Reference > Brewer’s Dictionary > Tailor’s Sword (A), or A Tailor’s Dagger.

 Tailors.Take a Back Seat (To). 
CONTENTS · BIBLIOGRAPHIC RECORD
E. Cobham Brewer 1810–1897. Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. 1898.
 
Tailor’s Sword (A), or A Tailor’s Dagger.
 
A needle.   1
       
“The tailors cross-legged on their boards,
Needle-armed, hand-extended, prepared
To stab the black cloth with their swords [to make up mourning]
The instant that death is declared.”
       
Peter Pindar: Great Cry and Little Wool, Epist. i.
 


 Tailors.Take a Back Seat (To). 

 
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