| 单词 | to lean on a broken staff |
| 释义 | > as lemmasto lean on (also trust to) a broken staff c. to lean on (also trust to) a broken staff and variants: to rely on something which is untrustworthy or not fit for purpose. Later also more generally in metaphors and similes in which a broken staff is taken as the type of something unreliable.Originally with allusion to 2 Kings 18:21 (see quot. 1535) and Isaiah 36:6; cf. broken reed at reed n.1 2b. Π 1535 Bible (Coverdale) 4 (2) Kings xviii. D Beholde, puttest thou thy trust in this broken staffe of rede [L. speras in baculo harundineo atque confracto], in Egipte? which who leaneth vpon, it shall go in to his hande, & pearse it thorow.] 1639 J. Clarke Paroemiologia 128 To trust to a broken staff, or bow, Vallus vitem decipit. 1659 N. R. Proverbs 74 Lean not to a broken staff. 1757 J. Greenhill Serm. preceding Fast-day 12 Thus trusting to Foreigners is but the trusting to a broken Staff, that goes into, and pierces the Hand of those that lean thereon. 1861 Standard 18 Apr. 4/5 The trusted remedy of a property and income tax has proved a broken staff. 2019 Dominion Post (Wellington, N.Z.) (Digital ed.) (Nexis) 5 Apr. Trusting the goodwill of a current government is like leaning on a broken staff. < as lemmas |
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