释义 |
destroyan ant may well destroy a whole damproverb A small problem can cause catastrophic damage if left unchecked. A: "I can't believe that minor leak totally rotted the floorboards in here." B: "Unfortunately, an ant may well destroy a whole dam." See also: ant, dam, destroy, may, well, whole destroying angelAny of the extremely poisonous mushrooms of the genus Amanita. Don't pick that mushroom—it's a destroying angel! See also: angel, destroy Farlex Dictionary of Idioms. destroyed mod. drug intoxicated. The kid who took angel dust is destroyed most of the time. See also: destroy McGraw-Hill's Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions See also:- an ant may well destroy a whole dam
- ant
- teach a man to fish
- it takes a village
- village
- Beware of little expenses; a small leak will sink a great ship.
- a trouble shared is a trouble halved
- for want of a nail
- For want of a nail the shoe was lost; for want of a shoe the horse ...
- the best-laid plans
References in classic literature Either then, let us refute this conclusion, or, while it remains unrefuted, let us never say that fever, or any other disease, or the knife put to the throat, or even the cutting up of the whole body into the minutest pieces, can destroy the soul, until she herself is proved to become more unholy or unrighteous in consequence of these things being done to the body; but that the soul, or anything else if not destroyed by an internal evil, can be destroyed by an external one, is not to. True, I said; if the inherent natural vice or evil of the soul is unable to kill or destroy her, hardly will that which is appointed to be the destruction of some other body, destroy a soul or anything else except that of which it was appointed to be the destruction. If, then, we find any nature which having this inherent corruption cannot be dissolved or destroyed, we may be certain that of such a nature there is no destruction? And yet, I said, it is unreasonable to suppose that anything can perish from without through affection of external evil which could not be destroyed from within by a corruption of its own? Republic And it seemed to him that there was not a single article of faith of the church which could destroy the chief thing--faith in God, in goodness, as the one goal of man's destiny. Anna Karenina If an animal can in any way protect its own eggs or young, a small number may be produced, and yet the average stock be fully kept up; but if many eggs or young are destroyed, many must be produced, or the species will become extinct. Seedlings, also, are destroyed in vast numbers by various enemies; for instance, on a piece of ground three feet long and two wide, dug and cleared, and where there could be no choking from other plants, I marked all the seedlings of our native weeds as they came up, and out of the 357 no less than 295 were destroyed, chiefly by slugs and insects. If not one head of game were shot during the next twenty years in England, and, at the same time, if no vermin were destroyed, there would, in all probability, be less game than at present, although hundreds of thousands of game animals are now annually killed. The Origin of Species She could not understand how all her plans to destroy these strangers had failed; but she was a powerful Witch, as well as a wicked one, and she soon made up her mind how to act. But now that her fierce wolves and her wild crows and her stinging bees were gone, and her slaves had been scared away by the Cowardly Lion, she saw there was only one way left to destroy Dorothy and her friends. "Go to the strangers who are within my land and destroy them all except the Lion," said the Wicked Witch. The Wonderful Wizard of Oz Tell us,--What complaint have you to make against us which justifies you in attempting to destroy us and the state? And because we think right to destroy you, do you think that you have any right to destroy us in return, and your country as far as in you lies? But if you go forth, returning evil for evil, and injury for injury, breaking the covenants and agreements which you have made with us, and wronging those whom you ought least of all to wrong, that is to say, yourself, your friends, your country, and us, we shall be angry with you while you live, and our brethren, the laws in the world below, will receive you as an enemy; for they will know that you have done your best to destroy us. Crito "I had expected to live here in ease and comfort for many centuries," said Jack, dolefully; "but of course if the Nome King destroys everything in Oz I shall be destroyed too. The Emerald City of Oz |