Vicar of Bray
Britishnoun
-
a vicar (Simon Aleyn) appointed to the parish of Bray in Berkshire during Henry VIII's reign who changed his faith to Catholic when Mary I was on the throne and back to Protestant when Elizabeth I succeeded and so retained his living
-
Also called: In Good King Charles's Golden Days. a ballad in which the vicar's changes of faith are transposed to the Stuart period
-
a person who changes his or her views or allegiances in accordance with what is suitable at the time
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.
The son of a man who might have been the original of the Vicar of Bray, he was very little of a poet, less of a priest, but a great deal of a politician.
From The Wits and Beaux of Society Volume 1 by Grace Wharton
Uncle Jay-Jay bawled "The Vicar of Bray" and "Drink, Puppy, Drink" in a stentorian bass voice, holding me on his knee, pinching, tickling, pulling my hair, and shaking me up and down between whiles.
From My Brilliant Career by Miles Franklin
It was the principle of the Vicar of Bray.
From From the Easy Chair, series 2 by George William Curtis
As the document reaches us, it appears to have been “mitigated” by Lethington and Wynram, the Vicar of Bray of the Reformation.
From John Knox and the Reformation by Andrew Lang
The Vicar of Bray is quoted as simply a "turncoat," but this does not affect the argument.
From Our Cats and All About Them Their Varieties, Habits, and Management; and for Show, the Standard of Excellence and Beauty; Described and Pictured by Harrison Weir
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.
