Alexandrian limp
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Forms: form: Alexandrian limps
Senses: examples: text: The “Alexandrian limp” is the latest eccentricity of fashion. It is produced by wearing a very high heeled boot on one foot and a flat heeled boot on the other. The young lady waddles about like a goose.
ref: 1869 December 21, Grant County Herald, old series, volume 27, number 40; new series, volume 21, number 29, Lancaster, Wis., page [4], column 4:
text: She was small in size, and by no means attractive in personal appearance, having undergone the usual process for rendering the feet disproportionately small; her walk was anything but graceful, her gait being a sort of indescribable cross between the double infliction of Alexandrian limp and Grecian bend.
ref: 1870 January 11, “The Chinese in Texas. Sambo’s Successor Arrives, Makes Himself at Home, and Goes to Work—“Clean, Docile and Industrious.” / From the Galveston News, January 11.]”, in Public Ledger, volume IX, number 122, Memphis, Tenn., published 21 January 1870, front page, column 3:
text: The Grecian Bend and Alexandrian Limp were both to be noticed in their purity as the procession filed by.
ref: 1870 January 20, “The Ball Season”, in The Brooklyn Daily Eagle, volume 30, number 16, Brooklyn, N.Y., page [3], column 1:
text: The story of the man who was bathing at the time, and ran out in Adamic costume, has been told too often, and for a fictional individual he has become altogether too notorious; but it is a fact that some ladies walking in front of their Grecian Bends (rain won’t keep the dear creatures from shopping), forgot for a moment the dignity of fashion, and consigned their Alexandrian limp (the latest abomination) to the limbo of departed corns and bunions, and straightened themselves into decent looking women.
ref: 1870 April 5, Blossom [pseudonym], “[Letter from San Francisco. [Regular Correspondence to the News.]] The Earthquake.”, in Gold Hill Daily News, volume XIII, number 2001, Gold Hill, Nev., published 6 April 1870, page [2], column 2:
text: The high French boot heels enables^([sic]) the fashionable ladies to imitate the Alexandrian limp, which is very fascinating indeed.
ref: 1870 May 20, “Much is Little”, in Columbia Herald, volume XV, number 39, Columbia, Tenn., page [4], column 1:
text: We hope, however, that there are not many who have pretensions to lead the fashion who are so intoxicated by the classics as to exhibit the “Grecian bend” and the “Alexandrian''' limp.”
ref: 1870 May 25, The Sydney Morning Herald, volume LXI, number 9987, [Sydney, N.S.W.], page 4, column 2:
text: Our anile relative of the Corner, in criticising Professor Badham’s speech, refers to the “Grecian bend” and the “Alexandrian''' limp.” The editorial staff of doctors learned in the law will probably inform us where they obtained the information which associates lameness with the far-famed city of Egypt. The fact is, that the Princess of Wales, having suffered from weakness in the knee, walks with a slight halt, and the apes of fashion have persuaded their Crispins to supply boots with one long and one short heel, in order that they may follow in the footsteps of royalty.
ref: 1870 June 18, “Granny’s Ignorance”, in Sydney Punch, Sydney, N.S.W., page 25, column 2:
text: The Queen has set the example of marrying her children very early in life; the upper classes follow, and a slavish instinct of imitation leads the middle and lower classes to copy, just as they adopt the chignon, the high-heeled boot, the Alexandrian limp, or any other absurdity.
ref: 1870 July 2, “Mr. Vivian A. Webber on “Population and Emigration.”, in The Isle of Wight Observer, number 931, Ryde, Isle of Wight, page 5, columns 3–4:
text: Decked out in silks and ribbons of many coloured hues, with Grecian bend and Alexandrian limp she comes to the door of the ’bus—“Will any gentleman please to get outside and make room for a lady?”
ref: 1870 July 16, “Our Idler’s Gossip”, in Bell’s Life in Sydney and Sporting Chronicle, volume XXVII, number 708, new series, [Sydney, N.S.W.], page [3], column 2:
text: Nearly all our large Eastern cities have been visited in turn by the “Grecian Bend,” the “Alexandrian Limp,” the “Boston Wriggle,” and now the latest idea is the “Kangaroo Droop,” and the “Penguin Hop.”
ref: 1871 July 30, “Fashionable Absurdities. [From our regular Fashion Contributor.]”, in The Daily Journal of Commerce, volume XIV, number 35, Kansas City, Mo., page [2], column 3:
text: When the stars are out she gracefully bends without the “Grecian bend,” and the “Alexandrian limp,” these being things of the past, over her favorite pages; […]
ref: 1872 May 31, Sketcher [pseudonym], “Portraits of the People. 3.—The Auckland Lass.”, in The Evening Star, volume III, number 742, Auckland, page 3, column 1:
text: The imitators of the Grecian bend and Alexandrian limp were severely criticized; he expressed surprise that people possessing reasoning powers should desire to represent a lot of cripples, as such imitations best became monkeys.
ref: 1873 May 3, Mr Waddell, “District News. [From Our Various Correspondents.] Stroud. A Few Notes from a Lecture by the Rev Mr Waddell”, in The Maitland Mercury and Hunter River General Advertiser, volume XXX, number 3898, [Maitland, N.S.W.], published 10 May 1873, page [6], column 2:
text: They fairly charmed the (what in poetical fiction is called) hearts of some of the more susceptible of our masculine bipeds; and then as to the fashions, why we provincials received quite a lesson in that line. We had the Grecian bend and the Alexandrian limp; we had bonnets poised on the tips of noses and bonnets perched on hirsute promontaries^([sic]) that were projected from the cerebellum of their fair wearers.
