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Kuiper uses the fact that this idiom is a phrase that is a part of the English lexicon (technically, a "phrasal lexical item"), and that there are different ways that the expression can be presented—for instance, as the common "hail-fellow-well-met," which appears as a modifier before the noun it modifies, [6] [7] versus the more original ...
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).
If known, their origins are noted. A proverbial phrase or expression is a type of conventional saying similar to a proverb and transmitted by oral tradition. The difference is that a proverb is a fixed expression, while a proverbial phrase permits alterations to fit the grammar of the context. [1] [2] In 1768, John Ray defined a proverbial ...
11. “Believe you can and you're halfway there.” 12. “People don't care how much you know until they know how much you care.” 13. “When you're at the end of your rope, tie a knot and hang ...
Glossary of English-language idioms derived from baseball; Bed of roses; Belling the Cat; Best friends forever; Between Scylla and Charybdis; Bill matter; Birds of a feather flock together; Black sheep; Blessing in disguise; Blood, toil, tears and sweat; Born in the purple; The Boy Who Cried Wolf; Bread and butter (superstition) Break a leg ...
To illustrate this figuratively: Is this glass half empty or half full? "Is the glass half empty or half full?", and other similar expressions such as the adjectives glass-half-full or glass-half-empty, are idioms which contrast an optimistic and pessimistic outlook on a specific situation or on the world at large. [1] "
An older English term that was sometimes used for this meaning is afterwit; it is used, for example, in James Joyce's Ulysses (Chapter 9).. The Yiddish trepverter ("staircase words") [4] and the German loan translation Treppenwitz express the same idea as l'esprit de l'escalier.
The phrase was reported widely in the international media when Ronald Reagan quipped about Russian-American relations during a 1982 presidential news conference. [3] Reagan stated: "For ten years détente was based on words by them [the Russians] and not any words to back them up.