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Today, the phrase have an albatross around your neck is used to characterize an unpleasant duty or circumstance that’s impossible to avoid. It can refer to something...
phrase ‘An albatross around your neck’. This phrase refers to lines from the poem The Rime of the Ancient Mariner by Samuel Taylor Coleridge, in which the eponymous mariner, who shoots an albatross, is obliged to carry the burden of the bird hung around his neck as a punishment for and reminder of his ill deed.
The Albatross depicts 17 sailors on the deck of a wooden ship facing an albatross. Icicles hang from the rigging. "The Albatross about my Neck was Hung", etching by William Strang, published 1896. The sailors change their minds again and blame the mariner for the torment of their thirst.
The phrase "albatross around neck" is a powerful metaphor for describing a significant, lingering burden, often associated with guilt or a difficult problem. It's a useful expression in both literary and everyday language to convey the weight of carrying long-standing challenges.
albatross around one's neck. (idiomatic, figurative) A characteristic, possession, associate, or previous deed that hinders one's ability to succeed. He bought the properties last year hoping to make a profit by reselling them; however, with the economic downturn, they have become an albatross around his neck.
The idiom albatross around one’s neck refers to a heavy burden someone carries, especially a burden that torments someone incessantly. This idiom comes from the 19th-century poem The Rime of the Ancient Mariner.
The phrase an albatross around one’s neck denotes a source of frustration, obstruction or guilt, from which it is difficult to rid oneself.
If you describe something as an albatross around your neck or round your neck, you mean that it causes you great problems from which you cannot escape, or it prevents you from doing what you want to do.
The idiom “albatross around one’s neck” is widely used in English to describe a burden or obstacle that someone carries with them, often due to their own actions or decisions. This phrase can be applied to various situations, from personal struggles to professional challenges.
An annoying burden: “That old car is an albatross around my neck.” Literally, an albatross is a large sea bird. The phrase alludes to Samuel Taylor Coleridge 's poem “ The Rime of the Ancient Mariner,” in which a sailor who shoots a friendly albatross is forced to wear its carcass around his neck as punishment.