farrow

the sow that eats her farrow

Ireland. A reference to James Joyce's description in A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man of the country oppressing or exploiting its citizens. If the people do not vote to pass this referendum, we will know that the country remains the sow that eats her farrow.
See also: eats, farrow, sow, that
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.

the sow that eats its farrow

Ireland. The phrase comes from James Joyce's Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man: “Do you know what Ireland is? asked Stephen with cold violence. Ireland is the old sow that eats her farrow.” A “farrow” is a litter of newborn piglets, and the reference is Joyce's belief that Ireland had a history of destroying its writers, admirable political figures, and indeed everything that should be saved and nurtured.
See also: eats, farrow, sow, that
Endangered Phrases by Steven D. Price
See also:
  • the sow that eats her farrow
  • the sow that eats its farrow
  • answer to the description (of)
  • answer to the description of
  • portrait
  • sit for a/(one's) portrait
  • beggar description, to
  • beyond description
  • a blow-by-blow description
  • Trojan, he is a/works like a/a regular
References in periodicals archive
Johansson, "On the fixed-point implementation of fractional-delay filters based on the farrow structure," IEEE Transactions on Circuits and Systems I: Regular Papers, vol.
Broadband Frost Adaptive Array Antenna with a Farrow Delay Filter
BANGUy (CyHAN)- Mia Farrow, renowned actress, activist and UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador, has just completed her fourth visit to the Central African Republic where she saw the impact of extreme violence and met people with stories of inspiring courage.
UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador Mia Farrow visits CAR
After the salute to the Farrows, Food Share board member A.J.
Volunteers behind Food Share celebrated for their dedication
Linda Farrow presents eyewear in timeless shapes, all handmade in a luxurious, highly polished acetate and fine titanium metal coated in 24-carat gold, in a range of colors and exotic skins such as alligator, stingray and python.
Eyewear gets adventurous
The company said this deployment is expected to underpin Farrow & Ball's growing mobile workforce, in a move to improve its overall customer experience.
Aerohive's Wi-Fi solution selected by Farrow & Ball in UK
The telecoms firm senior executive assistant is working with West Yorkshire Police looking at old murder and stalking cases in a bid to link them with Farrow.
My mum was murdered by shoe fetish killer - and I fear he killed again; EXCLUSIVE: Tracey Millington-Jones, whose mum was raped and stabbed by Christopher Farrow in 1994, is calling for a judicial review - as it's revealed the monster could be released within months
It took police six years to bring Farrow, a father-of-three from Cookridge, Leeds, to justice.
'Depraved fetish killer must be kept behind bars' News
Ms Green said she withdrew her complaint on Tuesday, partly because she did not want Ms Farrow to continue to have a platform on the issue and to stop the "constant referencing of herself as a victim when in actual fact she's used her platform to deliberately go after myself and my daughter".
Police probe after journalist 'misgendered' trans woman
Farrow responded to Jane's drinking by gambling heavily and he lost PS30 (equivalent to over PS2,000 today) on the Epsom Derby.
Man poisoned his partner and baby; Local historian STEVEN HORTON looks back at some of the city's most notorious murder cases ..
He certainly got the explosive part right: Farrow has produced more impactful journalism over the past 12 months than many journalists turn out in a lifetime.
Ronan Farrow JOURNALIST
The discovery sparked a bitter break-up that culminated in claims from their adopted daughter Dylan Farrow, who was then seven, that the director had molested her.
Daughter's abuse claims on Farrow like an Allen script; STATESIDE
The discovery sparked one of Hollywood's most acrimonious break-ups that culminated in accusations from their adopted daughter Dylan Farrow, who was seven years old at the time, that Allen had molested her.
Are you confused by Woody's wife's attempt to play the victim?... #MeToo
The truth is Mia Farrow saved her from parentless poverty and gave her a home, education and standard of living far above anything she could have ever hoped for in her native South Korea.
Previn opens old wounds in saga to rival any of Woody's scripts
NEW YORK -- NBC's news chairman sent an exhaustive defense of the network's handling of Ronan Farrow's investigation of Harvey Weinstein to his staff members, saying any speculation that the disgraced Hollywood mogul had any role in the network's rejection of the story was baseless.
NBC exec defends turning down of Weinstein story that sparked #MeToo
Investigative journalist Ronan Farrow, who trained as an attorney, worked for the United Nations in Sudan and then as a State Department adviser during the Obama administration.
War on Peace: The End of Diplomacy and the Decline of American Influence