English Explanatory Dictionary

close one's eyes and think of England

English dictionary entry

Meanings

verb
  1. To accept one's duty patriotically, particularly (idiomatic, euphemistic) to endure sex (sexual activity) under a concept of sex as solely a marital and reproductive duty.

Pronunciation

en-au-close one's eyes and think of England.ogg

Word forms

close one's eyes and think of England closes one's eyes and thinks of England closing one's eyes and thinking of England closed one's eyes and thought of England shut one's eyes and think of England lie back and think of England think of England

Etymology

Supposedly derived from the journal of Alice Marion Mills in 1912, Lady Hillingdon, now lost. Later apocryphally connected to Lucy Baldwin, wife of Prime Minister Baldwin, and Queen Victoria or described as advice given to Victorian era brides-to-be. First popularized by the translation in 1955 of Pierre Daninos's Les Carnets du Major Thompson (1954), a French satire on upper class British culture.

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