secret of Polichinelle
nounEtymology
Calque of French secret de Polichinelle.
Definitions
A supposed secret known to everyone.
- In October and November 1910 there was a great secret of Polichinelle. Conceivably we may learn from some future historian even more about it than we knew at the time.
- It is said that Polst fell because he revealed in an unlucky interview the Secret of Polichinelle, the secret which all the world knew, the secret that there was a claque at the Metropolitan Opera House.
- British public life specializes in an elegant variation of the secret of Polichinelle. After a secret is disclosed it may still be treated as if it were a secret.
The neighborhood
Vish — recursive loop
No curated loop yet for secret of Polichinelle. 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