pure as the driven snow
Absolutely virtuous or chaste; unsullied by sin or immoral behavior. If you expect teenagers to remain pure as the driven snow, you've got another think coming. Kate would never cheat on an exam—she's pure as the driven snow.
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms. © 2024 Farlex, Inc, all rights reserved.
*pure as the driven snow
pure and chaste. (Often used ironically. *Also: as ~.) Jill: Sue must have gone to bed with every man in town. Jane: And I always thought she was as pure as the driven snow. Robert was notoriously promiscuous, but tried to convince all his girlfriends that he was pure as the driven snow.
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs. © 2002 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
pure as the driven snow
Morally unsullied, chaste, as in She's just sixteen and pure as the driven snow. This simile dates from the late 1500s, although driven, which means "carried by the wind into drifts," was occasionally omitted. It is heard less often today.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer. Copyright © 2003, 1997 by The Christine Ammer 1992 Trust. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
pure as the driven snow
completely pure. When used of snow, driven means that it has been piled into drifts or made smooth by the wind. The phrase was famously parodied by the actress Tallulah Bankhead in 1947 : ‘I'm as pure as the driven slush’.
Farlex Partner Idioms Dictionary © Farlex 2017
(as) pure as the driven ˈsnow
(often humorous) innocent or morally good: I don’t think you’re really in a position to criticize her. You’re hardly as pure as the driven snow yourself!Farlex Partner Idioms Dictionary © Farlex 2017
pure as the driven snow
Morally pure, physically chaste. The simile dates from Shakespeare’s time, although driven, meaning carried along by the wind into drifts, was sometimes omitted. In Hamlet (3.1) he had it, “Be thou as chaste as ice, as pure as snow.” It was a cliché by the time H.W. Thompson wrote (Body, Boots and Britches, 1940), “She was pure as the snow, but she drifted.”
The Dictionary of Clichés by Christine Ammer Copyright © 2013 by Christine Ammer