person from Porlock

English

Etymology

In reference to an unwelcome visitor described by Samuel Taylor Coleridge as interrupting him during his composition of the poem Kubla Khan in 1797, and preventing its completion.

Noun

person from Porlock (plural persons from Porlock or people from Porlock)

1. (idiomatic) One whose inconvenient interruption prevents the completion of something important.

   Synonym: man from Porlock

Related terms

• porlock
• Porlockian