Brewer's: Quart d'Heure

(Mauvais). A time of annoyance. The time between the arrival of the guests and the announcement of dinner is emphatically called the mauvais quart d'heure; but the phrase has a much larger application; thus we say the Cabinet Ministers must have had a mauvais quart d'heure when opening a number of telegrams of a troublesome character.

Related Content Allusions Foreign Words and Phrases Latin and Greek Word Elements Names: Their Origins and Meanings Old Testament Names Mythology Ancient Greek Literature & Mythology The Bible (King James version) The Koran (translation by J. M. Rodwell) Shakespeare's Plays Tales from Shakespeare (Charles and Mary Lamb) Frequently Misspelled Words Frequently Mispronounced Words Easily Confused Words Writing & Language