin cabeza"
},
{
"code": "de",
"lang": "German",
"sense": "roundabout, nonsensical story",
"word": "eine Geschichte ohne Hand und Fuß"
},
{
"code": "pt",
"lang": "Portuguese",
"sense": "roundabout, nonsensical story",
"tags": [
"feminine"
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"word": "história sem pé nem cabeça"
},
{
"code": "ru",
"lang": "Russian",
"note": "ска́зка про белого бычка (skázka pro belovo byčka, literally “tale of the white bull”)",
"sense": "roundabout, nonsensical story"
},
{
"code": "ru",
"lang": "Russian",
"note": "бред си́вой кобы́лы (bred sívoj kobýly, literally “rave of the grey mare”)",
"sense": "roundabout, nonsensical story"
},
{
"code": "es",
"lang": "Spanish",
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"word": "una historia sin pies ni cabeza"
}
],
"word": "Banbury story of a cock and a bull"
}
Download raw JSONL data for Banbury story of a cock and a bull meaning in All languages combined (6.2kB)
This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable All languages combined dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-12-21 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-12-04 using wiktextract (d8cb2f3 and 4e554ae). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.
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