A Dictionary of Proverbs (Oxford Paperback Reference)

He who CAN, does; he who cannot, teaches There are many (frequently humorous) variations on this proverb. 1903 G. B. SHAW Maxims ...

Winter will have another flight: If on Candlemas day it be showre and rain, Winter is gone and will not come again. This is a tr ...

cap fits.. conduct; reputation capacity see GENIUS is an infinite capacity for taking pains. caravan see DOGS bark, but the cara ...

Don’t CARE was made to care Quot. 1959 gives the version of the traditional children’s rhyme found at Hackney, London. 1959 I. & ...

1963 F. MOWAT Never Cry Wolf (1979) 90 This is why the caribou and the wolf are one: for the caribou feeds the wolf but it is th ...

quites el sayo, Do not leave off your Coat till May be past. 1732 T. FULLER Gnomologia no. 6193 Leave not off a Clout [item of c ...

1573 J. SANFORDE Garden of Pleasure 105 A gloued catte can catche no myse. 1592 G. DELAMOTHE French Alphabet II. 1 A mufled Cat ...

The CAT, the rat, and Lovell the dog, rule all England under the hog The allusion is explained in quot. 1586. 1516 R. FABYAN New ...

You cannot CATCH old birds with chaff The wise and experienced are not easily fooled. 1481 CAXTON Reynard the Fox (1880) xl. Wen ...

equal, and frequently superior. 1886 H. JAMES Princess Casamassima I. xiv. ‘If she isn’t, what becomes of your explanation?’.. ‘ ...

The proverb is also used in the phrase to change horses in mid-stream. 1864 A. LINCOLN Collected Works (1953) VII. 384 I am remi ...

from Forfar, Angus, quoted in I. OPIE & M. TATEM Oxford Dictionary of Superstitions (1996) 238 A change of name and not of l ...

proverb, ‘Charity covers a multitude of skins’. 1982 G. HAMMOND Game xvi. Charity, after all, can cover up a multitude of sins. ...

cheek see there is always one who KISSES, and one who turns the cheek. cheeping see MAY chickens come cheeping. cheese see an AP ...

Friday’s child is loving and giving. | Saturday’s child works hard for a living. | And the child born on the Sabbath day | Is bo ...

CHILDREN are certain cares, but uncertain comforts The sense is reversed in the last quotation. 1639 J. CLARKE Parœmiologia Angl ...

choke see it is idle to SWALLOW the cow and choke on the tail. choking see there are more WAYS of killing a cat than choking it ...

His enemies.’.. ‘God’s church is now an anvil, but remember.. it is an anvil which has worn out many hammers. Christianity churc ...

CIVILITY costs nothing Politeness now often replaces civility. Cf. late 15th-cent. Fr. de bouche honnesteté.. petit couste et va ...

1885 E. J. HARDY How to be Happy though Married xix. The Proverb says that ‘Clergymen’s sons always turn out badly’.. because th ...