feel it in one's bones, to
feel it in one's bones, to
To anticipate something; to have a premonition or warning of a coming event. The expression appeared in Shakespeare’s Timon of Athens, in which the Third Lord responds to the statement that Timon is mad, “I feel ’t upon my bones” (3.6). The saying, which has been a cliché for a hundred years or so, most likely alludes to the alleged ability of those with old bone fractures and/or arthritis to forecast a change in weather (usually rain) based on their aching bones.
See also: feel
The Dictionary of Clichés by Christine Ammer
- a feeling about (someone or something)
- feeling
- funny feeling
- a/the feeling (that) (something is/will be the case)
- prick
- a pricking in (one's) thumbs
- a pricking in your thumbs
- sneaking
- have a sneaking suspicion
- Hamlet without the prince