ref: 1875 December 11, “Anvil Creek and Greta”, in The Miners’ Advocate, and Northumberland Recorder, volume III, number XCVII, [Newcastle, N.S.W.], page [3], column 2:
text: From the Coort it has spread ower the length and breadth o’ the land, an‘ noe it seems the bit lasses wha earn 5s or 6s a week, when they gang oot, maun limp like the Princess Alexandra! / Sandy—It’s awfu’. / Jamie—It’s mair than awfu’. Besides the ‘Alexandrian limp,’ there is the ‘Grecian Bend,’ anither absurdity more stupid like.
ref: 1877 January 6, reported by Gabriel Lindsay, “A Social Crack between Jamie Rogers and Sandy Simpson”, in The Lothian Courier and Coatbridge and Airdrie Herald, volume VI, number 183, Bathgate, Linlithgowshire, page [3], column 5:
text: Spelling is, all the world over, just as changeable as fashions. Words have their Roman falls, Alexandrian limps, and Grecian bends—the fullness of crinoline at one time, and the contracted skimpiness of the pinback mode at another.
ref: 1879 December 27, J. Hingston, “Branches from the Mail Routes. India’s Martyr-Murderers.”, in The Sydney Morning Herald, number 13,022, Sydney, N.S.W., page 7, column 4:
text: Some time ago a large number of ladies had one heel of their shoes made lower than the other. Result: The “Alexandrian limp” became the height of the fashion.
ref: 1885 December 24, Boston Journal of Commerce, “Origin of Fashions. Noted Women Who Are Responsible for Popular Follies.”, in The Eaton Democrat, volume XIX, number 6 (whole 973), Eaton, Oh.: L. G. Gould, page [4], column 4:
text: It is, however, greatly to the credit of the New York dude that he has abandoned the Alexandrian limp, which was made by humping up the shoulders like a kangaroo, and throwing one leg over the other while walking.
ref: 1887 October 27, Alex. E. Sweet, “New York Letter. Ladies Who Try to Smuggle—The Return of the Dudes—Conviction of Lyons, the Tough, of Murder in the First Degree—The Rowdy Element of Gotham—The Cholera Outlook.”, in C. V. Eskridge, editor, Emporia Weekly Republican, volume 5, Emporia, Kan., front page, column 7:
text: She told of many ludicrous fashions, such as the Alexandrian limp, and thought the offer of the ballot would be no inducement to women to give up the hoop-skirt.
ref: 1893 June 1, “They Are Graduated. A Class of Eleven Goes Forth From School Into the Battle of Active Life.”, in The Belmont Chronicle, new series, volume 33, number 22, St. Clairsville, Oh.: Carroll & McMillen, front page, column 4:
text: But we remember crinolines and pullbacks, Grecian bends, and Alexandrian limps, which have had their day and passed.
ref: 1894 April 7, “New Zealand is Moving”, in The Methodist, volume III, number 14, Sydney, N.S.W., page 1, column 4:
text: In Richard the III time every Englishman “humped himself” trying to imitate his sovereign, and when the Princess of Wales sprained her ankle, a few years ago, every giddy, fashionable woman in London limped. The newspapers dubbed it the Alexandrian limp.
ref: [1896 December 17, “Was It Plagiarism?”, in T. F. Hensley, editor, The El Reno Democrat. […], volume VII, number 47, El Reno, Oklahoma Territory, page [4], column 2:
text: List of the wounded: Will Wilton, bruised heel; Jack Knight, bruised finger, torn trousers, and severe hit on hip, while “Alexandrian limps” and “Grecian bends” were very noticeable.
ref: 1899 May 26, Thorntopper [pseudonym], “Sport and Sportsmen”, in Mudgee Guardian and North-Western Representative, volume XIII, number 736, Mudgee, N.S.W., page [8], column 2:
text: Jimmy Donoghue developed the “Alexandrian limp” during the gay and festive season, owing to being dislodged by a fractious neddy.
ref: 1904 January 7, Amberite [pseudonym], “Sport & Sportsmen”, in Mudgee Guardian and North-Western Representative, volume XIV, number 1196, Mudgee, N.S.W., page [4], column 1:
text: Those who do not move in the inner circle of fashion have little notion how relatively trivial causes may occasionally achieve tremendous consequences. There are, of course, the historic examples of the Georgian patch, born of a queenly mole, and the Alexandrian limp, which had quite a fashionable vogue for a period in Victorian days, and was a courtier’s graceful tribute to the fascinations of a great lady who died recently.
ref: 1926 January 5, “The Latest Month”, in The Devon and Exeter Gazette, volume CLIV, number 24,829, Exeter, Devon, page 8, column 2:
text: The “Alexandrian Limp” was rather before my time or else did not reach my small home town. […] He was then enlightened that it was the prevailing fashion and that the Alexandrian Limp was the latest fad.
ref: 1931 July 30, Maggie W. Ginn, “[Voices From The People] “The Rise And Fall Of The Bustle.””, in The Cincinnati Enquirer, volume XCI, number 114, Cincinnati, Oh., published 1 August 1931, page 4, column 5:
text: 1869 / “Alexandrian limp” fashion fad arrives in Eau Claire — women wear very high-heeled boot on one foot and flat heel on the other, causing them to “waddle about” like geese; […]
ref: 2007 October 14, 2007 Honor Roll of Business: Honoring Businesses in the Chippewa Valley Over the Past 150 Years (supplement to Leader-Telegram), Eau Claire, Wis., page 5:
glosses: Alternative form of Alexandra limp.