Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
German – Wenn Schweine fliegen können! is identical with the English saying "when pigs fly", although the older proverb Wenn Schweine Flügel hätten, wäre alles möglich ("if pigs had wings, everything would be possible") is in more common use, often modified on the second part to something impossible, like "if pigs had wings, even your ...
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).
An example occurs in the film The Eagle Has Landed: an Irish secret agent working for the Nazis replies to a German general speaking of Germany's shortly winning World War II, "Pigs may fly, General, but I doubt it!" Later, when the Irishman sees German soldiers parachuting before an attack, he says to himself, "Mother of God!
Simple English; Српски / srpski ... Idioms from non-English cultures (4 C, 7 P) L. Legal idioms (3 P) M. ... List of idioms of improbability; Irreversible ...
In the Eclogue of Plutarch, there is a long list of proverbs and the first section is titled ΠΕΡΙ ΤΩΝ ΑΔΥΝΑΤΩΝ, consisting of proverbs that are built on adynaton. [5] The adynaton form was often used for vows and covenants, such as in the 16th Epode of Horace, 25-34. Its plural form (adynata) was translated in Latin as impossibilia.
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 ...
Main page; Contents; Current events; Random article; About Wikipedia; Contact us; Donate
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 ...