"close one's eyes and think of England" meaning in English

See close one's eyes and think of England in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Verb

Audio: en-au-close one's eyes and think of England.ogg Forms: closes one's eyes and thinks of England [present, singular, third-person], closing one's eyes and thinking of England [participle, present], closed one's eyes and thought of England [participle, past], closed one's eyes and thought of England [past]
Etymology: Supposedly derived from the 1912 journal of Alice Marion Mills, Lady Hillingdon, now lost. Later apocryphally connected to Lucy Baldwin, wife of Prime Minister Baldwin, and Queen Victoria or described as advice given to Victorian era brides-to-be. First popularized by the 1955 translation of Pierre Daninos's 1954 Les Carnets du Major Thompson, a French satire on upper class British culture. Head templates: {{en-verb|close<> one's eyes and think<,,thought> of England|head=close one's eyes and think of England}} close one's eyes and think of England (third-person singular simple present closes one's eyes and thinks of England, present participle closing one's eyes and thinking of England, simple past and past participle closed one's eyes and thought of England)
  1. To accept one's duty patriotically, particularly (idiomatic, euphemistic) to endure unwanted affection or sex due to social pressures. Wikipedia link: Baron Hillingdon, Frank Dicksee, Lucy Baldwin, Queen Victoria of England, Stanley Baldwin, Victorian era Synonyms: shut one's eyes and think of England, lie back and think of England, think of England
    Sense id: en-close_one's_eyes_and_think_of_England-en-verb-en:main Categories (other): English coordinated pairs, English entries with incorrect language header, English euphemisms, Pages with 1 entry, Pages with entries

