English Explanatory Dictionary

what the butler saw

English dictionary entry

Meanings

noun
  1. A story or film of titillating activity observed by voyeurism.
  2. A mutoscope; an amusement machine that shows a sequence of images or animation, often of a titillating nature, viewed via a peephole

Word forms

what the butler saw what-the-butler-saw

Etymology

Usually linked to the 1884 divorce trial of Gertrude Elizabeth Blood and Lord Colin Campbell, at which one key witness was a butler who claimed to have seen Lady Campbell's adultery through a keyhole.

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