| 词汇 | beggar on horseback |
| 词源 | beggar on horseback. “Set a beggar on horseback and he will ride a gallop,” Robert Burton observed in his Anatomy of Mel- ancholy. But the proverb, meaning there is no one so arrogant as a beggar who has suddenly made his fortune, probably dates back much earlier. It possibly derives from the old English proverb, “Set a beggar on horseback and he’ll ride to the devil.” This proverb is common to many languages, its German equiv- alent, for instance, being “Set a beggar on horseback and he’ll outride the devil.” |
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