• Sparrow-fart

    Origin

    From sparrow + fart.

    In the dawn sense, apparently UK dialect (Yorkshire) from ante 1828.

    2007, Nigel Rees, A Word In Your Shell-Like, states the definition “break of day” is included in 1828, William Carr, The Dialect of Craven momenta Cravenæ, ISBN 978-0-554-43398-1.

    • Possibly from earlier British Army usage, from Urdu (sawayray, "early")'''.

    Alternative forms

    Full definition of sparrow-fart

    Noun

    sparrow-fart

    (uncountable)
    (''plural attested only as sparrowfarts)
    1. (uncountable, UK, Australia, slang) A time very early in the day; dawn.
    2. (countable) A person or thing of no consequence.
      • 1922, James Joyce , Episode 18: Penelope,...Miss This Miss That Miss Theother lot of sparrowfarts skitting around talking about politics they know as much about as my backside...
      • 1965, Kurt Vonnegut, God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater, 2011, unnumbered page,‘The hell with the talented sparrowfarts who write delicately of one small piece of one mere lifetime, when the issues are galaxies, eons, and trillions of souls yet to be born.’

    Usage notes

    The sense is also rendered in non-idiomatic constructions such as “when the sparrow farts.”

    Synonyms

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