A Dictionary of Proverbs (Oxford Paperback Reference)

1539 R. TAVERNER tr. Erasmus’ Adages 44 Thurst out nature wyth a croche [staff],

yet woll she styll runne backe agayne. 1831 T. L. PEACOCK Crotchet Castle i. Mr.

Crotchet.. seemed.. to settle down.. into an English country gentleman. .. But as, though

you expel nature with a pitchfork, she will always come back. 1927 ‘D. YATES’ Blind

Corner vi. There’s a proverb which is rather in point. ‘You can drive Nature out with a

pitchfork, but she’ll always come back.’ I know you’re using a bucket instead. But.. the

result is the same. 1980 C. GAVIN How sleep Brave xiv. There was feminine logic for

you!.. ‘You can drive out Nature with a pitchfork,.. but she keeps on coming back.’ 2002

Times 31 May 41 ‘Pitchfork nature out of doors and it will come back through a window’

was a comment on many would-be papal reforms. Nature; persistence

drive see also BAD money drives out good; HUNGER drives the wolf out of the wood;
NEEDS must when the Devil drives; ONE nail drives out another.

drop see the LAST drop makes the cup run over.

dropping see CONSTANT dropping wears away a stone.

drowned see if you’re BORN to be hanged then you’ll never be drowned.

A DROWNING man will clutch at a straw

One grabs at the slightest chance when all hope is slipping away. Clutch is comparatively
recent and is more suggestive of desperation than the earlier catch. To clutch at a straw (or
straws) is frequently used as a metaphorical phrase.

1534 MORE Dialogue of Comfort (1553) iii. Lyke a man that in peril of drowning

catcheth whatsoeuer cometh next to hand.. be it neuer so simple a sticke. 1583 J. PRIME

Fruitful & Brief Discourse I. 30 We do not as men redie to be drowned, catch at euery

straw. 1623 J. HALL Contemplations VII. xix. 252 The drowning man snatches at every

twig. .. The messengers of Benhadad catch hastily at that stile of grace, and hold it fast.

1748 RICHARDSON Clarissa VII. i. A drowning man will catch at a straw, the Proverb

well says. 1877 W. COLLINS My Lady’s Money xv. His gratitude caught at those words,

as the drowning man is said to catch at the proverbial straw. 1915 CONRAD Victory IV.

viii. Wang seemed to think my insistence.. very stupid and tactless. But a drowning man

clutches at straws. 1967 RIDOUT & WITTING English Proverbs Explained 49 A

drowning man will clutch at a straw. 1967 T. STOPPARD Rosencrantz & Guildenstern

are Dead III. 80 We drift down time, clutching at straws. But what good’s a brick to a

drowning man? hope and despair