lord privy seal
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 3.39 in modern English
22
Scrabble Score
13
Letters
1
Syllables
11
Unique Chars
Meaning
name
The fifth of the Great Officers of State in the United Kingdom, now used as a sinecure or title for a minister without portfolio.
British usage
Example Sentences
- "Not bad, but it's a bit Lord Privy Seal."
- "Now only people in their late fifties (and there aren't many of us left at the BBC) even remember it; yet a few years ago I heard a young editor and a youngish reporter discussing whether a picture sequence was 'too Lord Privy Seal': that is, too literal and obvious."
- "Between 'a quiet village in the rolling Cotswolds...' (too Lord Privy Seal-ish ) and 'an ugly mood is spreading here' (doesn't fit with the sunlit oaks and silent roads) a good TV reporter will come up with something better."
Etymology
From a sketch on the 1966-67 British satire show The Frost Report, poking fun at the television broadcasting practice of displaying images on screen to accompany spoken monologues. In the sketch, the words Lord Privy Seal in a news report are illustrated with a photo of a lord, photo of a privy (outhouse), and photo of a seal (pinniped) balancing a ball on its nose.
Usage
Inflected Forms
more Lord Privy Seal (comparative)
most Lord Privy Seal (superlative)