holy show

English

Etymology

Compared by the English Dialect Dictionary to the phrase holy bizen, holy byzont; see bizen.[1]

Noun

holy show (plural holy shows)

  1. A shameful spectacle; a scene.
    • 1827, [Gerald Griffin], chapter 1, in The Half Sir (Tales of the Munster Festivals; 1)‎, London: Saunders and Otley, →OCLC, page 229:
      […] here am I now, in the flower o' my days, […] in this old box pitched up on top of a hill, and shaking to every blast o' wind like a straw upon the waters […] disgracen himself an' all belongen to him. There'll be a holy show med of us with the Wran-boys.

Usage notes
  • Usually to make a holy show of something (or of oneself).

References
  1. Joseph Wright, editor (1902), “HOLY, adj.”, in The English Dialect Dictionary: […], volumes III (H–L), London: Henry Frowde, […], publisher to the English Dialect Society, […]; New York, N.Y.: G. P. Putnam’s Sons, →OCLC, page 214, column 1.: “(2) — bizen or by·zont, a show, spectacle, or conspicuous or ridiculous object […] (18) — show, see (2)”
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