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Phrases related to: bull, john

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'tis an ill wind that blows no goodSimilar to "every cloud has a silver lining" or "one man's gain is another's loss". This expression appeared in John Heywood's 1546 proverb collection and remains so well known that it is often shortened. (www.dictionary.com}Rate it:

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a spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go downAn 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.Rate it:

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Aaron's beardHypericum calycinum (great St. John's-wort, Jerusalem star)Rate it:

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Aaron's beardA common name for several plants, which have tufts of stamens.[First attested in the late 19 century.]Cymbalaria muralis (ivy-leaved toadflax, Kenilworth ivy)Hypericum calycinum (great St. John's-wort, Jerusalem star)Saxifraga stolonifera (creeping saxifrage, strawberry geranium)Opuntia leucotricha (arborescent prickly pear, Aaron's beard cactus)Rate it:

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act like a bull in a china shopTo act rudely or clumsily in a delicate situation.Rate it:

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attaquer le taureau par les cornesTo seize the bull by the horns.Rate it:

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b.s.'Bull ship', abbreviated.Rate it:

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Banbury story of a cock and a bullA roundabout, nonsensical story.Rate it:

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Bull in a China ShopAn awkward person who actually does not care about the delicate situation, a rough person who comes near the brittle things, an insensitive person who makes people angry with his/her deeds and words to create disturbance in their work or plansRate it:

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bull sessionAn informal meeting among men.Rate it:

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bull's eyesweetRate it:

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c'est le chien de jean de nivelle, il s'enfuit quand on l'appelleThe more you call him, the more he runs away, like John de Nivelle’s dog.Rate it:

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catch-as-catch-canA. 1681, John Fryer, Richard Chiswell, Robert Roberts, Robert White, A New Account of East-India and Persia, in Eight Letters, Being Nine Years Travels, Begun 1672 and Finished 1681.Rate it:

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cock-and-bull storyA far-fetched and fanciful story or tale of highly dubious validity.Rate it:

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des coq-à-l'âneCock and bull stories; Disconnected rigmaroles.Rate it:

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don't give me a lot of bull!Don't prevaricate, don't exaggerate, don't fib to me!Rate it:

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faire moucheTo hit the bull’s eye.Rate it:

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fit as a Mallee bullto be in good physical health. The Mallee is a major region for Australia's beef production in western Victoria.Rate it:

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if you can't dazzle them with brilliance, baffle them with bullWhen you don't have all the facts or have a brilliant explanation, you can often convince people or win an argument by using bullshit.Rate it:

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il l'a appelé jean tout courtHe called him simply (or, just) John (without Mr. or surname).Rate it:

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il ne sait ni A ni BHe does not know B from a bull’s foot; He cannot read; He is a perfect ignoramus.Rate it:

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Jane DoeFemale equivalent of John Doe.Rate it:

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Jane RoeFemale equivalent of John Doe.Rate it:

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John DoeAny unknown or anonymous male person.Rate it:

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John DoeA fictitious name used in the legal documents for an unknown or anonymous male person.Rate it:

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John HancockOne's signature.Rate it:

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John HenryOne's signature.Rate it:

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John Q. PublicA generic individual; some hypothetical average or ordinary citizen.Rate it:

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John ThomasThe penisRate it:

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le roi jean a crevé les yeux à arthurKing John caused Arthur’s eyes to be put out.Rate it:

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like a bull at a gatecharging into some task without much thought, taking action hastilyRate it:

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like a bull in a china shopClumsy, aggressive, without care or concern, without self-control.Rate it:

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like a bull in a china shopClumsily, aggressively, without care or concern, without self-control.Rate it:

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like a bull in a china shopBoisterous, awkward, rough, disrespectful, careless. :Rate it:

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Master John GoodfellowPenis.Rate it:

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no man is an islandAll people are connected to other people and dependent on other people.1623, John Donne, Rate it:

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not a sausageJohn: Do you know how I get to the town center from here?.Rate it:

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play old harryBlenkiron and I have been moving in the best circles as skilled American engineers who are going to play Old Harry with the British on the Tigris. — John Buchan, "Greenmantle", 1916..Rate it:

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proverbs come in pairsAlternative form of proverbs run in pairs.1979, Irving Howe, John Hollander, David Bromwich, Literature as Experience: An Anthology, Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, ISBN 0155511130, page 325:Sometimes proverbs come in pairs, the first one providing the context, the second, the revision.Rate it:

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Richard RoeSynonym of John DoeRate it:

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shoot the bullTo chinwag; to talk idly.Rate it:

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shoot the bullExtraneous, Trivial, Contrived, Unimportant, possibly sprinkled with absurdity, lies, mebbe 'gossip', et al:Rate it:

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straight out of the chuteSomething done immediately, or "from the beginning". Taken from rodeo routine: the bucking bronco, or bull, or the calf for the calf-roping contest is kept in a narrow pen, a chute, until it is released and dashes out to its fate.Rate it:

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take the bull by the hornsTo confront a difficulty, rather than avoiding it.Rate it:

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throw dirt enough, and some will stickIf enough allegations are made about someone or something, then even if they are all untrue, people's opinion of the person or thing will be diminished.1759, John Wesley, letter to John Downes, Rector of St. Michael's, Wood Street, read at Wesley Center Online at on 14 Oct 06.I hope...that you are ignorant of the whole affair, and are so bold only because you are blind...And blind enough; so that you blunder on through thick and thin, bespattering all that come in your way, according to the old, laudable maxim, 'Throw dirt enough, and some will stick.'1857, Thomas Hughes, Tom Brown's Schooldays, read at fullbooks.com on 14 Oct 06,But whatever harm a spiteful tongue could do them, he took care should be done. Only throw dirt enough, and some will stick.1864, John Henry Newman, Apologia Pro Vita Sua, Penguin Classics (1994), p. 10,Archbishop Whately used to say Rate it:

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tomorrow is another dayTomorrow will bring new opportunities and a fresh start for one's endeavors.1600, author unknown, "Phillidaes Love-call to her Coridon, and his replying" (song), in England's Helicon, printed at London by I.R. for John Flasket:Phil. Yonder comes my Mother, Coridon,whether shall I flie?Cor. Under yonder Beech my lovely one,while she passeth by.Say to her thy true-Love was not heere,remember, remember,to morrow is another day:1896, Amelia E. Barr, A Knight of the Nets, ch. 8:"Well, well, my dear lass, to-night we cannot work, but we may sleep. . . . Keep a still heart tonight, and tomorrow is another day."1936, Margaret Mitchell, Gone with the Wind, ch. 63:"Tomorrow, I'll think of some way to get him back. After all, tomorrow is another day."2005, Fran Schumer, "JERSEY: In Princeton, Taking On Harvard's Fuss About Women," New York Times, 19 June (retrieved 18 Aug. 2009):"Half of me is depressedRate it:

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tu m'étonnes, JohnTu m’étonnes.Rate it:

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useless as tits on a bullTotally without useful functionRate it:

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what a crock!An exclamation of disbelief; calling someone a liar; saying that someone didn't have the right to say or do something; indicating that something isn't fair or right; short version of "What a crock of bull shit!" or "What a crock of bull!" or "What a crock of shit!" or "That's bull! or "That's bullshit"Rate it:

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who shot johnA long and involved explanation; a thing of which an explanation would be long and involved.Rate it:

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