G.O.M.The initial letters of Grand Old Man; so Mr. Gladstone was called during his premiership 1881-1885. Lord Rosebery first used the expression 26th April, 1882, and the Right Hon. Sir William Harcourt repeated it, 18th October, the same year; since then it has become quite a synonym for the proper name. Source: Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, E. Cobham Brewer, 1894
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