holy show

noun

A shameful spectacle; a scene.

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Meanings

nounholy show (plural holy shows)

plural holy shows

  1. A shameful spectacle; a scene.

    […] here am I now, in the flower o' my days, […] in this old box pitched up on top of a hill, and shaking to every blast o' wind like a straw upon the waters […] disgracen himself an' all belongen to him. There'll be a holy show med of us with the Wran-boys.

    1827, [Gerald Griffin], chapter 1, in The Half Sir (Tales of the Munster Festivals; 1), London: Saunders and Otley, →OCLC, page 229

Origin

Compared by the English Dialect Dictionary to the phrase holy bizen, holy byzont; see bizen.

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

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

MLA

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

Chicago

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

Source: holy show on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.