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 assigns November to threshing work and warns against further sailing. It divides the season into a preferred task and a discouraged undertaking.
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The saying imagines Candlemas as the point when candles can be put aside. Throwing away the candle and holder exaggerates a sense of reduced need for them.
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The saying expects a good goose to lay by Valentine’s Day, with two earlier eggs making it rewarding to its keeper. A calendar milestone is paired with a judgment of usefulness.
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One swallow is insufficient to establish a summer in this image of judging a larger pattern from a single sign. The saying warns against premature generalisation.
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The saying makes opening pine cones a sign of good weather coming. It treats a visible change as a forecast.
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The comparison describes something as readily abundant. Blackberries supply an image of plenty rather than a measured count.
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The saying places rain before seven and clearing before eleven. It promises a quick improvement through a memorable morning timetable.
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The saying connects early notice of rain with a long duration and short notice with a brief shower. It makes warning time predict persistence.
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The saying predicts at least two days of rain when it comes from the east. Direction is made a sign of duration.
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The rhyme treats a morning rainbow as a warning. In the supplied reading, the warning concerns approaching showers.
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The rhyme treats a morning rainbow as a warning and an evening rainbow as reassurance for sailors. It distinguishes its signs by time of day.
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The rhyme treats a red evening sky as reassuring and a red morning sky as a warning for sailors. Time of observation changes the forecast it offers.
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The rhyme treats a ring around the moon as a sign of rain soon. It links a visible circle with a short-term weather expectation.
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The saying addresses seabirds on land as a sign of poor weather. It gives their location a forecast through a direct appeal to stay away.
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Restraint compared with an opossum and pursuit compared with a jaguar pair reserve with decisive action. The saying gives different animals different roles in conduct.
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The saying asks for gentle September wind until fruit is stored. The request connects a vulnerable final stage with a wish for favourable conditions.
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The saying predicts opposite growth from setting trees poor or rich. It recommends the apparently less favourable start and warns against the apparently richer one.
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The rhyme warns that shearing sheep in May will shear them all away. It connects a named time and task with a drastic loss.
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The saying links Easter rain with plentiful grass but little hay. One holiday’s conditions are made a sign of two contrasting later outcomes.
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The saying claims that March and May will have matching numbers of frosts. Counting events in one month is made a prediction for another.
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The saying claims that the number of March mists matches the number of May frosts. It offers a countable early sign for a later event.
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Walking through woods without seeing trees contrasts being present with noticing what surrounds one. The saying questions inattention despite proximity.
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Rain can create a pause in an activity. The short pairing presents rest as one possible counterpart to an interruption rather than only as lost time.
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The saying promises vigorous beans after sowing in mud. Growing like wood gives its confidence in that method an exaggerated image of strength.
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