every Tom, Dick, and Harry

Idioms  

1. Also, every mother's son; every man Jack. Everyone, all ordinary individuals, as in This model should appeal to every Tom, Dick, and Harry. The use of masculine names in this way dates from Shakespeare's time (he used Tom, Dick, and Francis in 1 Henry IV), but the current one dates from the early 1800s. The two variants are largely British usage but occasionally are used in America. The first is recorded as early as 1583, whereas the second dates from the first half of the 1800s.

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Example Sentences

“It was like every Tom, Dick and Harry was encouraged to voice their opinions about what they thought I should do,” Levesque writes.

From Los Angeles Times • Sep. 12, 2024

“If you let in every Tom, Dick and Harry you dilute some of your prestige, and it becomes hard to make decisions,” said Mr. Richey.

From Washington Times • May 18, 2023

“How can you allow every Tom, Dick and Harry to dabble with farmer produce?” said Sukhpal Singh, an agricultural economist at the Indian Institute of Management in Ahmedabad.

From Washington Post • Dec. 4, 2020

“Anyone who thought differently was hounded down and right from the first day every Tom, Dick and Harry who were different suffered,” Véliz says.

From The Guardian • Sep. 9, 2015

There was a time when every Tom, Dick, and Harry, with a run-down shoe and a ragged coat, could count on me for a ten-spot by just holding out his hand, no questions asked.

From Oh, Money! Money! by Porter, Eleanor H. (Eleanor Hodgman)