the lunatics have taken over the asylum
People who are unqualified or irrational are in charge
Browse English 5232
All languages English Tiếng Việt
Where will you be? Anywhere UK & IrelandUnited StatesOnline slangBusiness jargon
The Mad Cavalier
Prince Rupert (1619-82), noted for his rash courage and impatience of control He was a grandson of James I, through his mother, Elizabeth, and was famous as a cavalry leader on the Royalist side during the English Civil War.
The Man in Black
A well-known character in Goldsmith's Citizen of the World1, supposed to have been drawn from the author's father.
the man in the moon
Some say it is a man leaning on a fork, on which he is carrying a bundle of sticks picked up on a Sunday. The origin of this fable is from Numb, xv, 32-36. Some add a dog also; thus the prologue in Midsummer Night's Dream says, "This man •with lantern, dog, and bush of thorns, presented* moonshine"; Chaucer says "be stole tfee bush" (Test, of Cresseide).
The Manchester School
The name given in derision by Disraeli to the Cobden-Bright group of Free Trade economists in 1848. Hence, Free Traders, and Free Trade prin- ciples generally.
the mark of the beast
To set the "mark of the beast" on an object or pursuit (such, for instance, as dancing, theatres, gambling, etc.) is to denounce it, to run it down as unortho- dox. The allusion is to Rev. xvi, 2; xix, 20.
The Marquis of Granby
In compliment to John Manners (1721-70), eldest son of John, third Duke of Rutland— a bluff, brave soldier, generous, and greatly beloved by his men.
the marrow-bone stage
Walking. The leg- bone is the marrow-bone of beef and mutton, and the play is on Marylebone (London), formerly pronounced "Marrybun.
The Master of the Rolls
The head of the Public Record Office, an ex-officio Judge of the Court of Appeal and a member of the Judicial Committee, ranking next after the Lord Chief
The Maypole in the Strand
This ancient London landmark, referred to more than once by 18th-century writers, stood on a spot now occupied by St. Mary-le-Strand, where formerly stood a cross.
The Mazarin Bible
The first printed Bible (an edition of the Vulgate), and the first known book to be printed from movable type. It contains no date, but was printed probably in 1455, and was certainly on sale by the middle of 1 456. It was printed at Mainz, probably by Fust and SchoerTer, but as it was for long credited to Gutenberg — and it is not yet agreed that he was not responsible — it is frequently called the Gutenberg Bible.
the measles
Recognized English idiom; full definition pending editorial review.
the meat it feeds on
Othello, iii, 3. A greenish complexion was formerly held to be indicative of jealousy; and as cats, lions, tigers, and all the green-eyed tribe "mock the meat they feed on," so jealousy mocks its victim by loving and loathing it at the same time.
The Mermaid Tavern
The famous meeting- place (in Bread Street, Cheapside) of the wits, literary men, and men about town in the early 17th century. Among those who met there at a sort of early club were Ben Jonson, Sir Walter Raleigh, Beaumont, Fletcher, John Selden, and in all probability Shakespeare.
the mighty hunter
Nimrod is so called (Gen. x, 9). The meaning seems to be a con- queror. Jeremiah says, "I [the Lord] will send for many hunters [warriors], and they shall hunt [chasej them [the Jews] from every mountain . . . and out of the holes of the rocks" (xyi, 16).
The Milan Decree
A decree made by Napoleon, dated "Milan, Dec. 27th, 1807," declaring "the whole British Empire to be in a state of blockade, and forbidding all countries either from trading with Great Britain or from even using an article of British manufacture.
The mills of God grind slowly
Retribution may be delayed, but it is sure to overtake the wicked. The Adagia of Erasmus puts it, Sero molunt deorum molce, and the sentiment is to be found in many authors, ancient and modern.
The millstones of Montisci
They produce flour of themselves, whence the proverb, "Grace comes from God, but millstones from Montisci." (Boccaccio: Decameron, day viii, novel 3.
The Minerva Press
A printing establish- ment in Leadenhall Street, London, famous in the late 18th century for its trashy, ultra- sentimental novels, which were characterized by complicated plots, and the labyrinths of difficulties into which the hero and heroine got involved before they could be married.
The Minor Prophets
Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Micah, Jonah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi, whose writings are less exten- sive than those of the four Great Prophets.
The Mirror of Knighthood
One of the books in Don Quixote's library, a Spanish romance (Cavallero del Febo, "The Knight of the Sun"), one of the Amadis group. It was at one tune very popular.
the missing link
A popular term for the hypothetical being that is supposed, according to the theory of evolution, to bridge the gap between man and the anthropoid apes. Haeckel held it to be Pithecanthropus erectus; but scientists are not agreed, either on this or on the number of "missing links" there may be.
The Mistletoe Bough
This old song is about the daughter of a Lord Lovel who, on her wedding-day, was playing at hide and seek, and selected an old oak chest for her hiding- place. The chest closed with a spring lock, and many years later her skeleton was dis- covered.
the mistress of the night
The tuberose is so called because it emits its strongest fragrance after sunset.
the mistress of the world
Ancient Rome was so called, because all the known world gave her allegiance.
The Mitre Tavern
A place of resort in the time of Shakespeare; it was in Mitre Court, leading south of Cheapside, and was in existence from before 1475 till the Great Fire (1666), when it was destroyed and not rebuilt. There are several other taverns of the same name in London (see Barrey's Ram Alley f v 1611).
the mob has many heads, but no brains
A crowd can have many ideas, but lack wisdom or sense.
