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The asses' bridge.
[Lat., Pons Asinorum.]
Author: Unattributed Author
Source: applied to Proposition 5 of the first book of Euclid
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A flea in his ear.
Author: Robert Armin
Source: Nest of Ninnies
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No better than you should be.
Author: Francis Beaumont and John Fletcher
Source: The Coxcomb (act IV, sc. 3)
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As cold as cucumbers.
Author: Francis Beaumont and John Fletcher
Source: Cupid's Revenge (act I, sc. 1)
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From the crown of our head to the sole of our feet.
Author: Francis Beaumont and John Fletcher
Source: The Honest Man's Fortune (act II, sc. 2)
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As high as Heaven, as deep as Hell.
Author: Francis Beaumont and John Fletcher
Source: Honest Man's Fortune (act IV, sc. 1)
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This is a pretty flimflam.
Author: Francis Beaumont and John Fletcher
Source: Little French Lawyer (III, 3)
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Something given that way.
Author: Francis Beaumont and John Fletcher
Source: The Lovers' Progress (act I, sc. 1)
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A thorn in the flesh.
Author: Bible
Source: II Corinthians (ch. XII, v. 7)
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Neither fish, flesh nor good red herring.
Author: Tom Brown
Source: Aeneus Sylvius--Letter
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Turn over a new leaf.
Author: Edmund Burke
Source: Letter to Miss Haviland
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As clear and as manifest as the nose in a man's face.
Author: Robert Burton
Source: Anatomy of Melancholy (pt. III, sec. III, memb. 4, subsec. I)
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Through thick and thin.
Author: Samuel Butler (1)
Source: Hudibras (pt. I, canto II, p. 370)
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To swallow gudgeons ere they're catch'd.
And count their chickens ere they're hatch'd.
Author: Samuel Butler (1)
Source: Hudibras (pt. II, canto III, l. 923)
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As clear as a whistle.
Author: John Byrom
Source: Epistle to Lloyd (I)
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Put himself upon his good behavior.
Author: Lord Byron (George Gordon Noel Byron)
Source: Don Juan (canto V, st. 47)
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By all that's good and glorious.
Author: Lord Byron (George Gordon Noel Byron)
Source: Sardanapalus (act I, sc. 2)
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Leap out of the frying pan into the fire.
Author: Cervantes (Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra)
Source: Don Quixote (pt. I, bk. III, ch. IV)
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Within a stone's throw of it.
Author: Cervantes (Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra)
Source: Don Quixote (pt. I, bk. III, ch. IX)
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Make ducks and drakes with shillings.
Author: George Chapman
Source: Eastward Ho! (act I, sc. 1)
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As good as a play.
Author: George Chapman
Source: Eastward Ho! (act I, sc. 1)
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A nail in the wound.
Author: George Chapman
Source: Eastward Ho! (act I, sc. 1)
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To be praised by a man who has won his laurels.
Author: George Chapman
Source: Eastward Ho! (act I, sc. 1)
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To have a smattering knowledge of anything.
Author: George Chapman
Source: Eastward Ho! (act I, sc. 1)
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To seek a laurel wreath from a bride-cake. [To seek glory by
some trifling performance. A carpet knight.]
Author: George Chapman
Source: Eastward Ho! (act I, sc. 1)
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To throw a blot on a man's reputation by praising him.
Author: George Chapman
Source: Eastward Ho! (act I, sc. 1)
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The fat's all in the fire.
Author: Cobbe
Source: Prophecies, (Bullen's reprint) (1614)
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Old Lady of Threadneedle Street.
Author: William Cobbett
Source: referring to a bank as an elderly lady in the city
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Cut and come again.
Author: George Crabbe
Source: Tales VII (l. 26)
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Add to golden numbers golden numbers.
Author: Thomas Dekker
Source: Patient Grissell (act I, sc. 1)
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The coast was clear.
Author: Michael Drayton
Source: Nymphidia
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With tooth and nail.
Author: Guillaume de Salluste Du Bartas
Source: Divine Weekes and Workes (first week, second day)
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Through thick and thin, both over Hill and Plain.
Author: Guillaume de Salluste Du Bartas
Source: Divine Weekes and Workes (second week, fourth day, bk. IV)
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Made no more bones.
Author: Guillaume de Salluste Du Bartas
Source: The Maiden Blush
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As leopard feels at home with leopard.
Author: Guillaume de Salluste Du Bartas
Source: The Maiden Blush
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Needle in a bottle of hay.
Author: Nathaniel Field
Source: A Woman's a Weathercock (p. 20), reprint 1612
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Like his that lights a candle to the sun.
Author: Andrew Fletcher, Lord Innerpeffer (1)
Source: in a letter to Sir Walter Aston
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To cut a whetstone with a razor.
Author: Andrew Fletcher, Lord Innerpeffer (1)
Source: in a letter to Sir Walter Aston
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Diamonds cut diamonds.
Author: John Ford
Source: The Lover's Melancholy (act I, sc. 3)
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Moche Crye and no Wull.
Author: Sir John Fortescue
Source: De Laudibus Leg. Anglioe (ch. X)
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As innocent as a new-laid egg.
Author: William S. Gilbert
Source: Engaged (act I)
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To build castles in Spain.
Author: George Herbert
Source: Jacula Prudentum
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By hooke or crooke.
Author: John Heywood
Source: Proverbs (pt. I, ch. XI)
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A precious pair of brothers [i.e., rascals].
Author: John Heywood
Source: Proverbs (pt. I, ch. XI)
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As shines the moon amid the lesser fires.
Author: John Heywood
Source: Proverbs (pt. I, ch. XI)
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To drink away sorrow.
Author: John Heywood
Source: Proverbs (pt. I, ch. XI)
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To give importance to trifling matters.
Author: John Heywood
Source: Proverbs (pt. I, ch. XI)
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To grow a philosopher's beard.
Author: John Heywood
Source: Proverbs (pt. I, ch. XI)
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To say that which is instructive and also pleasing.
Author: John Heywood
Source: Proverbs (pt. I, ch. XI)
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Like Theon (i.e., a calumniating disposition).
[Lat., Dens Theonia.]
Author: Horace (Quintus Horatius Flaccus)
Source: Epistles (bk. I, 18, 82)
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