词汇 | not worth a row hill of beans |
词源 | not worth a row (hill) of beans. The meaning behind this phrase is that beans have little value compared with other crops because they are so easy to grow and prolific. Not worth a bean is one of the oldest expressions in English, recorded as early as the 13th century and colloquial since at least 1400. The hill in not worth a hill of beans, in the American version of the English expression, was a common term a century ago when the saying was born. It means not an actual hill, but a group of bean plants planted close together in a circle. Because most people now plant beans in straight rows and the meaning of hills is unclear to many, the phrase is usually not worth a row of beans today. |
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