What exactly is the meaning of the phrase “The morning constitutional”? Is it an early morning walk or the first visit to the bathroom during the day?
What is the origin of this phrase? What is the word “constitutional” doing here?
Learn English – the meaning of the phrase “The morning constitutional”
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The New Oxford American has this:
rest one's case conclude one's presentation of evidence and arguments in a lawsuit.
• humorous said to show that one believes one has presented sufficient evidence for one's views.
It predates Perry Mason by a bit. My New Shorter Oxford English dates the following definition of rest from the mid-1800s:
rest v.
c. Voluntarily conclude presenting evidence in a law case. US.
But I found use of rest [one's] case as early as 1744 (check) from a British trial published in The Gentleman's Magazine Vol. XIV:
The phrase is Irish in origin but now very rarely used in Ireland (except as a sterotypical "Irishism"). It simply means "the best of the morning to you" - perhaps from the idea of unhomogenised milk, where the cream rises to the top. An appropriate response might be a simple "thank you" although the traditional response would be "And the rest of the day to yourself."
Terrible attempts at Irish accents, dancing a jig and leprechaun costumes are entirely optional while saying this.
Best Answer
It literally means "something that is good for your constitution", usually a walk, but it's also a common euphemism for the first visit to the washroom, particularly in areas where heading out to use the facilities is not a very distant memory. It was much more common in my youth (and it's been a while since I was a youth) among older people, and it seemed to carry a bit of feigned poshness among the working class (who didn't need to go for a purposeless walk to get their exercise).