all my eye and Betty Martin
Rubbish, humbugRubbish, humbug
» Millions of people all over the world knew about Rev. Martin Luther King and his beliefs.
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1 senses(dated, uncountable)Rubbish, humbug
1881 Thomas Bastard, The Autobiography of Cockney Tom, at Project Gutenberg Australia All my eye and Betty Martin, thought I, I will have no more truck with you.
Examples
1 sentencesMillions of people all over the world knew about Rev. Martin Luther King and his beliefs.
Origin
In Britain during the 1700s, the phrase was a common claim of dismissal (similar to 'nonseIn Britain during the 1700s, the phrase was a common claim of dismissal (similar to 'nonsense', or 'hogwash'), or a way to declare disbelief of an absurdity. It possibly originated as the punch line of a joke (though this is likely a folk etymology). Most variations of the joke involve a British sailor visiting Italy. He overhears a Latin prayer, "Ah! [Da] mihi, beate Martine" (which translates to "Ah! Grant to me, blessed Martin", referring to St. Martin). The sailor mishears the prayer, and later uses the phrase as "All my eye and Betty Martin".
Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · source
Synonyms
1 synonymsLessons for this word
1 lessons- A1Countable and uncountable nouns — Because it can be uncountable
See also
neighbours in the dictionaryDictionary text adapted from Wiktionary (Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0) and Open English WordNet / Princeton WordNet (CC BY 4.0, WordNet License); shared under CC BY-SA 4.0. Example sentences and recordings are credited where they appear.