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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all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy »
Too much focus on one's career is often viewed unfavorably.Too much hard work and not enough leisure time can be unhealthy.
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big boy »
A large object or person.
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big boys »
Plural form of big boy.
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big boys »
The people or bodies with the most influence and/or power.
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blue-eyed boy »
Someone's favourite, especially a young one.
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boy in the boat »
Clitoris.
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boys and their toys »
Used to evoke the idea that adult men sometimes dote excessively on machines, automobiles, and gadgets in a childish manner.
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boys will be boys »
It is hard, often fruitless, to attempt to curb the natural playfulness and tendency to mischief of most growing boys.1922, James Joyce, Ulysses Chapter 13But just then there was a slight altercation between Master Tommy and Master Jacky. Boys will be boys and our two twins were no exception to this golden rule.Even grown men usually remain somewhat boyish in heart"Boys will be boys", grinned grandpa while he joined his adult son playing with the fancy train-set he gave his grandson for Christmas while the kid was in school.
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chew the scenery »
To display excessive emotion or to act in an exaggerated manner while performing; to be melodramatic; to be flamboyant.
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company »
The Boys in Company C.
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forewarned is forearmed »
Advance awareness of a situation, especially a risky one, prepares one to deal with it.1863, Charles Reade, Hard Cash, ch. 4:[W]hatever a young gentleman of that age says to you, he says to many other ladies; but your experience is not equal to your sense; so profit by mine . . . forewarned is forearmed.1885, G. A. Henty, Saint George for England, ch. 4:Sometimes, they say, it is wiser to remain in ignorance; at other times forewarned is forearmed.circa 1903, Lucy Maud Montgomery, "Why Mr. Cropper Changed His Mind":"Well, Miss Maxwell, I think it only fair to tell you that you may have trouble with those boys when they do come. Forewarned is forearmed, you know."
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fruit of one's loins »
C. 1950, Kay Boyle, "Adam's Death" in Fifty Stories , ISBN 9780811212069, p. 541.
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good old boy »
A friendly, unambitious, relatively uneducated, sometimes racially biased white man who embodies the stereotype of the folksy culture of the rural southern USA.
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good old boy »
A male friend or chum, especially a schoolmate; a man with an established network of friends who assist one another in social and business situations; a decent, dependable fellow.
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mama's boy »
A male person, especially a young man or boy, who is overly attached to or influenced by his mother; a sissy.
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off one's game »
C. 1910, Ralph Henry Barbour, "The Dub" in The New Boy at Hilltop and Other Stories.
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old time used to be »
Ex-girlfriend or ex-boyfriend. Often used in songs.
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pissing contest »
A boys' prankish competition to determine who can urinate the furthest up a wall.
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poster boy »
See poster child.
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sabre-rattling »
A flamboyant display of military power as an implied threat that it might be used.
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soft sawder »
"How the old boy swallowed my soft sawder and Brummagem notes!" —Tom Taylor, The Ticket-of-Leave Man.
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spaghetti western »
Nickname for a motion picture produced by an Italian-based company and filmed in Europe, depicting a tale of cowboys and desperadoes set in the American Old West.
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the fucking you get isn't worth the fucking you get »
(vulgar) The sexual satisfactions that one receives from a spouse or romantic partner are not sufficient to compensate for the significant periods of bad faith and unpleasant treatment which such relationships routinely involve.1971, Allen Churchill, The Literary Decade, ISBN 9780135375228:Years later she expressed her disillusionment with sex by saying, "The fucking you get isn't worth the fucking you get."1999, Ben Sonnenberg, Lost Property: Memoirs and Confessions of a Bad Boy, ISBN 9781582430454, p. 93:Maitland got drunk at his parties and threw his arm around you and pulled you over to his wife and made you look down her dress, saying, "The trouble with marriage is that the fucking you get isn't worth the fucking you get."2008, Joseph Heywood, Blue Wolf In Green Fire, ISBN 9781599213590, p. 63:"I can't believe a little pussy got me into dis mess." "Shit happens," Service said. "Sometimes the fucking you get isn't worth the fucking you get."
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wet boy »
A contractor assassin or hit man.
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| BTW, Why won't you become an editor? |
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