Piccadilly
(pɪkəˈdɪlɪ)
The name of a street and circus (sense 7) in London (see note s.v. piccadill, pickadill), used attrib. in Piccadilly weeper(s), long drooping side whiskers, sometimes extending below the chin, worn without a beard; loosely = Dundreary whiskers s.v. Dundreary; Piccadilly window (slang), a monocle.
| 1874 Hotten Slang Dict. 252 Piccadilly weepers, long carefully combed-out whiskers of the Dundreary fashion. 1894 Piccadilly weeper [see Dundreary]. 1897 E. Graham Golden Dustman (song), Nah I'm goin' to be a reg'lar toff... A Piccadilly winder in my eye. 1907 [see Burnside, burnside]. 1909 J. R. Ware Passing Eng. 195/2 Piccadilly window (street, '90's), single eye-glass worn by some men of fashion—hence the Piccadilly. 1936 P. M. Clark Autobiogr. Old Drifter xiii. 177 ‘It’ was a regular Ha-ha Johnnie with a ‘Piccadilly window’ in his eye. 1960 C. W. Cunnington et al. Dict. Eng. Costume 163/1 Piccadilly weepers. 1870's and 1880's. (M.) Long combed-out whiskers fashionable in those decades. 1973 J. Fleming You won't let me Finish ii. 19 A fragile moustache that drooped right down past his mouth, the kind of moustache that used to be called a ‘Piccadilly weeper’. |