pope

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Related to pope: Pope Joan, Alexander Pope, Pope Benedict XVI, List of popes

as the actress said to the pope

An aside that is used to create a humorous but lewd sexual innuendo out of something mundane or innocent that someone else has said. (The use of "actress" is because the innuendo always refers to a woman in a sexual situation.) Primarily heard in UK. A: "Wow, that sandwich is huge!" B: "Yeah, I can barely put my hands around it." C: "As the actress said to the pope!"

be more Catholic than the Pope (himself)

1. To be more stringently adherent to the laws, tenets, and doctrines of the Catholic faith than is taught or required by the papacy or the Church as a whole. (Usually used hyperbolically as a negative or mocking criticism of someone as being overly pious.) I can't believe we're not allowed to eat meat on Fridays while we're staying with Grandma. She's more Catholic than the Pope himself! Ah, would you stop with your protestations of our mortal sins and telling us to repent every minute of the day! I swear, you're more Catholic than the Pope.

2. By extension, to be more extreme in one's beliefs, behavior, attitudes, etc., than that of the prevailing authority or standard of normalcy. After a year, Jake had started using every dialectic cliché and slang word he had heard in his adopted country, and soon, he was more Catholic than the Pope, so to speak.

Is the Pope (a) Catholic?

A humorous response to a question that the speaker feels would obviously be answered in the affirmative. A: "Are you going to the party tonight?" B: "Is the Pope a Catholic? Of course I'll be there!" A: "Do you think Dave took the money?" B: "Are you kidding? Is the Pope Catholic?"

See also: pope

more Catholic than the Pope (himself)

1. More stringently adherent to the laws, tenets, and doctrines of the Catholic faith than is taught or required by the papacy or the Church as a whole. (Usually used hyperbolically as a negative or mocking criticism of someone as being overly pious.) I can't believe we're not allowed to eat meat on Fridays while we're staying with Grandma. She's more Catholic than the Pope himself! Ah, would you stop with your protestations of our mortal sins and telling us to repent every minute of the day! I swear, you're more Catholic than the Pope.

2. By extension, more extreme in one's beliefs, behavior, attitudes, etc., than that of the prevailing authority or standard of normalcy. After a year, Jake had started using every dialectic cliché and slang word he had heard in his adopted country, and soon he was more Catholic than the Pope, so to speak.

out-pope the Pope

1. To be or act more stringently adherent to the laws, tenets, and doctrines of the Christian faith (not limited to Catholicism) than is taught or required by the papacy or Christianity as a whole. Usually used hyperbolically as a negative or mocking criticism of someone fro being overly pious. I can't believe we're not allowed to eat meat on Fridays while we're staying with Grandma. She could out-pope the Pope! The zealous preacher-turned-Senator's campaign is so strictly rooted in Biblical law that many feel he's out-poping the Pope.

2. By extension, to be more extreme in one's behavior, attitudes, practices, etc., than that of the prevailing authority or standard of normalcy. Among the Nordic countries, all known for their exceptional social welfare policies, Denmark out-popes the Pope in terms of providing care for its people.

See also: pope

pope's nose

The fatty tail of a cooked fowl, especially a chicken. When we were kids, it was always a special treat to be given the pope's nose off the Sunday roast chicken.

said the actress to the pope

the pope's mustard maker

A pompous person, especially one in an insignificant job or role. In the 14th century, Pope John XXII had a personal "moutardier" (mustard-maker) to ensure that his food was properly seasoned. All she does is copy files all day, but she acts like she's the pope's mustard maker. I practically have to beg for a chance to use the copier!

is the Pope a Catholic?

People say Is the Pope a Catholic? to mean that the answer to a question is obviously yes. `You know how to find it?' Leaphorn asked. `Is the Pope a Catholic?' the taxi driver said. Note: This expression is used humorously.

See also: pope

Collins COBUILD Idioms Dictionary, 3rd ed. © HarperCollins Publishers 2012

Is the Pope (a) Catholic?

used to indicate that something is blatantly obvious. informal

See also: pope

Farlex Partner Idioms Dictionary © Farlex 2017

is the Pope Catholic?

A positive response (yes) to what one considers a stupid question. Dating from the mid-twentieth century, this answer should be avoided in polite society.

See also: pope

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References in classic literature ?

He derived the ideas, in fragmentary fashion, from Bolingbroke, who was an amateur Deist and optimist of the shallow eighteenth century type, and so far was Pope from understanding what he was doing that he was greatly disturbed when it was pointed out to him that the theology of the poem was Deistic rather than Christian [Footnote: The name Deist was applied rather generally in the eighteenth century to all persons who did not belong to some recognized Christian denomination.

Pope's physical disabilities brought him to premature old age, and he died in 1744.

Indeed, Pope's whole attitude toward woman, which appears clearly in his poetry, was largely that of the Restoration.

The question of Pope's rank among authors is of central importance for any theory of poetry.

[Note: The judgments of certain prominent critics on the poetry of Pope and of his period may well be considered.

The abstract, the typical, the general--these were everywhere exalted at the expense of the image, the specific experience, the vital fact.' Lowell declares that it 'ignored the imagination altogether and sent Nature about her business as an impertinent baggage whose household loom competed unlawfully with the machine-made fabrics, so exquisitely uniform in pattern, of the royal manufactories.' Still more hostile is Matthew Arnold: 'The difference between genuine poetry and the poetry of Dryden, Pope, and all their school, is briefly this: Their poetry is conceived and composed in their wits, genuine poetry is conceived and composed in the soul.

To the informal position of dictator of English letters which had been held successively by Dryden, Addison, and Pope, succeeded in the third quarter of the eighteenth century a man very different from any of them, one of the most forcefully individual of all authors, Samuel Johnson.

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Despatch it soon: The Pope shall curse, that Faustus came to Rome.

Pope Adrian, let me have right of law: I was elected by the Emperor.

POPE. We will depose the Emperor for that deed, And curse the people that submit to him: Both he and thou shall stand excommunicate, And interdict from church's privilege And all society of holy men.

Pope Julius swore to princely Sigismond, For him and the succeeding Popes of Rome, To hold the Emperors their lawful lords.

POPE. Pope Julius did abuse the church's rights, And therefore none of his decrees can stand.

Yes, Mephistophilis; and two such cardinals Ne'er serv'd a holy Pope as we shall do.

POPE. Welcome, grave fathers: answer presently What hath our holy council there decreed Concerning Bruno and the Emperor, In quittance of their late conspiracy Against our state and papal dignity?

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There were two palaces and a vineyard behind the Palatine Hill; but in these days landed property had not much value, and the two palaces and the vineyard remained to the family since they were beneath the rapacity of the pope and his son.