ENGLISH
REFERENCE

curate's egg

idiom
Meaning

A thing which has good and bad parts, but is overall spoiled by the bad.


Origin

first recorded 19th c.

From a cartoon by the Franco-British cartoonist and author George Du Maurier (1834–1896) captioned “True Humility” in the 9 November 1895 issue of Punch magazine, in which a bishop says to his mealtime guest, a curate, “I’m afraid you’ve got a bad egg, Mr. Jones!” The timid curate replies, “Oh no, my Lord, I assure you! Parts of it are excellent!”.

Examples
SIMPLE

The new movie is a curate's egg.

CONTEXTUAL

The restaurant's menu is a curate's egg, with delicious appetizers but very poor main courses.

COMPLEX

While the novel contains moments of genuine brilliance, it remains a curate's egg due to its disjointed narrative and weak character development.

Anchors to
Related idioms7entries
  1. 01

    a wild goose never laid a tame egg

    Most things are inherited and predetermined.

  2. 02

    bad egg

    Someone whose behaviour is reprehensible or irresponsible; a rogue.

  3. 03

    borrow and beg

    [Cockney slang]egg

  4. 04

    egg on

    To encourage or coax (a person) to do something, especially something foolhardy or reckless.

  5. 05

    good egg

    A good person, someone to be trusted; a friend.

  6. 06

    lay an egg

    To produce a failure or flop; to do something which is unsuccessful.

  7. 07

    rotten egg

    A person who is the latest, the last, or the slowest in a group to arrive somewhere or to perform a certain task.

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