Read The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Proverbs Online

Authors: John Andrew Simpson,

The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Proverbs (391 page)

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What a NEIGHBOUR gets is not lost
1567
Mary Magdalene
D4
V
There is nothyng lost that is done for such a friende.
1721
Scottish Proverbs
198
It is no tint [not lost], a Friend gets.
1891
Beast & Man
viii.
The public at large have reaped much of the crop sown by Government for its own army, but, as the Scottish saying has it, ‘What a neighbour gets is not lost.’
neighbours
;
winners and losers
In vain the NET is spread in the sight of the bird
With allusion to
PROVERBS
i. 17 (AV) Surely in vain the net is spread in the sight of any bird; cf.
c
1395
WYCLIF
Bible
(1850) Proverbs i. 17 A net is leid in veyn before the ighen [eyes] of briddis.
1581
tr.
S. Guazzo's Civil Conversation
I
. 20
V
In vaine (as the Prouerb sayth) The net is pitcht in the sight of the birdes.
1888
Economic Interpretation of Hist.
xxi.
The landowners in Pitt's time foresaw this …They would certainly be caught, and the net was spread in vain in sight of the bird.
1941
They tell No Tales
x.
‘Keep a good look out.’ .. ‘In vain is the net spread in the sight of the bird, anyway.’
1961
Dragon of Ishtar Gate
viii.
‘If they come, we shall be ready,’ said Bessas. ‘In vain the net is spread in the sight of the bird.’
deception
;
futility
BOOK: The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Proverbs
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