The Moon is made of green cheese
Something is obviously untrue or absurd
the moon on a stick
Recognized English idiom; full definition pending editorial review.
the more the merrier
A larger number of people makes an event or activity more enjoyable
The more the merrier. (Strauss, 1994 p. 1094)
English proverb; full definition pending editorial review.
the more things change, the more they stay the same
Fundamental aspects remain unchanged despite superficial changes
The more you stroke the cat's tail, the more he raises his back. (Strauss, 1994 p. 1184)
Excessive flattery or attention can provoke pride or hostility
The Mosaic economy
The religious system revealed by God to Moses and set forth in the Old Testament.
the most important thing
The key factor or consideration
The Mother of Believers
Among Moham- medans, Ayeshah, the second and favourite wife of Mohammed, who was called the "Father of Believers.
the mountain
The extreme democratic party in the French Revolution, the members of which were known as Les Montagnards because they seated themselves on the highest benches of the hall in which the
the mountain in labour
A mighty effort made for a small effect. The allusion is to the celebrated line "Parturiunt monies , nascetur ridiculus mus (Ars Poetica, 139), which Horace took from a Greek proverb preserved by Athenaeus.
the mundane egg
The Phoenicians, Egyp- tians, Hindus, Japanese, and many other ancient nations maintained that the world was egg-shaped, and was hatched from an egg made by the Creator; and in some mythologies a bird is represented as laying the mundane egg on the primordial waters.
The Murderers' Bible
An edition of 1801 in which the misprint murderers for murmeret y makes Jude, 16, read: 'These are murderers, complainers, walking after their own lusts, etc.
the music of the spheres
See SPHERES. To face the music. See FACE. Musical Notation. See DOH.
the nail that sticks out gets hammered down
Conformity is enforced, and nonconformists are punished
The nail that sticks up will be hammered down. (Whatling, 2009) From the Japanese, "deru kugi wa utareru."
English proverb; full definition pending editorial review.
the naked truth
The plain, unvarnished truth ; truth without trimmings. The fable says that Truth and Falsehood went bathing; Falsehood came first out of the water, and dressed herself in Truth's garments. Truth, unwilling to take those of Falsehood, went naked.
The name of this great S
American republic means The Silver Republic and is akin to that of its principal river, Rio de la Plata, turned into English as the River Plate. Buenos Aires, the capital city, was founded in 1535, and direct Spanish rule lasted until 18-16, when a republic was declared.
The name St
Dunstan's is now intimately associated with work for the blind, on account of the institution founded during World War I, and for many years run by Sir Arthur Pearson (himself blind), at St. Dunstan's House, Regent's Park, for the welfare and training of blinded soldiers and later of blind civilians.
The Nelson Column
In Trafalgar Square,, London; was erected in 1843. The four lions,, by Landseer, were added in 1867. It is a Corinthian column of Devonshire granite on a square base, copied from a column in the temple of Mars Ultor (the avenging god of war) at Rome; it stands 145 ft. high, the statue surmounting it (by E. H. Baily, R.A.) being 17 ft. high.
The Nemean Games
One of the four great national festivals of Greece, celebrated at Nemea every alternate year, the second and fourth of each Olympiad. Legend states that they were instituted in memory of Arche- morus, who died from the bite of a serpent as the expedition of the Seven against Thebes was passing through the valley.
The Nemean Lion
A terrible lion which kept the people of the valley in constant alarm. The first of the twelve Labours of Hercules was to slay it; he could make no impression on the beast with his club, so he caught it in his arms and squeezed it to death, Hercules ever after wore the skin as a mantle.
The New Atlantis
An allegorical romance by Bacon (written between 1614 and 1618) in which he describes an imaginary island where was established a philosophical commonwealth bent on the cultivation of the natural sciences. See UTOPIA; CITY OF THE SUN.
The New Jerusalem
The paradise of Christians, in allusion to Rev.
The New Man
The regenerated man. In Scripture phrase the unregenerated state is called the old man.
the next day
the day after a particular event or time
the nine wives
(1) Ayesha, daughter of Abu Bekr, only nine years old on her wedding-day. This was his youngest and favourite wife.
The Niobe of nations
So Byron styles Rome, the "lone mother of dead empires," with "broken thrones and temples**; a "chaos of ruins"; a "desert where we steer stumbling o'er recollections." (Childe Harold, iv, 79.
The Noble Science
The old epithet for o: Nolo episcopari ... — - — • fencing or boxing, now usually called "The Noble Art of S elf-Defence.
The Northern Gate of the Sun
The sign of Cancer, or summer solstice; so called because it marks the northern tropic.
the nose knows
One's sense of smell can detect something
the odour of sanctity
In the Middle Ages it was held that a sweet and delightful odour was given off by the bodies of saintly persons at their death, and also when their bodies, if "translated," were disinterred. Hence the phrase, he died in the odour of sanctity, i.e. he died a saint. The Swedenborgians say that when the celestial angels are present at a death- bed, what is then cadaverous excites a sensa- tion of what is aromatic.
The old Adam
The offending: Adam, etc. Consideration, like an angel, came And whipped the offending Adam out of him. SHAKESPEARE: Henry V, i, 1.
Advertisement
Ad space — ads help keep Idiomer free. Premium will remove them.