which way the wind blows, (to know)
which way the wind blows, (to know)
How matters stand. Wind direction has been a metaphor for the course of events since the fourteenth century. It appeared in John Heywood’s Proverbs of 1546 and remains current. “My questions must have showed him whence the wind blew,” wrote Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (Sir Nigel, 1906). See also straw in the wind.
See also: way, wind
The Dictionary of Clichés by Christine Ammer
- know what/which side of the bread is buttered (on), to
- eat one's cake and have it, too, to
- quick as a wink/bunny
- can't see the forest/wood(s) for the trees
- give (someone) an inch and they'll take a mile
- devil you know is better than the devil you don't know, the
- quake/shake like a leaf, to
- draw/pull in one's horns, to
- on top of the world, to be
- beggar