Vicar of Bray
Britishnoun
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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
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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
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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.
Sang as I shaved the Vicar of Bray.
From The Willoughby Captains by Reed, Talbot Baines
He was at first a supporter of Charles I, then got office and preferment under Cromwell, and yet again, like a veritable Vicar of Bray, became a Royalist on the return of Charles II.
From The Grand Old Man by Cook, Richard B. (Richard Briscoe)
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 Weir, Harrison
The following is an amusing anecdote of the difficulty in which an honest Vicar of Bray found himself in those contentious times.
From Curiosities of Literature, Vol. 2 by Disraeli, Isaac
I took up my bottle, disdaining to stay, And said—"Here's a health to the Vicar of Bray," And cocked up my beaver, and—strutted away.
From The Poems of Philip Freneau, Volume II (of III) by Freneau, Philip
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.
