| Share
 
Dictionary of Phrase and Fable—R

Red-breasts

Bow Street runners, who wore a scarlet waistcoat.

“The Bow Street runners ceased out of the land soon after the introduction of the new police. I remember them very well as standing about the door of the office in Bow Street. They had no other uniform than a blue dress-coat, brass buttons ... and a bright red cloth waistcoat ... The slang name for them was `Red-breasts.”' —Dickens: Letters, vol. ii. p. 178.

Source: Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, E. Cobham Brewer, 1894
Red Button
Red Boots
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

More on Red-breasts from Infoplease:

  • Red-breasts - Red-breasts Bow Street runners, who wore a scarlet waistcoat. “The Bow Street runners ceased ...
  • redbreast: meaning and definitions - redbreast: Definition and Pronunciation
  • robin: meaning and definitions - robin: Definition and Pronunciation
  • thrush, in zoology - thrush thrush, bird, common name for members of the Turdidae, a large family of birds found in most ...
  • snipe - snipe snipe, common name for a shore bird of the family Scolopacidae (sandpiper family), native to ...

Related Content

24 X 7

Private Tutor

Click Here for Details
24 x 7 Tutor Availability
Unlimited Online Tutoring
1-on-1 Tutoring
Explore Physics Tutoring , Math Word Problems