Holy Willie

British  

/ ˈwɪlɪ /

noun

1. a person who is hypocritically pious

---

Etymology

Origin of Holy Willie

C18: from Burns' Holy Willie's Prayer

Example Sentences

Or if he'd never written anything but "Holy Willie's Prayer".

From The Guardian

From the cottage of "Bonnie Jean" and the tomb of "Holy Willie," the field of the "Mountain Daisy" and the church of the "Holy Fair," the birthplace of "Highland Mary" and the grave of "Mary Morison," we came to the shrines of auld Ayr, beside the sea.

From Project Gutenberg

When Hamilton was persecuted by the kirk, Burns, partly out of sympathy with him, wrote the satires, "Holy Willie's Prayer," "The Twa Herds," and "The Holy Fair," which served to unite the friends more closely, and brought the poet often to the house where Mary was an inmate.

From Project Gutenberg

He wrote the "Prayer of Holy Willie."

From Project Gutenberg

The result was The Holy Fair, The Ordination, Holy Willie’s Prayer, and other satires, as much distinguished for their coarse severity and bitterness, as for their genius.

From Project Gutenberg