a woman, a dog, and a walnut tree, the more you beat them the better they be
- a woman, a dog, and a walnut tree, the more you beat them the better they be
‘The old custom of beating a walnut-tree was carried out firstly to fetch down the fruit and secondly to break the long shoots and so encourage the production of short fruiting spurs’: M. Hadfield British Trees (1957) Cf. L. nux, asinus, mulier verbere opus habent, a nut tree, an ass, and a woman need a beating.
1581 G. PETTIE tr. S. Guazzo’s Civil Conversation III. 20 I have redde, I know not where, these verses. A woman, an asse, and a walnut tree, Bring the more fruit the more beaten they bee.
1670 J. RAY English Proverbs 50 A spaniel, a woman and a walnut tree, The more they’re beaten the better still they be.
1836 T. C. HALIBUR-TON Clockmaker 1st ser. xxv. There was an old sayin there [Kent], which..is not far off the mark: A woman, a dog, and a walnut tree, The more you lick ’em, the better they be.
1929 E. LINKLATER Poet’s Pub xii. A woman, a dog, and a walnut tree, The more you beat ’em, the better they be.
1945 F. THOMPSON Lark Rise v. A handsome pie was placed before him..such as seemed to..illustrate the old saying, ‘A woman, a dog and a walnut tree, the more you beat ’em the better they be’.
1981 Daily Telegraph 5 Feb. 17 It’s not right to batter your wife. It is like the old saying, ‘A wife, a dog and a walnut tree, the more you beat them the better they be.’ It’s just not true.
Proverbs new dictionary.
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