Bishop Barker

English

Etymology

After Frederic Barker, who became the second Anglican bishop of Sydney, Australia, in 1855 and was noted for his height and for being a teetotaller. The expression became obsolete in the 1870s.

Pronunciation

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Noun

Bishop Barker (plural Bishop Barkers)

1. (Australia, slang, obsolete) A very tall glass of beer.
   • 1898, Price Warung, Dictionary Ned, in Half-Crown Bob and Tales of the Riverine, quoted in 1970, Bill Wannan, Australian Folklore,

     For a "Bishop Barker" he would compose a quatrain on any subject – a person preferred – suggested by the man who tipped him the drink […] .

   • 2007, Pip Wilson, Faces in the Street: Louisa and Henry Lawson and the Castlereagh Street Push‎^[1], page 155:

     Henry lays a shilling down on the wet bar towel at the Lass, asks Murwillumbah Marie for some ship′s biscuits or cheese but they don't do them on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays any more, and he brings back two cold, foaming Bishop Barkers.