swallow the dictionary

English

Verb

swallow the dictionary (third-person singular simple present swallows the dictionary, present participle swallowing the dictionary, simple past and past participle swallowed the dictionary)

1. To speak using long or obscure words.
   • 1918, The Saturday Evening Post - Volume 190, page 5:

     I swear, I don't know where you get all this swallowing the dictionary business!” - He himself never read anything but the ticker and the sporting news.

   • 2011, Adrian Furnham, Managing People in a Downturn, →ISBN:

     Knowledge is deposited in (virtual and real) libraries. People who “swallow” the dictionary are articulate, eloquent and verbally dextrous. They have a greater store of words. Knowledge is captured in books, which is why the number of books in a household contains an excellent index of the social class of that house.

   • 2014, Doris Lessing, African Stories, →ISBN, page 293:

     “You swallowed the dictionary?” said Mrs. Black, with an ingratiating smile.

   • 2014, Ray Simm, Hants Hills To Arctic Tundra, →ISBN, page 103:

     When I used a couple of words that an Uncle from the Boston States considered beyond my years, he asked me if I had swallowed the dictionary.