Well attestedNamed from the place
play in Peoria
verb · first attested early 20th century
Vaudeville treated one Illinois city as the test market for the entire country.
To win acceptance from ordinary Americans; to go over with the general public.
40.6925°N -89.5900°W · Q233129
Record
- Relationship
- Named from the place
- Confidence
- Well attestedThe place link is the standard scholarly account.
- Attested
- early 20th century
- Part of speech
- verb
Explanations here are written for this atlas. Dictionary text is not copied; the sources are linked so the claim can be checked.
- Step 1
Peoria
- In English
play in Peoria
Peoria sat on the main Midwestern vaudeville circuits, and an act that survived there was thought safe anywhere. The phrase moved into politics in 1969, when the Nixon aide John Ehrlichman used it about a decision likely to irritate the coasts. Peoria was also a genuine test market in the commercial sense, and consumer goods firms trialed products there for decades.
United States
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