a little bird told me so
Preserved but no longer current.
Meaning · English
From Eccles. x, 20; "Curse not the king, no not in thy thought, ... for a bird of the air shall carry the voice, and that which hath wings shall tell the matter.
Era: ca. 1898 (Victorian)
Sources & notes
Reproduced from Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable (1898 edition, public domain; archive.org, retrieved 2026-07-31; OCR text, minor errors possible). Reflects the scholarship and attitudes of its era.
Common questions
What does “a little bird told me so” mean?
From Eccles. x, 20; "Curse not the king, no not in thy thought, ... for a bird of the air shall carry the voice, and that which hath wings shall tell the matter.
Is “a little bird told me so” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.