Holy of Holies, subs. phr. (common).—1. The Grand Hotel at Brighton. [Which is largely tenanted by Jews: cf., Holy Land (sense 2), and New Jerusalem.]
2. (colloquial).—A private room; a sanctum (q.v.).
1891. N. Gould, Double Event, p. 215. Fletcher did not venture into that holy of holies.
1893. Westminster Gaz., 31 Jan., p. 3, c. 2. The Cabinet Council is the holy of holies of the British Constitution, and as Mr. Bagehot long ago regretted, no description of it at once graphic and authentic has ever been given.
3. (venery).—See Hole, sense 1, and for synonyms, Monosyllable.
Holy Poker (or Iron), subs. phr. (university).—The mace carried by an esquire bedel (of Law, Physic, or Divinity) as a badge of authority. [The term, which is applied to the bedels themselves, is very often used as an oath.]
1840. Comic Almanack, ‘Tom the Devil,’ p, 214. A hotel’s the place for me! I’ve thried em all, from the Club-house at Kilkinny, to the Clarendon, and, by the holy poker, never wish mysilf worse luck than such cantonments!
1870. London Figaro, 8 Oct., p. 2, col. 2. The bedels of a University are very important persons, although derisive undergraduates familiarly term them holy pokers.
1886. R. L. Stevenson, Kidnapped, p. 169. I swear upon the holy iron I had neither art nor part.
2. (venery).—The penis (by a play upon words). Cf., Hole, sense 1, Holy of Holies, sense [[336]]3, and Poke. For synonyms, see Creamstick and Prick.