A Dictionary of Proverbs (Oxford Paperback Reference)

land see also you BUY land, you buy stones; when HOUSE and land are gone and spent,
then learning is most excellent; LEARNING is better than house and land.

lane see it is a LONG lane that has no turning.

language see a NATION without a language is a nation without a heart.

large see a GREAT book is a great evil; LITTLE pitchers have large ears.

lark see if the SKY falls we shall catch larks.

The LAST drop makes the cup run over

Similar in sense to the next proverb.

1655 T. FULLER Church Hist. Britain XI. ii. When the Cup is brim full before, the

last (though least) superadded drop is charged alone to be the cause of all the running

over. 1855 H. G. BOHN Hand-Book of Proverbs 509 The last drop makes the cup run

over. 1876 J. PAYN Halves I. x. An application of her brother-in-law for a five-pound

note.. was the last drop that caused Mrs. Raeburn’s cup of bitterness to overflow. 1888 C.

M. YONGE Beechcroft at Rockstone I. i. Valetta burst out crying at this last drop that

made the bucket overflow. excess

It is the LAST straw that breaks the camel’s back

The metaphor is also used allusively, especially in the phrase the last straw.

1655 J. BRAMHALL Defence of True Liberty of Human Actions 54 It is the last

feather may be said to break an Horses back. 1793 in Publications of Colonial Society of

Massachusetts (1954) XXXVI. 298 It is certainly true that the last feather will sink the

camel. 1848 DICKENS Dombey & Son ii. As the last straw breaks the laden camel’s back,

this piece of underground information crushed the sinking spirits of Mr. Dombey. 1876 I.

BANKS Manchester Man III. xv. The last straw breaks the camel’s back. 1983 R.

BARNARD Case of Missing Bronte iii. ‘This is the picture, as far as we have it,’ he said,..

a sigh in his voice that suggested that the visit of the Prime Minister was the final straw

that might break the camel’s back of his professional equilibrium. excess