phossy jaw
Britishnoun
Etymology
Origin of phossy jaw
C19: phossy, colloquial shortening of phosphorus
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
In “Match Girl,” the speaker asks, of her little sister, But how can someone younger than me have osteoporosis, and sit googling up a substance that might help it, or give her phossy jaw?
From The New Yorker ● Oct. 1, 2015
I don’t want any articles on phossy jaw, and if I did, I wouldn’t want his.”
From A Collection of Stories, Reviews and Essays by Cather, Willa Sibert
He is clothed in the lives of bent and thwarted weavers, his Way is lit by phossy jaw, he eats from lead-glazed crockery—all his ways are paved with the lives of men….
From Love and Mr. Lewisham by Wells, H. G. (Herbert George)
Phosphorus in some forms is a poison whether taken in solid compounds or inhaled in fumes, producing phossy jaw.
From Maintaining Health Formerly Health and Efficiency by Alsaker, R. L.
Third Scene This gloomy place need not be a mine: it might just as well be a match-factory, with yellow phosphorus, phossy jaw, a large dividend, and plenty of clergymen shareholders.
From The Perfect Wagnerite, Commentary on the Ring by Shaw, Bernard
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.
