simon-pure

American  

[sahy-muhn-pyoor] / ˈsaɪ mənˈpyʊər /

adjective

1. real; genuine.

   a simon-pure accent.

---

simon-pure British  

adjective

1. real; genuine; authentic

---

simon pure Idioms  

1. Absolutely genuine, quite authentic, as in That laboratory test was simon pure; none of the specimens was adulterated. This expression comes from the name of a character in a play, Susannah Centilivre's A Bold Stroke for a Wife (1717), who is the victim of an impersonation but turns up in the end and proves that he is “the real Simon Pure.”

---

Etymology

Origin of simon-pure

1710–20; short for the real Simon Pure, alluding to the victim of impersonation in Susanna Centlivre's play A Bold Stroke for a Wife (1718)

Example Sentences

But the notion that small community banks are somehow simon-pure, in contrast to the risk-happy banks of the East and West Coasts, is ludicrous on its face.

From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 21, 2023

“The Kidnap Murder Case” is real, simon-pure Van Dine, and that should be good enough for anybody.

From New York Times • Oct. 21, 2021

And Canadians, with their British-oriented sensibilities, were conscious of amateurism and the role that sport played among the simon-pure.

From New York Times • Jun. 9, 2012

This verdict does not land Santayana in the camp of the simon-pure pessimists.

From Time Magazine Archive

Americanism, and now we shall see what the same simon-pure brand of red, white, and blueism is demanded of the second largest city in the United States.

From The Story of The American Legion by Wheat, George Seay