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To be as "mad as a March hare" is an English idiomatic phrase derived from the observed antics said to occur [1] only in the March breeding season of the European hare (Lepus europaeus). The phrase is an allusion that can be used to refer to any other animal or human who behaves in the excitable and unpredictable manner of a March hare. [2]
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).
In the Zohar, it is considered avi avot hatuma i.e. an ultimate impure animal, and doubly "impure", as it is both non-ruminant and non-cloven hoofed. However, it is the only impure animal that falls under the mitzvah (commandment) of firstborn ("bechor") consecration that also applies to humans and pure animals (See Petter Chamor).
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A list of metaphors in the English language organised alphabetically by type. A metaphor is a literary figure of speech that uses an image, story or tangible thing to represent a less tangible thing or some intangible quality or idea; e.g., "Her eyes were glistening jewels".
The English-language idiom "raining cats and dogs" or "raining dogs and cats" is used to describe particularly heavy rain. It is of unknown etymology and is not necessarily related to the raining animals phenomenon. [1] The phrase (with "polecats" instead of "cats") has been used at least since the 17th century. [2] [3]
Idioms from non-English cultures (4 C, 7 P) L. Legal idioms (3 P) M. Metaphors referring to animals (16 C, 31 P) Pages in category "Idioms"
Several idioms related to pigs have entered the English language, often with negative connotations of dirt, greed, or the monopolisation of resources, as in "road hog" or "server hog". As the scholar Richard Horwitz puts it, people all over the world have made pigs stand for "extremes of human joy or fear, celebration, ridicule, and repulsion ...