News1 min ago
Mutton dressed as lamb
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Where does the phrase 'Mutton dressed as Lamb' originate?
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For more on marking an answer as the "Best Answer", please visit our FAQ.in this context, dressed means jointed like,cooked like or served like. Lamb is a very tender meat with a delicate flavour, whereas mutton has a stronger flavour and is tougher so it needs different seasonings and cooking techniques. Lamb also used to be a seasonal delicacy and commanded a higher price, so if you could get away with dresing your mutton as lamb, you could sell it for more money.
Woofgang's answer is, of course, correct on a purely factual basis. However, the phrase is far more often used to suggest an older woman dressed up, wearing make-up etc to make herself look like a younger one. It was first used in print in this sense by Kipling in the 1890s, referring to a young man making a fool of himself over a woman old enough to be his mother.
(In the literal sense, I can't remember when I last saw mutton for sale, even! It all seems to be 'lamb' nowadays.)