A Dictionary of Proverbs (Oxford Paperback Reference)

many see also there’s many a GOOD tune played on an old fiddle; many a TRUE word is
spoken in jest; many go out for WOOL and come home shorn.

MARCH comes in like a lion, and goes out like a lamb

The weather is traditionally wild at the beginning of March, but fair by the end.

a 1625 J. FLETCHER Wife for Month (1717) II. i. ‘I would chuse March, for I would

come in like a Lion.’.. ‘But you’d go out like a Lamb when you went to hanging.’ 1670

J. RAY English Proverbs 41 March hack ham [hackande = annoying] comes in like a lion,

goes out like a lamb. 1849 C. BRONTE Shirley II. iv. Charming and fascinating he

resolved to be. Like March, having come in like a lion, he purposed to go out like a lamb.

1906 E. HOLDEN Country Diary of Edwardian Lady (1977) 25 March has come in like a

lamb with a warm wind.. from the South-west. 2002 Times 2 Mar. 26 ‘When March

comes in like a lion, it goes out like a lamb’ goes the old folklore saying.. The reverse,

however, is also true, and the saying continues: ‘When March comes in like a lamb, it

goes out like a lion,’ which does not bode well for us this year. weather lore

March see also APRIL showers bring forth May flowers; on the FIRST of March the
crows begin to search; so many MISTS in March, so many frosts in May; a PECK of March
dust is worth a king’s ransom.

march see an ARMY marches on its stomach.

mare see the GREY mare is the better horse; MONEY makes the mare to go; NOTHING
so bold as a blind mare.

market see BUY in the cheapest market and sell in the dearest; a MONEYLESS man goes
fast through the market.

MARRIAGE is a lottery

1642 T. FULLER Holy State III. xxii. Marriage shall prove no lottery to thee, when

the hand of providence chuseth for thee, who, if drawing a blank, can turn into a prize by

sanctifying a bad wife unto thee. 1875 S. SMILES Thrift xii. ‘Marriage is a lottery.’ It

may be so, if we abjure the teachings of prudence. 1939 F. SULLIVAN Sullivan at Bay 14