Dictionary

mutton dressed as lamb en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• (Australia) audio

Etymology

A metaphorical sense of mutton (“unattractive older woman”) being dressed (clothed) as lamb (“a younger attractive woman”) and also a pun on mutton (“meat from old sheep”) being dressed (prepared) as lamb (“meat from young sheep”), related to obsolete lamb-fashion.

Meanings

1. (UK, derogatory, uncountable) A middle-aged or elderly woman dressed in a style more suited to a young woman, especially if in a deliberate attempt to appear young.
   • 2009, Jah Wobble, Memoirs of a Geezer: Music, Mayhem, Life, Serpent's Tail (Profile Books), UK, page 65, I thought that the American side of punk was generally full of mutton-dressed-as-lamb degenerates, most of whom were smack heads, who could do with acquainting themselves with a bit of soap and some hot water.
   • Cully Barnaby: Dad, that old lady, the mutton dressed as lamb. Do you know her? DCI Tom Barnaby: That's a terrible thing to say... even though it's true. No, I don't. 1998 April 22, Caroline Graham et al., “Faithful unto Death”, in Midsomer Murders:
   • In one of the rare cinematic depictions of an older woman as sexually attractive and active, Moreau also contributes to the end of Syl′s innocence by seducing him in the summer house. No mutton dressed as lamb could have done better! 2003, Elizabeth W. Markson, “Chapter Three: The Female Aging Body Through Film”, in Christopher A. Faircloth, editor, Aging Bodies: Images and Everyday Experience, page 85:
   • Elegant, slightly chic, but not mutton dressed as lamb. It was important to present a professional appearance to her former employer. 2007, L. H. Maynard, M. P. N. Sims, Demon Eyes, New York: Dorchester Publishing, page 224:
   • South African women are also so scared of looking like mutton dressed as lamb that we have plenty of women looking like lamb dressed as mutton! 2009, Dr John Chibaya Mbuya, Bulelwa Muphela, Grooming and Ettiquette for Corporate Men and Women, unnumbered page:

Forms

Translations (10)

it tardona (middle-aged or elderly woman dressed in a style more suited to a young woman) · pl z tyłu liceum, z przodu muzeum (middle-aged or elderly woman dressed in a style more suited to a young woman) · cmn 老來俏 /老来俏 (middle-aged or elderly woman dressed in a style more suited to a young woman) · nl van achteren lyceum, van voren museum (middle-aged or elderly woman dressed in a style more suited to a young woman) · de von hinten Lyzeum, von vorne Museum (middle-aged or elderly woman dressed in a style more suited to a young woman) · pl dzidzia-piernik (middle-aged or elderly woman dressed in a style more suited to a young woman) · pl lampucera (middle-aged or elderly woman dressed in a style more suited to a young woman) · el πουρέιντζερ (middle-aged or elderly woman dressed in a style more suited to a young woman) · ru молодящаяся (middle-aged or elderly woman dressed in a style more suited to a young woman) · el κοριτσόγρια (middle-aged or elderly woman dressed in a style more suited to a young woman)