粉こな屋やの泥どろ棒ぼう

expression, noun

heavily made-up woman; flour-shop burglar

Archaic derogatory idiom literally meaning 'flour-shop burglar', used to mock a woman wearing thick white makeup, likening her face to a thief dusted with flour. Not in modern use.

• 江え戸ど時じ代だいの洒落しゃれ本ぼんに「粉こな屋やの泥どろ棒ぼう」という言こと葉ばが出でてくる。

  The phrase 'flour-shop burglar' appears in Edo-period humorous books.