don’t sell the skin till you have caught the bear
- don’t sell the skin till you have caught the bear
The origin of this saying is to be found in a fable added by Lorenzo Astemio (Laurentius Abstemius) to a collection of Aesop’s fables compiled in the 1490s.
1578 H. WOTTON tr. J. Yver Courtly Controversie of Cupids Cantles N4v His eyes, greedily fixed vpon his faire Mistresse, solde vnto him (as men say) the skin before the beast is taken.
1580 LYLY Euphues & his England ii. 53 I trusted so much, that I solde the skinne before the Beaste was taken.
1641 CHARLES I Comment (on Remonstrance) 1 Dec. in Rushworth Historical Collections (1692) III. v. 1,436 We must not dispose of the Bears skin till the Bear be dead.
1692 R. L’ESTRANGE Aesop (ed. 3) 270 He bade me have a care for the future, to make sure of the bear before I sell his skin.
1721 KELLY Scottish Proverbs 376 You sell the Bear Skin on his Back.
1999 R. CARPENTER Scarlet Pimpernel (BBC TV, episode 1) [CHAUVELIN:] The trap is set, and he’s about to walk into it. [MARGUERITE:] Don’t sell the skin till you’ve caught the bear.
Proverbs new dictionary.
Look at other dictionaries:
sell — see sell in May and go away don’t sell the skin till you have caught the bear buy in the cheapest market and sell in the dearest … Proverbs new dictionary
skin — noun see near is my shirt, but nearer is my skin don’t sell the skin till you have caught the bear verb see there is more than one way to skin a cat … Proverbs new dictionary
bear — noun see don’t sell the skin till you have caught the bear verb see bear and forbear … Proverbs new dictionary
The Idler (1758–1760) — This article is about the 18th century series of essays. For other publications called The Idler, see The Idler (disambiguation). The Idler was a series of 103 essays, all but twelve of them by Samuel Johnson, published in the London weekly the… … Wikipedia
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
List of performances on Top of the Pops — NOTOC Contents 1960s: 1964 | 1965 | 1966 | 1967 | 1968 | 1969 1970s: 1970 | 1971 | 1972 | 1973 | 1974 | 1975 | 1976 | 1977 | 1978 1979 1980s: 1980 | 1981 1982 | 1983 | 1984 1985 | 1986 | 1987 1988 | 1989 1990s: 1990 | 1991 | 1992 | 1993 1994 |… … Wikipedia
List of The Colbert Report episodes (2007) — This list of episodes of The Colbert Report details information on all 2007 episodes of The Colbert Report, a popular Comedy Central show hosted by Stephen Colbert, and produced by Colbert, Jon Stewart, and Ben Karlin. Colbert plays the role of a … Wikipedia
catch — see you cannot catch old birds with chaff it doesn’t matter if a cat is black or white, as long as it catches mice a cat in gloves catches no mice a drowning man will clutch at a straw eagles don’t catch flies … Proverbs new dictionary
literature — /lit euhr euh cheuhr, choor , li treuh /, n. 1. writings in which expression and form, in connection with ideas of permanent and universal interest, are characteristic or essential features, as poetry, novels, history, biography, and essays. 2.… … Universalium
United States — a republic in the N Western Hemisphere comprising 48 conterminous states, the District of Columbia, and Alaska in North America, and Hawaii in the N Pacific. 267,954,767; conterminous United States, 3,022,387 sq. mi. (7,827,982 sq. km); with… … Universalium
