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 rolling stone gathers no moss »
A person who never settles in one place will never be successful.A person who does not keep active will grow mouldy.
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according to »
According to him, every person was to be bought. - Thomas Babington Macaulay.
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back to our muttons »
To get back to the business at hand.
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baggage »
Heavy baggage; women and children. Also a familiar epithet for a woman; as, cunning baggage, wanton baggage, &c.
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beat one's head against a stone wall »
To waste effort on a futile project.
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been there, done that, bought the T-shirt »
Expresses the speaker's complete familiarity with a situation, with overtones of cynicism or exhaustion.
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bite one's tongue »
An admonishment to someone who has said something unfeeling or harsh.
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bite one's tongue »
To forcibly prevent oneself from uttering a word.
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blood is thicker than water »
Family relations and loyalties are stronger than relationships with people who are not family members.1866, Anthony Trollope, The Belton Estate, ch. 30,Blood is thicker than water, is it not? If cousins are not friends, who can be?circa 1915, Lucy Fitch Perkins, The Scotch Twins, ch. 5,The old clans are scattered now, but blood is thicker than water still, and you're welcome to the fireside of your kinsman!
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blow someone's mind »
To astonish someone, to flabbergast someone.
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borganism »
An organization of autonomous organisms that exhibit collectivism: individual "units" that have merged to yield a unified construct. Such an amalgam may possess a collective consciousness, arguably an emergent phenomenon of social networking.
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bowl over »
To overwhelm with astonishment or wonder; to flabbergast.
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bowled over »
to be astonished; overwhelmed; surprised; shocked
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bread and butter »
That which is central or fundamental, as to one's business, survival, or income; a staple or cornerstone.
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| BTW, Why won't you become an editor? |
