PRINCESS AND THE PEA, THE


Meaning of PRINCESS AND THE PEA, THE in English

ˌPrincess and the ˈPea, The BrE AmE

a ↑ fairy tale by Hans Christian ↑ Andersen in which a young woman proves that she is a princess by noticing that there is a ↑ pea (=a small round green vegetable) under the pile of ↑ mattress es she has been sleeping on. A queen has put the pea under her bed as a test to see if the young woman will feel it, because only a real princess would be so delicate that she would notice a small pea. As a result, the queen allows the young woman to marry her son, a prince.

Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English.      Longman - Словарь современного английского языка.