drive Irish tandem
English
[edit]Verb
[edit]drive Irish tandem (third-person singular simple present drives Irish tandem, present participle driving Irish tandem, simple past drove Irish tandem, past participle driven Irish tandem)
- (UK, dated) To walk; to go by foot.
- c. 1848, Thomas Francis Meagher, Meagher of the Sword: Speeches of Thomas Francis Meagher in Ireland, 1846-1848, his narrative of events in Ireland in July 1848, personal reminiscences of Waterford, Galway, and his schooldays, page 287,
- “Mr. Mayor and fellow citizens,” it was thus he addressed the meeting the morning I returned to Waterford, “I came to attend this meeting, driving Irish tandem — that is one foot before the other.”
- 1901, Jack Mathieu, “That Day at Boiling Downs”, in Australian Ballads & Short Stories, Penguin, published 2003, page 263:
- He was driving Irish tandem, but perhaps I talk at random – / I'd forgotten for a moment you are not all mulga-bred; / What I mean's he had his swag up through his having knocked his nag up
- c. 1848, Thomas Francis Meagher, Meagher of the Sword: Speeches of Thomas Francis Meagher in Ireland, 1846-1848, his narrative of events in Ireland in July 1848, personal reminiscences of Waterford, Galway, and his schooldays, page 287,
Translations
[edit]idiomatic expression meaning "go by foot"