Simon Legree

Any boss or enforcer of work who is mercilessly strict and demanding. A reference to the a cruel and vicious slave owner in the Harriet Beecher Stowe novel Uncle Tom's Cabin. He seemed like a nice guy when I first met him, but the new foreman turned out to be a real Simon Legree.

simon-pure

Absolutely genuine or authentic; pure or untainted. A reference to the character Simon Pure in Susannah Centlivre's 1717 play A Bold Stroke for a Wife. The new leader is promising to bring simon-pure democratic principles back into the political discourse.

Simple Simon

dated A foolish, gullible, or incompetent person; a dullard. Scam artists prey on Simple Simons like you—people who would give all their personal details just because someone says they work for the bank. Why on earth did they promote a Simple Simon like Charlie to upper management? He'll run this place into the ground!

the real Simon Pure

old-fashioned The genuine or authentic person or thing; the most pure or untainted example of a type of person or thing. A reference to a character in Susannah Centlivre's 1717 play A Bold Stroke for a Wife. You have to be careful in these market bazaars that what you're buying is the real Simon Pure and not some cheap imitation. Though many had their doubts about her dedication to the cause, the party's new leader has proven herself to be the real Simon Pure.

simon pure

Absolutely genuine, quite authentic, as in That laboratory test was simon pure; none of the specimens was adulterated. This expression comes from the name of a character in a play, Susannah Centilivre's A Bold Stroke for a Wife (1717), who is the victim of an impersonation but turns up in the end and proves that he is "the real Simon Pure."

the real Simon Pure

the real or genuine person or thing.

Simon Pure is a character in Susannah Centlivre's A Bold Stroke for a Wife ( 1717 ), who for part of the play is impersonated by another character.

Simon Legree

(ˈsɑɪmən ləˈgri)

n. a very hard taskmaster; a hard boss. (From the name of the slave driver in Uncle Tom’s Cabin.) Ask Simon Legree if I will be able to stop work and go home for breakfast now.

simon pure

The real thing, the genuine article. This expression comes from the name of a character in an early eighteenth-century play, Susannah Centilivre’s A Bold Stroke for a Wife (1710). In it, Simon Pure, a Quaker, is the victim of an impersonation by Colonel Feignwell. However, the Quaker turns up in time and proves that he is “the real Simon Pure” (5:1).

simple Simon

A foolish, gullible person; a simpleton. This expression comes from the well-known nursery rhyme “Simple Simon met a pieman going to the fair,” in turn a rhymed version of a tale from an eighteenth-century chapbook. By 1785 Grose’s dictionary defined the term as “a natural, a silly fellow.” James Joyce used it in Ulysses (1922): “I looked so simple in the cradle they christened me simple Simon.” However, it is probably obsolescent.