a green Yule makes a fat churchyard
- a green Yule makes a fat churchyard
A proverb with many variations on the theme of the unhealthiness of a mild winter.
1635 J. SWAN Speculum Mundi v. They also say, that a hot Christmas makes a fat Church-yard.
1670 J. RAY English Proverbs 42 A green winter makes a fat Churchyard. This Proverb was sufficiently confuted Anno 1667, in which the winter was very mild; and yet no mortality..ensued the Summer or Autumn following.
1721 J. KELLY Scottish Proverbs 30 A green yule makes a fat Church-yard. This, and a great many proverbial Observations, upon the Seasons of the Year, are groundless.
1858 G. ELIOT Amos Barton in Scenes of Clerical Life I. vi. I shouldn’t wonder if it takes the old lady off. They say a green Yule makes a fat Churchyard; but so does a white Yule too.
1945 M. SARSFIELD (book-title) Green December Fills the Graveyard.
1950 B. PYM Some Tame Gazelle xviii. They say a green Christmas means a full churchyard... I dare say some old people will be taken.
1997 Times: Weekend 27 Dec. 16 So a green Christmas maketh a fat churchyard, as we say in SE10.
Proverbs new dictionary.
Look at other dictionaries:
fat — see the fat man knoweth not what the lean thinketh a green Yule makes a fat churchyard the opera isn’t over till the fat lady sings … Proverbs new dictionary
Yule — see a green Yule makes a fat churchyard … Proverbs new dictionary
churchyard — see a green Yule makes a fat churchyard … Proverbs new dictionary
green — see a green Yule makes a fat churchyard the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence … Proverbs new dictionary
Oxford Dictionary of Proverbs, Thematic Index — absence absence makes the heart grow fonder he who is absent is always in the wrong the best of friends must part blue are the hills that are far away distance lends enchantment to the view out of sight, out of mind … Proverbs new dictionary
Christmas — see the devil makes his Christmas pies of lawyers’ tongues and clerks’ fingers a dog is for life, not just for Christmas a green Yule makes a fat churchyard … Proverbs new dictionary
winter — see winter never rots in the sky if Candlemas day be sunny and bright, winter will have another flight; if Candlemas day be cloudy with rain, winter is gone, and won’t come again a green Yule makes a fat churchyard the rich man has his ice in the … Proverbs new dictionary
