a spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down »
An otherwise unpleasant situation can be pleasant when a pleasant aspect is deliberately introduced.1999, Eli Yassif, The Hebrew Folktale: History, Genre, Meaning, Indiana University Press, ISBN 0253335833, page 372,One is known as the "sweetening parable," that is to say a spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down. Thus, when the aim is to preach to the people, to guide them along the "bitter," arduous path of upholding burdensome precepts and prohibitions, a tale can lighten the load, make the "medicine" easier "to swallow."2001, Maureen Reagan, First Father, First Daughter: A Memoir, Little, Brown, ISBN 0316736368, page 319,It put some fun into the tedious business of preparing for a presidential debate. A spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down, right?2004, John Hoover, How to Work for an Idiot: Survive & Thrive... Without Killing Your Boss, Career Press, ISBN 1564147045, page 11,If a spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down, a barrel of laughs can wash down the big pills you might need to swallow.
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a watched pot never boils »
A process appears to go more slowly if one waits for it rather than engaging in other activities.
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abound in »
To have something in great numbers or quantities; to possess in such abundance as to be characterized by.
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abound with »
To have something in great numbers or quantities; to possess in such abundance as to be characterized by.
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absence makes the heart grow fonder »
When someone or something is faraway, you realise how much you love (or miss) them or it.
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abstract nonsense »
Details which involve diagram chasing.
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according to »
Our zeal should be according to knowledge. - Thomas Sprat.
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acid test »
A rigorous test or appraisal of the quality or worth of something.
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across the board »
A racing bet where one bets that the same competitor will place in first, second and third.
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act out »
To go through the process of a scene from a play, a charade or a pointless exercise.
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Adds up »
To enhance. " raction.com">Law of attraction adds up to the success in life."
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admiral of the blue »
A landlord or publican wearing a blue apron, as was formerly the custom among men of that vocation.
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against the grain »
Contrary to what is expected; especially, of behavior different from what society expects.
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against the grain »
To sand or plane a piece of wood parallel or nearly parallel to the fibers such that splinters forming ahead of the tool originate below the cutting surface.
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against the grain »
Unwillingly, reluctantly. It went much against the grain with him, i.e. it was much against his inclination, or against his pluck.
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