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A.Word.A.Day--Mrs. Grundy

Mrs. Grundy (MIS-iz GRUND-ee) noun

An extremely conventional or priggish person.

[After Mrs. Grundy, character alluded to in the play Speed the Plough by Thomas Morton (1764-1838), British playwright.]

"As the author sits at the bullring reflecting on the mysteries of the corrida, he gets to talking with an old lady, a Mrs Grundy or Mme Salieri, the spirit of respectable gentility doing her best with a challenging new experience." David Thomson, Arts : Moving Pictures, Independent on Sunday, 17 Nov 1996.

This week's theme: eponyms from fiction.

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