Brewer, E. Cobham. Dictionary of Phrase & Fable. Circumlocu’tion Office.

Reference > Brewer’s Dictionary > Circumlocu’tion Office.

Circumcised Brethren (in Hudibras).

Ciric-Sceat or Church Scot.

CONTENTS · BIBLIOGRAPHIC RECORD

E. Cobham Brewer 1810–1897. Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. 1898.


Circumlocu’tion Office.

A term applied in ridicule to our public offices, because each person tries to shuffle off every act to some one lse; and before anything is done it has to pass through so many departments, that every fly is crushed on a wheel. The term was invented by Charles Dickens, and appears in Little Dorrit.	1

Circumcised Brethren (in Hudibras).

Ciric-Sceat or Church Scot.