eggs in moonshine en · NOUN
Pronunciation
- (US) audio
Etymology
Probably from the name of a dish, referred to in 16th- and 17th-century English cookbooks, made of egg yolks lightly poached in sweetened rosewater. See also moonshine, culinary sense (US). https://web.archive.org/web/20160721010231/http://www.foodsofengland.co.uk/eggsinmoonshine.htm
Meanings
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(idiomatic, plural, plural-only) A fanciful notion; an unrealistic or ludicrous concept.
[…] your Majesty knows I think the Horn—and that bit of broken stone over there—and your great King Peter—and your Lion Aslan—are all eggs in moonshine.
1951, C. S. Lewis, chapter 7, in Prince Caspian, Collins, published 1998:You may discourse of Hermes' ascending spirit, of Orpheus' enchanting harp, of Homer's divine fury, of Tyrtaeus' enraging trumpet, of Pericles' bouncing thunderclaps, of Plato's enthusiastical ravishment, and I wot not what marvellous eggs in moonshine: but a fly for all your flying speculations when one good-fellow with his odd jests, or one mad knave with his awk hibber-gibber, is able to put down twenty of your smuggest artificial men, that simper it so nicely and coyly in their curious points.
1593, Gabriel Harvey, Pierce's Supererogation, or, A New Praise of the Old Ass: