Look up Tom, Dick and Harry in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.
The phrase "Tom, Dick, and Harry" is a placeholder for unspecified people.[1][2] The phrase most commonly occurs as "every Tom, Dick, and Harry", meaning everyone, and "any Tom, Dick, or Harry", meaning anyone, although Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable defines the term to specify "a set of nobodies; persons of no note".[3]
Similar expressions exist in other languages of the world, using commonly used first or last names.[4] The phrase is used in numerous works of fiction.
- ^ Shakespeare, William; Bevington, David (1998). Henry IV, Part 1. Oxford University Press. p. 178. ISBN 0-19-283421-5.
- ^ Partridge, Eric (2006). The New Partridge Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English. Taylor & Francis. p. 1981. ISBN 0-415-25938-X.
- ^ Brewer, E. Cobham (1978). Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. Avenel Books. p. 1235. ISBN 0-517-25921-4.
- ^ "Tom Dick and Harry - Other Tom Dick and Harrys". www.tomdickandharry.co.uk. Retrieved 21 August 2017.