E. Cobham Brewer 1810–1897. Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. 1898.
Nude.
Rabelais wittily says that a person without clothing is dressed in “grey and cold” of a comical cut, being “nothing before, nothing behind, and sleeves of the same.” King Shrovetide, monarch of Sneak Island, was so arrayed. (Rabelais: Gargantua, iv. 29.)
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The nude statues of Paris are said to be draped in “cerulean blue.”
