Colonel Blimp

American  

(sometimes lowercase) Blimp

noun

1. an elderly, pompous British reactionary, especially an army officer or government official.

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Colonel Blimp British  

noun

1. See blimp 2

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Etymology

Origin of Colonel Blimp

After a character appearing in cartoons by David Low

Example Sentences

“So let’s celebrate the fact that I’ve finally seen Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger’s ‘The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp.’

From Washington Post • May 1, 2022

For decades, cartoonists have played with caricatured veterans of the British Raj, from cartoonist David Low’s Colonel Blimp to Colonel Hathi in Disney’s “The Jungle Book.”

From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 11, 2019

The war years saw him work on the prosthetics used to transform Roger Livesey into a balding, pot-bellied blusterer in The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp.

From BBC • Feb. 6, 2013

Watching Ed Miliband describe the roots of his patriotism in his speech to the Labour conference yesterday, I thought of the Life and Death of Colonel Blimp.

From The Guardian • Sep. 29, 2010

Like the time she took me to see Colonel Blimp and sat there weeping all through the scene where the imprisoned German officers are listening to Mendelssohn.

From "Code Name Verity" by Elizabeth Wein