| 单词 | to put the plough before the oxen |
| 释义 | > as lemmasto put the plough before the oxen c. to put the plough before the oxen: to reverse the natural or proper order of something. Cf. cart n. 5. Now rare. ΘΚΠ the world > relative properties > order > order, sequence, or succession > come in due order or course [verb (intransitive)] > reverse natural order to set or put the cart before the horse1520 to put the plough before the oxen1571 hystero-proterizea1834 1340 Ayenbite (1866) 243 (MED) Moche uolk of religion zetteþ þe zuolȝ be-uore þe oksen.] 1571 in J. Cranstoun Satirical Poems Reformation (1891) I. xxix. 9 That makis..The plewche befoir the oxin go, the best the man to gyde. 1653 T. Urquhart tr. F. Rabelais 1st Bk. Wks. xi. 54 He would put the Plough before the Oxen, and claw where it did not itch. 1745 W. Baylies Remarks Stratford Mineral Water 13 Here he puts the Plough before the Oxen; he should first have told us, that he had evaporated the Water to dryness, before he mentions the Effects of its Residuum. 1861 Times 30 Apr. 10/6 Let us not place the plough before the oxen; let us begin by what is most essential. 1912 E. B. Krehbiel tr. A. Luchaire Social France at Time of Philip Augustus viii. 244 A religious congregation, dominated and directed by laymen, was, to use a metaphor which was frequently applied to the condition, putting the plow before the oxen. < as lemmas |
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