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pure

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be (as) pure as the driven snow

To be virtuous and/or chaste. The bride looked as pure as the driven snow in her gown. Kate would never cheat on an exam—she's pure as the driven snow.

See also: driven, pure, snow

pure and simple

 and plain and simple

absolutely; without further complication or elaboration. I told you what you must do, and you must do it, pure and simple. Will you kindly explain to me what it is, pure and simple, that I am expected to do? Just tell me plain and simple, do you intend to go or don't you?

See also: and, pure, simple

*pure as the driven snow

pure and chaste. (Often used ironically. *Also: as ~.) Jill: Sue must have gone to bed with every man in town. Jane: And I always thought she was as pure as the driven snow. Robert was notoriously promiscuous, but tried to convince all his girlfriends that he was pure as the driven snow.

See also: driven, pure, snow

pure luck

 and blind luck

complete luck; nothing but plain luck. I have no skill. I won by pure luck.

See also: luck, pure

pure and simple

plainly, and without having to say anything else They closed the museum because, pure and simple, it cost too much to run. No one talked about issues or referred to facts - it was just gossip, pure and simple.

Usage notes: sometimes used in the form purely and simply: It was purely and simply the most marvelous vacation.

See also: and, pure, simple

be as pure as the driven snow

to be morally good How dare he criticize me for having an affair? He's not exactly as pure as the driven snow himself.

See also: driven, pure, snow

pure and simple

No more and no less, plainly so, as in This so-called educational video is really a game, pure and simple. This expression is very nearly redundant, since pure and simple here mean "plain" and "unadorned." Oscar Wilde played on it in The Importance of Being Earnest (1895): "The truth is rarely pure and never simple." [Second half of 1800s]

See also: and, pure, simple

pure as the driven snow

Morally unsullied, chaste, as in She's just sixteen and pure as the driven snow. This simile dates from the late 1500s, although driven, which means "carried by the wind into drifts," was occasionally omitted. It is heard less often today.

See also: driven, pure, snow

simon pure

Absolutely genuine, quite authentic, as in That laboratory test was simon pure; none of the specimens was adulterated. This expression comes from the name of a character in a play, Susannah Centilivre's A Bold Stroke for a Wife (1717), who is the victim of an impersonation but turns up in the end and proves that he is "the real Simon Pure."

See also: pure, simon

pure and simple

mod. basically; essentially. Bart is a crook, pure and simple.

See also: and, pure, simple