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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).
Many a true word is spoken in jest; Many hands make light work; March comes in like a lion and goes out like a lamb; Marriages are made in heaven [17] [18] [19] Marry in haste, repent at leisure; Memory is the treasure of the mind; Men are blind in their own cause – Heywood Broun (1888–1939), American journalist
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 ...
An idiom dictionary may be a traditional book or expressed in another medium such as a database within software for machine translation.Examples of the genre include Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, which explains traditional allusions and proverbs, and Fowler's Modern English Usage, which was conceived as an idiom dictionary following the completion of the Concise Oxford English ...
A word-by-word translation of an opaque idiom will most likely not convey the same meaning in other languages. The English idiom kick the bucket has a variety of equivalents in other languages, such as kopnąć w kalendarz ("kick the calendar") in Polish, casser sa pipe ("to break one’s pipe") in French [ 13 ] and tirare le cuoia ("pulling ...
accursed hunger for gold: From Virgil, Aeneid, Book 3, 57. Later quoted by Seneca as quod non mortalia pectora coges, auri sacra fames ("what do not you force mortal hearts [to do], accursed hunger for gold"). auribus teneo lupum: I hold a wolf by the ears: Common ancient proverb, this version from Terence. It indicates that one is in a ...
While the Olympic medals are a customary gift for winning athletes, this year's awards also have a special touch to them: Each gold, silver and bronze medal has an 18-gram hexagonal piece of iron ...
Sands of time (idiom) The Satyr and the Traveller; School of Hard Knocks; Sea change (idiom) Shut up; Silver bullet; Silver lining (idiom) Silver spoon; Sin City (description) Sitting on the fence; Skeleton in the closet; Skin of my teeth; Sliced bread; Small matter of programming; Smoke and mirrors; Speak of the devil; Spitting distance; List ...