Inflected forms

Alternative forms

{
  "etymology_text": "Supposedly derived from the 1912 journal of Alice Marion Mills, Lady Hillingdon, now lost. Later apocryphally connected to Lucy Baldwin, wife of Prime Minister Baldwin, and Queen Victoria or described as advice given to Victorian era brides-to-be. First popularized by the 1955 translation of Pierre Daninos's 1954 Les Carnets du Major Thompson, a French satire on upper class British culture.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "closes one's eyes and thinks of England",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
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    },
    {
      "form": "closing one's eyes and thinking of England",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
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    },
    {
      "form": "closed one's eyes and thought of England",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
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    },
    {
      "form": "closed one's eyes and thought of England",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    }
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  "head_templates": [
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      "args": {
        "1": "close<> one's eyes and think<,,thought> of England",
        "head": "close one's eyes and think of England"
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      "expansion": "close one's eyes and think of England (third-person singular simple present closes one's eyes and thinks of England, present participle closing one's eyes and thinking of England, simple past and past participle closed one's eyes and thought of England)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
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          "kind": "other",
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          "parents": [
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          "source": "w"
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        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
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          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English euphemisms",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
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          "kind": "other",
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          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
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          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1912, Alice Marion Mills, Journal (attrib.)",
          "text": "I am happy now that Charles calls on my bedchamber less frequently than of old. As it is, I now endure but two calls a week and when I hear his steps outside my door I lie down on my bed, close my eyes, open my legs and think of England."
        },
        {
          "ref": "1940 Nov. 2, \"Canadian Industrial Independence Seen as War Outcome\", Windsor Daily Star, p. 10",
          "text": "...when the test comes, when the United Kingdom gets into trouble again, and when the King calls upon his loyal subjects all over the world, the Canadian knows at a still deeper level of his being that he will undoubtably do as he has always done before. He will close his eyes and think of England."
        },
        {
          "ref": "1955, Robert Farn tr. Pierre Daninos as The Notebooks of Major Thompson",
          "text": "Meltenham and her mother had prepared her for marriage in an entirely Victorian spirit. The day before she left home, Lady Plunkwell had delivered her final advice: \"I know, my dear, it's disgusting. But do as I did with Edward: just close your eyes and think of England!\" Like her mother and her mother's mother before her, Ursula closed her eyes. She thought of the future of England."
        },
        {
          "ref": "1972, Jonathan Gathorne-Hardy, The Rise and Fall of the British Nanny:",
          "text": "One finds as many mentions in Edwardian literature to the chastity, the holy purity of upper class women, indeed to their active abhorrence of sex, as one does in the nineteenth century. There was the passage I quoted from Lady Hillingham at the head of this chapter—\"...close my eyes, open my legs and think of England\". The source for this quotation is a little suspect. The sentiment expressed is without question typical and accurate.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To accept one's duty patriotically, particularly (idiomatic, euphemistic) to endure unwanted affection or sex due to social pressures."
      ],
      "id": "en-close_one's_eyes_and_think_of_England-en-verb-en:main",
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          "accept",
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        [
          "patriotically",
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        [
          "particularly",
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        [
          "endure",
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        [
          "unwanted",
          "unwanted"
        ],
        [
          "affection",
          "affection"
        ],
        [
          "sex",
          "sex"
        ],
        [
          "due to",
          "due to"
        ],
        [
          "social",
          "social"
        ],
        [
          "pressure",
          "pressure"
        ]
      ],
      "senseid": [
        "en:main"
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "shut one's eyes and think of England"
        },
        {
          "word": "lie back and think of England"
        },
        {
          "word": "think of England"
        }
      ],
      "wikipedia": [
        "Baron Hillingdon",
        "Frank Dicksee",
        "Lucy Baldwin",
        "Queen Victoria of England",
        "Stanley Baldwin",
        "Victorian era"
      ]
    }
  ],
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  "word": "close one's eyes and think of England"
}
{
  "etymology_text": "Supposedly derived from the 1912 journal of Alice Marion Mills, Lady Hillingdon, now lost. Later apocryphally connected to Lucy Baldwin, wife of Prime Minister Baldwin, and Queen Victoria or described as advice given to Victorian era brides-to-be. First popularized by the 1955 translation of Pierre Daninos's 1954 Les Carnets du Major Thompson, a French satire on upper class British culture.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "closes one's eyes and thinks of England",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "closing one's eyes and thinking of England",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "closed one's eyes and thought of England",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "closed one's eyes and thought of England",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "close<> one's eyes and think<,,thought> of England",
        "head": "close one's eyes and think of England"
      },
      "expansion": "close one's eyes and think of England (third-person singular simple present closes one's eyes and thinks of England, present participle closing one's eyes and thinking of England, simple past and past participle closed one's eyes and thought of England)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English coordinated pairs",
        "English entries with incorrect language header",
        "English euphemisms",
        "English idioms",
        "English lemmas",
        "English multiword terms",
        "English terms derived from toponyms",
        "English terms with quotations",
        "English verbs",
        "Pages with 1 entry",
        "Pages with entries",
        "Quotation templates to be cleaned"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1912, Alice Marion Mills, Journal (attrib.)",
          "text": "I am happy now that Charles calls on my bedchamber less frequently than of old. As it is, I now endure but two calls a week and when I hear his steps outside my door I lie down on my bed, close my eyes, open my legs and think of England."
        },
        {
          "ref": "1940 Nov. 2, \"Canadian Industrial Independence Seen as War Outcome\", Windsor Daily Star, p. 10",
          "text": "...when the test comes, when the United Kingdom gets into trouble again, and when the King calls upon his loyal subjects all over the world, the Canadian knows at a still deeper level of his being that he will undoubtably do as he has always done before. He will close his eyes and think of England."
        },
        {
          "ref": "1955, Robert Farn tr. Pierre Daninos as The Notebooks of Major Thompson",
          "text": "Meltenham and her mother had prepared her for marriage in an entirely Victorian spirit. The day before she left home, Lady Plunkwell had delivered her final advice: \"I know, my dear, it's disgusting. But do as I did with Edward: just close your eyes and think of England!\" Like her mother and her mother's mother before her, Ursula closed her eyes. She thought of the future of England."
        },
        {
          "ref": "1972, Jonathan Gathorne-Hardy, The Rise and Fall of the British Nanny:",
          "text": "One finds as many mentions in Edwardian literature to the chastity, the holy purity of upper class women, indeed to their active abhorrence of sex, as one does in the nineteenth century. There was the passage I quoted from Lady Hillingham at the head of this chapter—\"...close my eyes, open my legs and think of England\". The source for this quotation is a little suspect. The sentiment expressed is without question typical and accurate.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To accept one's duty patriotically, particularly (idiomatic, euphemistic) to endure unwanted affection or sex due to social pressures."
      ],
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          "accept",
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        [
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        [
          "duty",
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        [
          "patriotically",
          "patriotically"
        ],
        [
          "particularly",
          "particularly"
        ],
        [
          "endure",
          "endure"
        ],
        [
          "unwanted",
          "unwanted"
        ],
        [
          "affection",
          "affection"
        ],
        [
          "sex",
          "sex"
        ],
        [
          "due to",
          "due to"
        ],
        [
          "social",
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        [
          "pressure",
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      "senseid": [
        "en:main"
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        "Baron Hillingdon",
        "Frank Dicksee",
        "Lucy Baldwin",
        "Queen Victoria of England",
        "Stanley Baldwin",
        "Victorian era"
      ]
    }
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      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b6/En-au-close_one%27s_eyes_and_think_of_England.ogg"
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  "synonyms": [
    {
      "word": "shut one's eyes and think of England"
    },
    {
      "word": "lie back and think of England"
    },
    {
      "word": "think of England"
    }
  ],
  "word": "close one's eyes and think of England"
}

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This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-11-06 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-10-02 using wiktextract (fbeafe8 and 7f03c9b). 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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