Pickle-herring

noun

noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A herring preserved in brine; a pickled herring. obsolete

    "'Tis a Gentleman heere. A plague o'these pickle herring: How now Sot."

  2. 2
    A buffoon. obsolete

    "The first who made the experiment was a merry-andrew, who was put into my hands by a neighbouring justice of peace, in order to reclaim him from that profligate kind of life. Poor Pickle-herring had not taken above one turn in it, when he came out of the cave, like a hermit from his cell, with a penitential look and a most rueful countenance."

Synonyms

All synonyms
buffoonclownfoolharlequinjestermotley

Example

More examples

"'Tis a Gentleman heere. A plague o'these pickle herring: How now Sot."

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.