Nero Wolfe

plural Nero Wolfes

1. A wealthy gourmand with exacting standards and a wealth of knowledge on specialist subjects, especially orchids.

   One does not nave to have the income of a Nero Wolfe to play with orchids at home. One does need a good library.

   1969, Garden Journal, volumes 19-21, New York Botanical Garden, page 40

   3 more examples

   The utilities indicate that the person is indifferent as to whether or not he washes a saucer or destroys a good egg, but that he prefers a six-egg omelet to a five-egg one and a Nero Wolfe omelet to an ordinary one

   1988, Decision Making: Descriptive, Normative, and Prescriptive Interactions, Cambridge University Press, page 230

   Sir Abercrombie is the Nero Wolfe of Snowdonia; his vanities and obsessions focus not on food, orchids, and English language usage, but on Shakespeare quotations for all occasions.

   2016, Marjorie Garber, The Muses on Their Lunch Hour, Fordham University Press, page 119

   In less than a year Harry had become the Nero Wolfe of cats, thanks to the tidbits fed to him by everyone. It was rumored his favorite foods were gin-soaked olives (though only the green ones), peanuts, and donuts with rainbow sprinkles.

   1999, Earlene Fowler, Dove in the Window, Penguin Publishing Group