A Dictionary of Proverbs (Oxford Paperback Reference)

squeeze see an APPLE-PIE without some cheese is like a kiss without a squeeze.

stable see because a MAN is born in a stable that does not make him a horse.

It is too late to shut the STABLE-door after the horse has bolted

In early use the proverb referred to horse-stealing; has bolted is a modern substitution for
the traditional is stolen. Cf. medieval Fr. a tart ferme on l’estable, quant li chevaux est perduz,
the stable is shut too late, when the horse is lost.

c 1350 Douce MS 52 no. 22 When the hors is stole, steke [lock] the stabull-dore. c

1490 in Anglia (1918) XLII. 204 Whan the stede ys stole, than shytte the stable-dore.

1578 LYLY Euphues 1.188 It is to late to shutte the stable doore when the steede is

stolen: The Trojans repented to late when their towne was spoiled. 1719 DEFOE

Robinson Crusoe II. 92 A dead Bush was cram’d in [the hedge] to stop them [the

Spaniards] out for the present, but it was only shutting the Stable-door after the Stead was

stolen. 1886 R. L. STEVENSON Kidnapped xiv. A guinea-piece.. fell.. into the sea. .. I

now saw there must be a hole, and clapped my hand to the place. .. But this was to lock

the stable door after the steed was stolen. 1940 N. MARSH Death of Peer x. The horse

having apparently bolted, I shall be glad to assist at the ceremony of closing the stable-

door. 1979–80 Verbatim Winter 2 It is too late.. to shut the stable door after the horse has

bolted. 1998 D. HARSTAD Eleven Days (1999) viii. 71 ‘Mike, maybe we should talk to

Rothberg.. ‘ ‘Doesn’t do much good to close the barn door after the horse is out.’

foresight and hindsight; futility; lateness

stalled see BETTER a dinner of herbs than a stalled ox where hate is.

stand see EMPTY sacks will never stand upright; if you don’t like the HEAT, get out of
the kitchen; a HOUSE divided cannot stand; every TUB must stand on its own bottom;
UNITED we stand, divided we fall.

standing see it is as CHEAP sitting as standing.

starve see FEED a cold and starve a fever; while the GRASS grows, the steed starves.

stay see the FAMILY that prays together stays together.