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| 4890897923 | Achilles's Heel | This is a term from greek mythology. When Achilles was a baby, his mother dipped his body in the River Styx, the water gave immortality to humans. His mother held him by his heel, so this is the only place on this body that did not touch the body. His one area of vulnerability. Later he was killed by being stabbed by a poisonous arrow in his heel. Today the term has come to refer to a person's area of particular vulnerability. | 0 | |
| 4890900829 | Pound of Flesh | In Shakespeare's Merchant of Venice, Shylock, a moneylender demands a pound of flesh as payment should anything happen to the ships. When the ships are lost at sea, Shylock insists that he must have a pound of flesh, as the contract demanded. Antonio is spared only because of a technicality: not entitled any of his blood. So, he cannot take a pound of flesh unless he can do so without blood. This phrase is used to describe someone's insistence on being repaid | 1 | |
| 4974051627 | Sacred Cow | In hinduism, cows are considered to be sacred; thus cows are not to be harmed, and certainly not killed for food. If a cow wanders into a shop, the merchant can only try to lure it out with food; he is not allowed to interfere with it by prodding or poking, even if it is breaking things. The idiom "Sacred Cow" refers to something that cannot be interfered with or harmed | 2 | |
| 4890903024 | Crossing the Rubicon | After defeating the Gauls in the Gallic Wars, JUlius Caesar was ordered by his enemies in the Senate, so he traveled south toward Italy. BY Roman Law, a general was forbidden from crossing Italy with an army. He did it anyway, making civil war inevitable. After Caesar crossed the Rubicon, there was no turning back for him and his troops. To cross the Rubicon is to take an irreversible step, often involving some danger. | 3 | |
| 4890904966 | Pearls before swine | In the sermon on the mount, Jesus admonished his followers to "cast not your pearls before swine." That is, his followers were to deliver their message to those who would appreciate the message, not those incapable of appreciating something of value. Swine, or pigs, would not be able to appreciate pearls. To offer something of value to someone who can not understand its worth or value. | 4 | |
| 4890907325 | Once in a blue moon | A "blue moon" is a second full moon within the same calendar month, a phenomenon that occurs approximately every three years. It is thought that calendar markers traditionally pictured the first full moon in red and second in blue. This phrase describes something that occurs very rarely. | 5 | |
| 4890910472 | Mrs. Grundy | In Speed the Plow, a 1798 play by Thomas Morton, Mrs. Grundy is a character who never appears on stage. However, other characters frequently ask "what would Mrs. Grundy say?" Mrs. Grundy is a narrow-minded prudish person. Grundyism and the phrase Mrs.Grundy refer to an attitude of narrow-minded prudishness. | 6 | |
| 4890910661 | Crocodile Tears | Crocodiles were once thought to shed large tears before devouring their prey. This belief, which dates to ancient time, comes from the fact that crocodiles have small ducts in the corner of their eyes which release "tears" when the crocodile opens its jaw wide. Obviously a cold-blooded reptile has no real feelings of sympathy for its prey. Thus to shed crocodile tears, is to show false sympathy for someone. | 7 | |
| 4890914086 | Sirens | In greek mythology, sirens were sea creatures who lured sailors to their deaths on the rocky shores by singing a beautiful, irresistible song. They are usually depicted as a woman, or as half-woman, half-bird. In modern usage, sirens can refer to anything that tempts a person away from safety and toward a destructive path. | 8 | |
| 4961623682 | Read the Riot Act | Under English Common Law, an unruly crowd had to be read the Riot Act before action could be taken, to force them to disperse. To issue a stern warning that if unacceptable behavior does not cease, severe consequences will follow. | 9 | |
| 4961630969 | Thirty pieces of silver/ betrayed with a kiss | In the bible, Judas was the disciple who agreed to betray Jesus to the authorities in exchange for payment. The thirty pieces of silver were the price of Judas' betrayal.The way judas identified Jesus for the authorities was to approach and greet him with a kiss. Thirty pieces of silver refers to payment for an act of treachery and betrayal with a kiss refers to a supposed friend's treachery. | 10 | |
| 4974036416 | Gordian Knot | According to legend, Gordius was a Greek King. He tied an extremely complex kot, and an oracle prophesied that whoever unties it would rule all of Asia. Alexander the Great "untied" the knot by simply cutting it with a sword. A "Gordian knot" is an extremely complex problem, and "cutting the Gordian knot" refers to solving such a problem in a quick, decisive manner | 11 | |
| 4974039162 | Ivory Tower | A French poet, Alfred de Vigny, was said to have shut himself in an ivory tower so that he could compose his poems. Furthermore "ivory towers" are mentioned in various 18th century fairy tales. The term thus refers to a beautiful, unreachable place. It has come to have negative connotation of being out of touch with reality. A person who is secluded or protected from the real world and thus out of touch with reality is said to be residing in an "ivory tower". | 12 | |
| 4974041506 | All that glitters is not gold | This is a proverb from a latin translation of Aristotle. The proverb read, "Do not hold as gold all that shines as gold." In other words, just because something looks like gold, one should not assume that is actually is gold. The message of the proverb is that something which appears valuable on the outside, may in fact be less valuable. Appearances=deceptive. | 13 | |
| 4974047039 | Sound and Fury | In shakespeare's Macbeth, when Macbeth is informed that his wife has died, he speaks of the inevitability of death: Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player, That struts and frets his hour upon the stage, And then is heard no more. It is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury signifying nothing "Sound and fury" refers to a great, tumultuous, and passionate uproar that actually is unimportant or meaningless. | 14 |
