Mary Worth

plural Mary Worths

1. An American comic strip character, noted for her kindly role in solving other people's problems.

   Jessica Fletcher, the widowed detective of Murder She Wrote (1984-1996), extended the Mary Worth tradition of kindly meddling to the criminal scene.

   2002, John Shelton Lawrence, Robert Jewett, The Myth of the American Superhero, Wm. B. Eerdmans, page 75

   3 more examples

   "She was the Mary Worth of the district," says her grandson. Edward McCormack Jr. "The one whom everybody came to with their troubles, arbiter of disputes, nurse of the sick, comforter of the oppressed."

   1962, Time, volume 79, numbers 1-13, page 17

   But Orwell's portrayal of dark-jowled KGB-type Thought Police so alerted us to that type of threat that we've been left wide open to be preyed upon by the Ellsworth Tooheys and Mary Worths of the world, those insidious manipulators whose soliticious omnipresence has created the same incentive-crushing bureaucracy which Orwell so vividly depicted.

   1973, Car and Driver, editorial, volume 19 page 8

   You're hung up that personal gratification can't be combined with helping other people. The Mary Worth syndrome—is a euphemism for not facing your own devils.

   2010, Bill Blanchet, The Reform Plan, Trafford Publishing, page 125

2. A spirit of folklore that can be summoned in a mirror, known by various "Mary" names.

   There was another face in the mirror. ... Mary Worth.

   1999, Bentley Little, The House, Penguin

   2 more examples

   Generally known as a girls' tradition common in elementary school, Mary Worth rituals invoke the atmosphere of the seance, but surround that custom in a particular legend.

   1988, Simon J. Bronner, American Children's Folklore, August House, page 168

   “I believe in Mary Worth. I believe in Mary Worth.” Maria's tone was serious as she repeated the phrase.

   2008, JC Conrad-Ellis, Boys, Beauty and Betrayal, Nightengale Press, page 28