# What is an 'abbey-lubber'?

An 'abbey-lubber' is an idle, well-fed dependent or loafer — originally a satirical name for lazy monks. Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable (1898), human-proofread transcription on English Wikisource records: “( An ). An idle, well-fed dependent or loafer. "It came into a common proverbe to call him an Abbay-lubber , that was idle, wel fed, a long, lewd, lither loiterer, that might worke and would not."— The Burnynge of Paules Church, 1663. It is used also of religions in contempt; see Dryden's Spanish Friar .”

## What it means

- Verbatim from Brewer's (1898): ( An ). An idle, well-fed dependent or loafer. "It came into a common proverbe to call him an Abbay-lubber , that was idle, wel fed, a long, lewd, lither loiterer, that might worke and would not."— The Burnynge of Paules Church, 1663. It is used also of religions in contempt; see Dryden's Spanish Friar .

## Action steps

1. Modern usage: An 'abbey-lubber' is an idle, well-fed dependent or loafer — originally a satirical name for lazy monks.
2. When quoting the origin, cite Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable (1898) — this is a 19th-century record, not a modern etymology.

## Sources

- [Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable (1898) — Wikisource proofread text](https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Brewer%27s_Dictionary_of_Phrase_and_Fable/Abbey-lubber)

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