clutch one's pearls

verb

Etymology

From the stereotype of a woman who wears pearls and is easily offended.

Definitions

  1. To react with consternation to someone or something that violates the usual norms.

    • Of course, you can't say any of this out loud, or people will clutch their pearls and call you a monster.
    • I can tell you I've heard some ugly shit that would make Ozzy Osbourne clutch his pearls.
    • Nala wasn't the type to clutch her pearls and run home.

The neighborhood

Vish — recursive loop

No curated loop yet for clutch one's pearls. Loops are being traced one word at a time while the ingestion pipeline matures.

sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA