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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).
You cannot get blood out of a stone; You cannot make a silk purse from a sow's ear; You cannot make an omelette without breaking eggs; You cannot make bricks without straw; You cannot push a rope; You cannot run with the hare and hunt with the hounds (You cannot) teach an old dog new tricks; You cannot unscramble eggs; You cannot win them all
Google Dictionary is an online dictionary service of Google that can be accessed with the "define" operator and other similar phrases [note 1] in Google Search. [2] It is also available in Google Translate and as a Google Chrome extension.
The proverb's meaning is similar to the phrases "you can't have it both ways" and "you can't have the best of both worlds." For those unfamiliar with it, the proverb may sound confusing due to the ambiguity of the word 'have', which can mean 'keep' or 'to have in one's possession', but which can also be used as a synonym for 'eat' (e.g. 'to ...
While they sound the same in many dialects, in standard written English they have separate meanings. You're is a contraction of "you are", and your is a possessive pronoun meaning "belonging to you". When in doubt, check whether the word in question can logically be expanded to "you are". Standard: When driving, always wear your seatbelt.
For example, it is possible to utter an interjection like ouch! or bloody hell! on its own, whereas a different part of speech that may seem similar in function and length, such as the conjunction the, cannot be uttered alone (you can not just say the! independently in English). [3] Further distinctions can be made based on function.
English adjectives, as with other word classes, cannot in general be identified as such by their form, [24] although many of them are formed from nouns or other words by the addition of a suffix, such as -al (habitual), -ful (blissful), -ic (atomic), -ish (impish, youngish), -ous (hazardous), etc.; or from other adjectives using a prefix ...
A Dictionary of Modern Slang, Cant and Vulgar Words is a dictionary of slang originally compiled by publisher and lexicographer John Camden Hotten in 1859.. The first edition was published in 1859, with the full title and subtitle: A dictionary of modern slang, cant, and vulgar words: used at the present day in the streets of London, the universities of Oxford and Cambridge, the houses of ...