ProbableNamed from the place
swim the Tiber
verb · first attested 20th century
Converts swim one river toward Rome and another toward Constantinople.
To convert to Roman Catholicism, especially from Anglicanism.
Record
- Relationship
- Named from the place
- Confidence
- ProbableThe conventional story is likely, with caveats.
- Attested
- 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
Tiber
- In English
swim the Tiber
The Tiber runs through Rome past the Vatican, so crossing it stands for entering the Catholic Church, and the phrase is used chiefly by Anglicans about their own. Those who turn instead to Eastern Orthodoxy are said to swim the Bosphorus.
Italy
All 63 entries 62 more words from Italy
jeansThe trousers point to Genoa, not to the American West.GenoaparmesanThe grater cheese is an English take on Parma.ParmasybariteThe pleasure-seeker is named for a vanished Greek city in Italy.SybarismagentaThe color is named for a battle in Lombardy.MagentacantaloupeThe melon is named for a papal estate in the Sabine hills.Cantalupo in SabinatarantulaThe spider is named for Taranto.TarantoitalicSlanted type is named for Italy, and more tightly for Venice.VenicesardineThe fish may be named for Sardinia. It also may not.Sardinia