porcelain goddess
English
[edit]Pronunciation
[edit]- (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /ˈpɔːsəlɪn ˈɡɒdɛs/, /-ɪs/
- (General American) IPA(key): /ˈpɔɹsəlɪn ˈɡɑdəs/, /ˈpɔɹslɪn ˈɡɑdəs/
Audio (General Australian): (file) - Hyphenation: por‧ce‧lain god‧dess
Noun
[edit]porcelain goddess (plural porcelain goddesses)
- (figurative) metaphor for a woman, often stressing paleness, delicateness or lack of emotion.
- 2012, Julie Lessman, A Love Surrendered:
- It was a breathless whisper from a porcelain goddess, pale cheeks accentuating striking blue eyes and glossy pink lips, full and parted with shallow breaths.
- Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see porcelain, goddess.
- 1826, Robert Morrison, A Parting Memorial:
- In China, there is not a street, nor a shop, nor a palace, nor a hovel, nor a college, nor a poor fisherman's boat, that has not an idol; a carved image of wood, or a porcelain goddess, or a molten divinity of clay, or a literary god of bronze [...]
- (idiomatic, humorous, chiefly in the singular) A toilet bowl.
- Synonym: porcelain god