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Dictionary of Phrase and Fable—T

Troglodytes

(3 syl.). A people of Ethiopia, south-east of Egypt. Remains of their cave dwellings are still to be seen along the banks of the Nile. There were Troglodytes of Syria and Arabia also, according to Strabo. Pliny (v. 8) asserts that they fed on serpents. (Greek, trogle, a cave; duo, to get into.)

“King Francois, of eternal memory ... abhorred these hypocritical snake-eaters.” —Rabelais: Gargantua and Pantagruel (Ep. Ded. iv.).

Troglodyte.
A person who lives so secluded as not to know the current events of the day, is so self-opinionated as to condemn everyone who sees not eye to eye with himself, and scorns everything that comes not within the scope of his own approval; a detractor; a critic. The Saturday Review introduced this use of the word. (See above.

Miners are sometimes facetiously called Troglodytes.

Source: Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, E. Cobham Brewer, 1894
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