or pickled-herring, subs. phr. (old).—A buffoon: see BUFFLE and CABBAGE-HEAD.—GROSE (1785).
1602. SHAKESPEARE, Twelfth Night, i. 5. A plague o’these PICKLE-HERRINGS! How now, sot?
1694. CROWNE, The Married Beau, iv. 1. I don’t know what I am now; a PICKLE-HERRING I think. I’d be loath to meet with a hungry Dutch seaman.
1711. ADDISON, Spectator, No. 47. There is a set of merry drolls … whom every nation calls by the name of that dish of meat which it loves best. In Holland they are termed PICKLED HERRINGS, &c. [See JACK PUDDING.]
