Meanings
- obsoleteuncountablePleasant but empty words, insincere promises or flattery.
O Nunkle, Court holy‐water in a dry houſe, is better then this Rain‐water out o’doore. Good Nunkle, in, aske thy Daughters bleſſing, heere’s a night pitties neither Wiſemen, nor Fooles.
c. 1603–1606, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of King Lear”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene ii], page 296, column 11 more example
The King & his Nobles thinke they may ſleepe in quiet, Now they haue giuen vs a little holy water at the Court, But thers no ſuch matter, we be no ſuch fooles, To be bobd out with words and after come to hanging: […]
1593, anonymous author, The Life and Death of Iacke Straw […], →OCLC, Act IIISynonyms: court holy bread
Synonyms & antonyms
nounPleasant but empty words, insincere promises or flattery.
Cite this entry
court holy water. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/court%20holy%20water
“court holy water.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/court%20holy%20water. Accessed November 5, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “court holy water,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/court%20holy%20water.
Source: court holy water on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.