IdiomDaily Life
English
Englishstuffed shirt
Meaning: A pompous, self-important and humorless person.
Example: “The new director is a stuffed shirt who insists on being called "sir."”
Origin: Describing someone as a stuffed shirt is clearly disparaging, whereas old fuddy-duddy describes someone who is a harmlessly and often humorously old-fashioned person. The expression stuffed shirt is always used to describe a man, never a woman.
More English idioms
- take something in stride To accept and adjust to bad fortune or trouble.
- talk a blue streak To talk fast and at length.
- talk through one's hat To speak without authority on some topic; to talk nonsense.
- talk to someone like a Dutch uncle To give someone frank, firm advice, as a caring relative would.
- tall order Something difficult to accomplish.
- tan someone's hide To spank a child's bottom as punishment.
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