English Explanatory Dictionary

leather and prunella

English dictionary entry

Meanings

noun
  1. That which is merely superficial and does not indicate the true nature or value of a person (or thing).

Word forms

leather and prunella

Etymology

With reference to leather and prunella (materials used for making shoes and apparel), from a passage in Alexander Pope’s 1734 poem “An Essay on Man”: “What differ more (you cry) than Crown and Cowl?” / I’ll tell you, Friend: a wise Man and a Fool. / You’ll find, if once the Monarch acts the Monk, / Or Cobler-like the Parson will be drunk, / Worth makes the Man, and want of it the Fellow, / The rest is all but Leather or Prunello.

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