Search results
Results From The WOW.Com Content Network
"Cutting off one's nose to spite one's face" is an expression used to describe a needlessly self-destructive overreaction to a problem: "Don't cut off your nose to spite your face" is a warning against acting out of pique, or against pursuing revenge in a way that would damage oneself more than the object of one's anger.
An idiom is a common word or phrase with a figurative, non-literal meaning that is understood culturally and differs from what its composite words' denotations would suggest; i.e. the words together have a meaning that is different from the dictionary definitions of the individual words (although some idioms do retain their literal meanings – see the example "kick the bucket" below).
"Even a worm will turn" is an English language expression used to convey the message that even the meekest or most docile of creatures will retaliate or seek revenge if pushed too far. [1] The phrase was first recorded in a 1546 collection of proverbs by John Heywood , in the form "Treade a worme on the tayle, and it must turne agayne."
Revenge is a dish best served cold ... Archived from the original on 25 April 2012., list of proverbs, idioms and quotes "English Proverbs Center".
Foreseeing violence throughout Rome, Antony even imagines Caesar's spirit joining in the exhortations: "raging for revenge, with Ate by his side come hot from hell, shall in these confines with a Monarch's voice cry 'Havoc!' and let slip the dogs of war." [1]
An idiom Christian in origin. Tango Uniform [citation needed] Dead, irreversibly broken Military slang: This is "T.U." in the NATO phonetic alphabet, an abbreviation for Tits Up (which is itself an euphemism for an airplane crash). Terminate; especially, terminate with extreme prejudice
"An eye for an eye" (Biblical Hebrew: עַיִן תַּחַת עַיִן, ʿayīn taḥaṯ ʿayīn) [a] is a commandment found in the Book of Exodus 21:23–27 expressing the principle of reciprocal justice measure for measure.
This is a list of idioms that were recognizable to literate people in the late-19th century, and have become unfamiliar since. As the article list of idioms in the English language notes, a list of idioms can be useful, since the meaning of an idiom cannot be deduced by knowing the meaning of its constituent words. See that article for a fuller ...