Top-drawer

Posted by ESC on March 24, 2005

In Reply to: Top-drawer posted by Chris on March 24, 2005

: I know it means the same as "well done" and "good job" but what is the phrases origin?

TOP DRAWER PEOPLE -- "The best (most capable) people available; of high social standing. The top drawer of a dresser usually contains one's jewelry and other valuable things, and herein probably lies the origin of this 20th-century phrase. Rose Macaulay wrote, in 'Potterism' : 'The Potter Family, however respectable now, wasn't really top-drawer.'" From The Dictionary of Cliches by James Rogers (Wings Books, Originally New York: Facts on File Publications, 1985).