| 单词 | to hide one's talent in a napkin |
| 释义 | > as lemmasto hide (also lay up, wrap up, etc.) one's talent in a napkin b. figurative. to hide (also lay up, wrap up, etc.) one's talent in a napkin: to fail to use a gift, talent, etc. Now rare.In allusion to the parable of the talents as told in Luke 19. A servant is given a pound by his master while he is away, and instead of using it to earn more money, he keeps it in a piece of cloth (Luke 19:20). ΚΠ 1598 R. Cleaver Godly Form Househ. Gouernement Ep. Ded. 2 Or to hide my tallent in a napking. 1673 F. Kirkman Unlucky Citizen x. 174 I did not think it fit that since I had a Talent, to lay it up in a Napkin, but to put it to the best use I could. 1698 J. Fryer New Acct. E.-India & Persia 112 This humour of laying up their Talent in a Napkin. 1741 G. Ogle Canterbury Tales III. 7 We will not doubt your Word, (our Host reply'd.) Yet some their Talents in a Napkin hide. a1774 A. Tucker Light of Nature Pursued (1777) III. i. 266 We had best..wrap up our Bibles as well as our talent of reason in a napkin. 1815 H. H. Brackenridge Tom Rascal in Mod. Chivalry IV. 151 Nor did he let his talent sleep, Or in a napkin hide; But put it out to usury, With fortune on his side. 1856 R. W. Emerson Eng. Traits x. 160 The headlong bias to utility will let no talent lie in a napkin. 1872 J. Morley Voltaire i. 7 He never counted truth a treasure to be discreetly hidden in a napkin. 1960 Amer. Hist. Rev. 65 267 Of all the parables, declares the lay writer, the academic world should most ponder that of the talent laid away in a napkin. < as lemmas |
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