toujours perdrix
AmericanEtymology
Origin of toujours perdrix
First recorded in 1810–20; literally, “always partridge” (the meaning “too much of a good thing” refers to how a person might tire of eating something they love if that is all they eat)
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.
Shooting is all very well, of course, for those who like it; and so is tennis; and so are early hours; but toujours perdrix.
From Molly Bawn by Hamilton, Margaret Wolfe
Toujours perdrix is bad providing all the world over; but a continual weak imitation of toujours perdrix is worse.
From Modern Women and What is Said of Them A Reprint of A Series of Articles in the Saturday Review (1868) by Calhoun, Lucia Gilbert
Close to the equator, it has too much sameness of characteristic; toujours perdrix.
From From Sail to Steam, Recollections of Naval Life by Mahan, A. T. (Alfred Thayer)
"I am: 'Variety is charming,' says the proverb; and here you know it is toujours perdrix!"
From A Wife's Duty A Tale by Opie, Amelia Alderson
He forestalls in a few months what ought to be the effect of years; namely, the wearying a world soon nauseated with the /toujours perdrix/.
From Ernest Maltravers — Volume 05 by Lytton, Edward Bulwer Lytton, Baron
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.
