walking encyclopedia
A very knowledgeable person, as in Ask Rob—he's a walking encyclopedia of military history. A similar expression, a walking dictionary, was used by George Chapman in his poem “Tears of Peace” (c. 1600).
RELATED CONTENT
RELATED WORDS
brain, intellectual, braggart, windbag, wiseacre, smarty-pants, smart-ass, know-it-all, sage, scholar, bibliophile, bookman, savant, belletrist, litterateur, wordsmith
Nearby words
- walking beam,
- walking bus,
- walking catfish,
- walking delegate,
- walking dragline,
- walking fern,
- walking fish,
- walking horse,
- walking leaf,
- walking line
The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.