a leopard cannot change its spots »
One cannot change one's own nature.1597, William Shakespeare, Richard II Act i, Scene 1 (First Folio):King. Lyons make Leopards tame.Mowbray. Yea but not change his ?pots.1611, King James Version of the Bible, Jeremiah 13:23:Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots?1820, Walter Scott, Ivanhoe Chapter 32:End now all unkindness. Let us put the Jew to ransom, since the leopard will not change his spots, and a Jew he will continue to be.1918, Johnston McCulley, Thubway Tham's Inthane Moment:The leopard cannot change his spots, old boy.
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a new broom sweeps clean »
New management will often make radical changes.
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a picture paints a thousand words »
A visualisation is a better description than a verbal description.1971, David Gates (of Bread), If, from Manna album:If a picture paints a thousand wordsThen why can't I paint you;The words will never showThe you I've come to know.1989, Alan Kay, quoted in K?o-tung Huang, Timothy D. Huang, Introduction to Chinese, Japanese and Korean Computing, World Scientific, ISBN 9971506645, p. 9:Most human beings, no matter how familiar they are with abstract symbols, respond to voice and images better than written language. In other words, A picture paints a thousand words.2006, Paul Shakespeare, Building a Dune Buggy: The Essential Manual, ISBN 1904788734, p. 52:See accompanying diagram: a picture paints a thousand words, and all that!
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about turn »
A complete change of opinion, direction, etc.
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ahead of one's time »
Showing characteristics of changes yet to be; present in one's work before later advances in the field; coming earlier than could be generally accepted.
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albatross »
Any of various large seabirds of the family Diomedeidae ranging widely in the Southern Ocean and the North Pacific and having a hooked beak and long narrow wings.
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all over the board »
Showing a wide range of values with no particular pattern.
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and change »
And some quantity, but less than the increment to the next round number.
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and counting »
Used to show that the number previously mentioned is continuously changing, i.e. increasing or decreasing.
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angel's advocate »
Someone who sees what's good about an idea and supports it.
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angle for »
To try to obtain something by subtle indirect means. Political manoeuvres, suggestion, etc.
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angle for farthings »
To beg out of a prison window with a cap, or box, let down at the end of a long string.
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apples and oranges »
Said of a comparison of items that are not comparable.
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arse about face »
Something that is placed or arranged the opposite way to the way it should be.
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at stake »
In danger; hazarded; pledged; at risk.
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