A Dictionary of Proverbs (Oxford Paperback Reference)

idle bird. 1732 T. FULLER Gnomologia no. 681 As good be an addled Egg, as an idle Bird. 1974 D. CARTER Ghost Writer iii. The chi ...

CARRÉ’ Smiley’s People i. For the next two weeks nothing happened... After the storm had come the calm. peace; trouble AFTER din ...

ALL good things must come to an end The addition of ‘good’ is a recent development. The earlier forms may be compared with EVERY ...

nothing is inevitable. 1971 ‘S. CHANCE’ Septimus and Danedyke Mystery (1973) iii. 31 ‘All things are possible—but some are not v ...

the sense from the implied equivalence of Paris with Heaven. 1858 O. W. HOLMES Autocrat of Breakfast-Table vi. To these must cer ...

civil answer; a SOFT answer turneth away wrath. anvil see the CHURCH is an anvil which has worn out many hammers. ANY port in a ...

An APE’s an ape, a varlet’s a varlet, though they be clad in silk or scarlet A varlet was formerly a menial servant, but the wor ...

l’appétit vient en mangeant, appetite comes with eating; 1600–1 SHAKESPEARE Hamlet I. ii. 143 Why, she would hang on him As if i ...

apple see also the ROTTEN apple injures its neighbours; SMALL choice in rotten apples; STOLEN fruit is sweet. An APPLE-PIE witho ...

DONALDSON Root into Europe ii.16 ‘Didn’t see service as such. Supply and demand myself. Pay and personnel. Laundry and so forth. ...

wise in his own conceit. c 1300 South-English Legendary (EETS) 494 Ffor-sothe thou axest as a fol, and swich ansuere me schul th ...

1930 C. F. GREGG Murder on Bus xxxvii. Inspector Higgins fired his revolver at the sound, deeming attack the better part of defe ...

B B see who SAYS A must say B. babe see out of the MOUTHS of babes—. baby see don’t THROW the baby out with the bathwater. back ...

handouts to putterers will be enough to convince the American people that Everyman is a humanist. 2002 Times 212 June 5 In potat ...

Bad things may be specified as accidents, deaths, or other mishaps; cf. MISFORTUNES never come singly. This is a well-attested f ...

breakfast but a bad supper; NOTHING so bad but it might have been worse; THREE removals are as bad as a fire. bag see EMPTY sack ...

Cf. Q. CURTIUS De Rebus Gestis Alexandri Magni VII. iv. 13 canem timidum vehementius latrere quam mordere, a timid cur barks mor ...

BE what you would seem to be C f. AESCHYLUS Seven against Thebes 1. 592 for he wishes not to appear but to be the best; SALLUST ...

If you can’t BEAT them, join them Lick is more usual in the US. 1941 Q. REYNOLDS Wounded don’t Cry i. There is an old political ...

1769 F. BROOKE Hist. Emily Montague IV. 205 You should remember, my dear, that beauty is in the lover’s eye. 1788 R. CUMBERLAND ...