First recorded in 1545–55
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
He, however, is so wrapped up in his studies of phonetics that his only interest in Eliza is her appalling command of the king's English.
From Seattle Times ● Aug. 25, 2011
Episcopalians seem to be polls apart It was in 1549 that the Church of England forsook the Latin liturgy and began worshiping in the king's English.
From Time Magazine Archive
This book makes no more sense than the king's English, but it projects the same fey charm.
From Time Magazine Archive
From the cockney and king's English of My Fair Lady, past the pure Iowa corn of The Music Man to the pidgin of Flower Drum Song, the best of the musicals make a cosmopolitan chorus.
From Time Magazine Archive
"Ah, Rosie, my bonnie lassie, how can you treat your auld kinsman so ill as to suspect him of murdering the king's English in that style?" queried the old gentleman in hurt, indignant tones.
From Elsie at Viamede by Finley, Martha
The King's English and Cockney are no longer common dialects among young people in the South East of England, according to a new study.
From BBC ● Nov. 2, 2023
In The King’s English, the Fowler brothers counseled against Americanisms, but expressed envy over fall:
From Slate ● Sep. 22, 2018
Kingsley Amis, in The King’s English, calls alright a “oneword travesty”.
From The Guardian ● Mar. 25, 2016
So for now, the King’s English is still in business, and Ms. Burton and her employees have kept their insurance.
From New York Times ● Sep. 17, 2010
It wasn’t until the eighteenth century that the double negative was declared a sin against the King’s English, on the ground that one negative canceled the other.
From "Woe Is I" by Patricia T. O'Conner
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
