Dogberry

dogberry English Etymology From Dogberry, the name of a character in Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing (1600). Pronunciation en /ˈdɒɡbəɹi/ UK en /ˈdɔɡˌbɛɹi/ /ˈdɑɡˌbɛɹi/ US Noun A pompous, foolish or self-important official. from 19th c. en 1971 Keith Thomas (historian) Keith Thomas Religion and the Decline of Magic 333 Folio Society 2012 It would be interesting to know how many village Dogberries there were like Thomas Law, the constable of Quendon, Essex, whose reaction in 1651 on being informed of a robbery was to call on the astrologer, William Hills, ‘with an intent to hear what he might say, so that he might make his search accordingly’. Derived terms en Dogberryism en eponyms en William Shakespeare