E. Cobham Brewer 1810–1897. Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. 1898.
Far fetched.
Not closely connected; a remote conceit; as, “a far-fetched simile,” a “far-fetched allusion.” Also, obtained from a foreign or distant country, “quod rarum est, carum est.”
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“The passion for long, involved sentences … and far-fetched conceits … passed away, and a clearer and less ornate style became popular.”—Lecky: English in the Eighteenth Century, vol. i. chap. i. p. 91.
