an admirable Crichton a person who excels in all kinds of studies and pursuits, or who is noted for supreme competence.

☞ This expression originally referred to James Crichton of Clunie (1560–85?), a Scottish nobleman renowned for his intellectual and physical prowess. In J. M. Barrie's play The Admirable Crichton (1902), the eponymous hero is a butler who takes charge when his master's family is shipwrecked on a desert island.