What does fanny adams mean?

Definitions for fanny adams
fanny adams

This dictionary definitions page includes all the possible meanings, example usage and translations of the word fanny adams.

Princeton's WordNet

  1. bugger all, fuck all, Fanny Adams, sweet Fanny Adamsnoun

    little or nothing at all

    "I asked for a raise and they gave me bugger-all"; "I know sweet Fanny Adams about surgery"

  2. Fanny Adamsnoun

    nautical term for tinned meat

Wiktionary

  1. Fanny Adamsnoun

    Nothing (sanitized version of fuck all).

  2. Etymology: From Fanny Adams (1859-1867), a young girl brutally murdered and dismembered. Tins of mutton introduced in the British navy after her death were not liked by the sailors and were taken to be her butchered remains. Fanny Adams then came to mean any worthless thing, and thence nothing at all.

Wikipedia

  1. Fanny Adams

    Fanny Adams (30 April 1859 – 24 August 1867) was an eight-year-old English girl who was murdered by solicitor's clerk, Frederick Baker, in Alton, Hampshire, on 24 August 1867. The murder itself was extraordinarily brutal and caused a national outcry in the United Kingdom. Fanny was abducted by Baker and taken into a hop garden near her home, where she was brutally murdered and dismembered; some parts were never found. Further investigations suggested that two small knives were used for the murder, but it was later ruled they would have been insufficient to carry out the crime and that another weapon must have been used. Used to express total downtime or inaction, the military, manual-trade and locker room talk phrase "sweet Fanny Adams" has been in use since at least the mid-20th century, vying with a stronger expletive. Unusually, the phrase is not a bowdlerisation; "Fanny Adams" arrived in 1860s naval slang to describe the new tinned meat which was of dubious provenance. It broadened to mean anything badly substandard, then further so as to merge with the expletive sharing its initial letters to mean nothing at all. The phrase also appears today as "sweet F.A."

ChatGPT

  1. fanny adams

    "Fanny Adams" is a British slang term used to imply "nothing" or "very little". It is often used in the phrase "sweet Fanny Adams" as a mild form of expletive or to describe worthlessness. The phrase originated from the murder case of an eight-year-old girl named Fanny Adams in England in the 1860s. Later, it became naval slang for tinned mutton, which the sailors likened to the butchered remains of Fanny Adams due to its poor quality. Over time, it has been abbreviated to 'FA', and evolved into a phrase indicating a lack of substance or value.

Wikidata

  1. Fanny Adams

    Fanny Adams was a young English girl murdered by solicitor's clerk Frederick Baker in Alton, Hampshire. The expression "sweet Fanny Adams" refers to her and has come, through British naval slang, to mean "nothing at all".

Matched Categories

How to pronounce fanny adams?

How to say fanny adams in sign language?

Numerology

  1. Chaldean Numerology

    The numerical value of fanny adams in Chaldean Numerology is: 6

  2. Pythagorean Numerology

    The numerical value of fanny adams in Pythagorean Numerology is: 8

Translation

Find a translation for the fanny adams definition in other languages:

Select another language:

  • - Select -
  • 简体中文 (Chinese - Simplified)
  • 繁體中文 (Chinese - Traditional)
  • Español (Spanish)
  • Esperanto (Esperanto)
  • 日本語 (Japanese)
  • Português (Portuguese)
  • Deutsch (German)
  • العربية (Arabic)
  • Français (French)
  • Русский (Russian)
  • ಕನ್ನಡ (Kannada)
  • 한국어 (Korean)
  • עברית (Hebrew)
  • Gaeilge (Irish)
  • Українська (Ukrainian)
  • اردو (Urdu)
  • Magyar (Hungarian)
  • मानक हिन्दी (Hindi)
  • Indonesia (Indonesian)
  • Italiano (Italian)
  • தமிழ் (Tamil)
  • Türkçe (Turkish)
  • తెలుగు (Telugu)
  • ภาษาไทย (Thai)
  • Tiếng Việt (Vietnamese)
  • Čeština (Czech)
  • Polski (Polish)
  • Bahasa Indonesia (Indonesian)
  • Românește (Romanian)
  • Nederlands (Dutch)
  • Ελληνικά (Greek)
  • Latinum (Latin)
  • Svenska (Swedish)
  • Dansk (Danish)
  • Suomi (Finnish)
  • فارسی (Persian)
  • ייִדיש (Yiddish)
  • հայերեն (Armenian)
  • Norsk (Norwegian)
  • English (English)

Word of the Day

Would you like us to send you a FREE new word definition delivered to your inbox daily?

Please enter your email address:


Citation

Use the citation below to add this definition to your bibliography:

Style:MLAChicagoAPA

"fanny adams." Definitions.net. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 29 Apr. 2024. <https://www.definitions.net/definition/fanny+adams>.

Discuss these fanny adams definitions with the community:

0 Comments

    Are we missing a good definition for fanny adams? Don't keep it to yourself...

    Image or illustration of

    fanny adams

    Credit »

    Free, no signup required:

    Add to Chrome

    Get instant definitions for any word that hits you anywhere on the web!

    Free, no signup required:

    Add to Firefox

    Get instant definitions for any word that hits you anywhere on the web!

    Browse Definitions.net

    Quiz

    Are you a words master?

    »
    a protective covering (as for a knife or sword)
    A crate
    B hunch
    C muddle
    D sheath

    Nearby & related entries:

    Alternative searches for fanny adams: