Norfolk Howard

noun

A bedbug.

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Meanings

nounNorfolk Howard (plural Norfolk Howards)

plural Norfolk Howards

  1. UKobsoleteslangA bedbug.

    All the insects he had sorted, / Placed in paper bags the insects, / In one bag the Norfolk Howards, / In one bag the fleas, the Jumpers […]

    1888, James Arthur Lees, Walter J. Clutterbuck, B.C. 1887: A Ramble in British Columbia, page 244
    1 more example

    Speaking of advertising changes of name, a title by which those lodging-house pests, bugs, are now often known, that of Norfolk Howards, is derived from an advertisement in which one Ephraim Bug avowed his intention of being for the future known as Norfolk Howard.

    1874, Henry Sampson, A history of advertising, page 278

Synonyms & antonyms

Also see
bedbug

Origin

Said to be an allusion to a person named Ephraim Bug, who advertised that in the future he would call himself by the more aristocratic name of Norfolk Howard.

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

Norfolk Howard. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Norfolk%20Howard

MLA

“Norfolk Howard.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Norfolk%20Howard. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “Norfolk Howard,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Norfolk%20Howard.

Source: Norfolk Howard on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.