Words worth understanding
Start with the thought in plain English. Then explore the imagery, a practical example, when to use it, and what the saying does not mean.
4,000 entries with editorial explanations. The wider collection also contains entries still awaiting an individual interpretation.
proverb · Traditional
The saying treats April and May as decisive months for what the rest of the year will yield. Keys picture their conditions as opening or closing later possibilities.
Read the explanation and example ↗proverb · Traditional
A few unpleasant April days are imagined as borrowed from March. The months are personified to describe weather that seems out of place in the new season.
Read the explanation and example ↗proverb · Traditional
The phrase compares a busy person with a bee. It gives much activity a vivid animal image.
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Completely dead or no longer active. The comparison intensifies the description; applied to a plan or activity, it means that it has ended or stopped functioning, without providing evidence that revival is impossible.
Read the explanation and example ↗proverb · Traditional
The saying closes one door and always opens another. It offers hope that a lost opportunity may be followed by a different one.
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Destiny travelling with people as they follow their own paths links a life’s course with personal movement. The saying presents fate as accompanying rather than remaining somewhere else.
Read the explanation and example ↗proverb · Traditional
The saying treats Friday as a sign of Sunday and Sunday as a sign of the whole week. It extends a short observation into a much longer expectation.
Read the explanation and example ↗proverb · Traditional
The saying pictures the days lengthening by a cock’s stride at Twelfth Day. A tiny animal movement stands for a modest seasonal change.
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The saying regards a dry, warm August as favourable to harvest. Its reassuring wording expresses a seasonal expectation rather than a complete assessment of crop conditions.
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The saying pictures bad news moving quickly between people. It emphasises the rapid circulation of reports of trouble or misfortune.
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The saying expects beans to blossom before May ends. It turns a stage of growth into a calendar expectation.
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An early mistake preferred to a late one highlights the possible advantage of discovering a problem while there is time to respond. It values timely correction.
Read the explanation and example ↗quote · John Heywood
Completing a worthwhile action after a delay is often better than abandoning it altogether. Missing the ideal moment does not always remove the value of doing it now.
Read the explanation and example ↗proverb · Traditional
The saying prefers thriving late to never doing well. It values a delayed improvement over its complete absence.
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The saying prefers precaution now to regret later. It gives preventing an avoidable problem priority over dealing with its consequences.
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Allowing extra time may be preferable to missing a moment that matters. The exaggerated comparison stresses the consequences of lateness, without making three hours early a sensible rule for every appointment.
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The saying values having experienced love, even when lost, above never having loved. It gives a past connection worth despite the pain of its ending.
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The saying places business before pleasure. It asks that a responsibility or task be attended to before recreation.
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The saying compares business opportunities with buses that keep arriving. It offers reassurance through an expectation of another chance.
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The saying ranks butter differently across the day: gold in the morning, silver at noon and lead at night. The metal sequence makes its imagined value decline with time.
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A game learned after its players disperse contrasts delayed understanding with an opportunity that has passed. The saying warns through an insulting label about timing and readiness.
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The saying regards calm June weather as helping corn develop well. Setting it in tune turns crop growth into a harmonious musical image.
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Celebrating a day only in the evening delays final judgment until its course is known. The saying values perspective before declaring an outcome.
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Circumstances and outcomes can change over time. Avoid treating either present success or present difficulty as a permanent description of what your life must be.
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