Etymology

Interjection

1. Expressing regret at a loss of former glory or high standards.

   • 1819: ”Better the tomb of her fathers than the dishonourable couch of the licentious and savage Templar. Ichabod! Ichabod! the glory hath departed from my house!” — Walter Scott, Ivanhoe
   • 1950: Except for the library, the eastern wing, from the Tower of Flints onwards, was now but a procession of forgotten and desolate relics, an Ichabod of masonry that filed silently along an avenue of dreary pine whose needles hid the sky. — Mervyn Peake, Titus Groan
   • 1952: Ichabod, felt Lord Emsworth, and was still in a disturbed state of mind, though gradually becoming soothed by listening to that sweetest of all music, the sound of the Empress restoring her tissues — P. G. Wodehouse, Pigs Have Wings