kiến hiền tư tề diên, kiến bất hiền nhi nội tự tỉnh
Meet the worthy and measure up; meet the unworthy and audit yourself — every encounter is a mirror.
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kiến leo cột sắt chi mòn, vò vò xây ổ sao tròn mà xây
Ants wearing grooves in iron, the mud-wasp rounding her nest — patience and craft where strength is absent.
kiến lợi vong ngãi
Seeing profit, forgetting principle — the eye on the gain and the conscience nowhere.
kiến ngãi bất vi vô dõng dã
To see the right thing and not do it is to lack courage — inaction before duty is its own cowardice.
kiến pháp tri ân
Show the law first, collect the gratitude after — power flexing its rulebook so its mercy earns interest.
kiến tha lâu đầy lỗ
Ants hauling long enough fill the burrow — persistence is accumulation's whole secret.
kiến tài ám nhãn
Gold in sight, eyes go dark — the shine that switches conscience off.
kiết thảo hàm hoàn
Knot the grass, bear the ring — gratitude repaid even from beyond the grave, as the old tale tells.
kiềng ba chân
A trivet's three legs — stability by design; the classic image of firm footing.
kiện củ khoai
A debt from a former life — obligation older than this body.
klq
Texting shortcut for “không liên quan” — unrelated / off-topic (the polite cough before changing the subject).
ky-cóp cho cọp nó ăn
Scrimping and saving for the tiger to eat — a lifetime's hoard served to the predator in one sitting.
kén cá chọn canh
Picky with the fish, choosy with the soup — fastidiousness auditioning every option.
kéo cầy giả nợ
Pulling the plow to pay the debt — labor mortgaged years ahead.
kê minh cẩu đạo
Cock-crow imitators and dog-thieves — the lowly hangers-on whose small tricks save great lords, as in Mengchang's tale.
kì hậu dã bạc, kì bạc dã hậu
Generous where thrift was owed, thrifty where generosity was — kindness distributed by the wrong map.
kì phụ nhương dương, nhi tử chứng chi
The father stole the sheep and the son testified — honesty that breaks a deeper duty; kin owe each other cover.
kình thân tàm thực
The whale swallows, the silkworm nibbles — encroachment by gulp or by inch, both eat you whole.
kín cổng cao tường
Sealed gates and high walls — respectability engineered as architecture.
kín tranh hơn lành gỗ
Tight thatch beats sound timber — better a humble roof that keeps the rain out than fine beams that don't.
kính lão đắc thọ
if you respect the elderly, you'll extend your lifespan
kính nhi viễn chi
to respect yet keep one's distance; to respectfully distance oneself
kíp miệng, chầy chân
Quick of mouth, slow of foot — the tongue sprints where the legs won't follow.
Kẻ Sặt đất lề quê thói
Kẻ Sặt — where the land keeps its margins and the village its ways — a town famed for order and custom.
kẻ tham công người tiếc việc
One grudges the effort, the other the interruption — two thrifts colliding over the same task.
kẻ thâm người thù
Deep with some, cold with others — favor rationed by private ledger.
kẻ tung người hứng
One tosses, the other catches — a duet of collusion; patter perfectly rehearsed.
kẻ đắp chăn bông kẻ lạnh lùng
some have it all while others have nothing
kết cỏ ngậm vành
Knotting grass and holding the ring — a vow to repay deep kindness even from beyond the grave.
kề vai sát cánh
Shoulder to shoulder, wing to wing — standing and working side by side for one goal.
kỉ dụ lập nhi lập nhơn, kỉ dục đạt nhi đạt nhơn
Wishing to stand, help others stand; wishing to arrive, help others arrive — self-making by making others.
kị chỉ thử nhỉ
The donkey's one kick — a fearsome show with a single trick behind it, as the tiger discovered.
kị hổ nan hạ
Once astride the tiger, dismounting is the danger — some positions permit no graceful exit.
kỹ thuật viên vật lý trị liệu
physiotherapist
Kailyard School
A school of writers, who took their subjects from Scottish humble life; it flourished in the 'nineties of last century, and included such writers as Ian Maclaren, J. J. Bell, S. R. Crockett, and J. M. Barrie. The name is due to the motto-^-"There grows a bonnie brier bush in our kailyard" — used by Ian Maclaren for his Beside the Bonnie Brier Bush (1894).
kak
Trouble.
kale
Money.
kangaroo court
A mock court or tribunal that disregards law and justice
kangladesh
Bangladesh.
kanitseeno
A stinking one. KANITS is a stink.
kao peh kao bu
Recognized English idiom; full definition pending editorial review.
kaputz
Kaput.
karibat
Food, literally rice and curry; the staple dish of both natives and Europeans in India.—Anglo-Indian.
kasme
I swear
kate
A picklock. 'Tis a rum kate; it is a clever picklock. CANT.
kayf
A café.
Kedar's Tents
This world. Kedar was a soa of Ishmael (Gen. xxv, 15), and was the ancestor of an important tribe of nomadic Arabs* T&e phrase means houses in the wilder- ness of this world, and comes from Ps. cxx, 5: **Woe is me, that I sojourn in Mesech, that I dwell in the tents of Kedar.
keel bullies
Men employed to load and unload the coal vessels.
keel over
to fall or collapse suddenly
keel-hauling
A good thrashing or mauling, rough treatment,—from the old nautical custom of punishing offenders by throwing them overboard with a rope attached, and hauling them up from under the ship’s keel. See full description of this barbarous practice in Marryat’s Snarleyyow.
keelhauling
A punishment in use among the Dutch seamen, in which, for certain offences, the delinquent is drawn once, or oftener, under the ship's keel: ludicrously defined, undergoing a great hard-ship.
keen as a Jew
Very eager.
keep a civil tongue in one's head
To speak politely and avoid offensive language
keep a close watch
Monitor someone or something carefully
keep a cool head
Remain calm and composed in a difficult situation
keep a lid on
to control or restrain something
keep a low profile
To avoid drawing attention to oneself
keep a pig
An Oxford University phrase, which means to have a lodger. A man whose rooms contain two bedchambers has sometimes, when his college is full, to allow the use of one of them to a Freshman, who is called under these circumstances a PIG. The original occupier is then said to KEEP A PIG.
keep a weather eye open
remain vigilant and prepared for potential problems
keep an eye on
Watch or monitor someone or something closely