put the beggar on the gentleman

English

Verb

put the beggar on the gentleman (third-person singular simple present puts the beggar on the gentleman, present participle putting the beggar on the gentleman, simple past and past participle put the beggar on the gentleman)

1. (UK, idiomatic, slang, obsolete) To follow up something good with something inferior.
   • 1838, Great Britain. Parliament. House of Commons, Parliamentary Papers, volume 11:

     He called for two gills of ale, and I took my share; but I was determined not to put the beggar on the gentleman, that was my phrase to him, being a fellow workman. And when they brought the two glasses of ale, I took mine, and gave it to a man of the name of Thomas Kay; […]

   • 1979, Harold W. Thompson, Body, Boots, and Britches, page 504:

     And there is the grandmother who says scornfully, if someone makes a good cake with poor icing, "That is putting the beggar on the gentleman".

References

• 1873, John Camden Hotten, The Slang Dictionary (describing porter drunk after spirits)