Brit Dopers: origin of this phrase.....

[Shirley_Ujest]

In romance novels, primarily the Regencies, there is a phrase that I know what it means, but I want to know exactly where it came from and all my searches have come up dry.

** To stick one’s spoon in the wall ** : means to die, but…well…I don’t get it.

[everton]

According to bartleby.com:

Stuck his Spoon in the Wall.

Took up his residence. Sometimes it means took up his long home, or died. In primitive times a leather strap was very often nailed to the wall, somewhere near the fireplace, and in this strap were stuck such things as scissors, spoons for daily use, pen-case, and so on. In Barclay’s Ship of Fools is a picture of a man stirring a pot on the fire, and on the wall is a strap with two spoons stuck into it.

But it’s using Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable as its source, and I’ve been told off for using that before now on these boards.

[Shirley_Ujest]

Thanks, everton.