viper in bosom

viper in bosom

Meaning:

• a person who deceives you after receiving help from you
• an unappreciative friend

Example:

1. I got my friend a good position in my company and all he did is convinced my manger to get him the designation I had in the project. He was no more than a viper in my bosom.
2. He provided Anaya shelter in his house when she was rendered homeless & she kept stealing money from his cupboard until he knew that she was a viper in his bosom.
3. She was confident of their relation being truthful and transparent to only know that she has nursed a viper in her bosom all these years: Her husband eloped with a younger woman of the age of his daughter.
4. Only after the police arrested him for sheltering a friend involved in terrorist activities did he know that all these years he had been nursing a viper in his bosom.

Origin:
The phrase has originated from one of the tales of Aesop, in which a farmer who gives shelter to a viper dying from cold is eventually bitten by the viper after its recovery. The similar thought is also found in Latin ( insinu viperam habere) & the expression is found in various forms in English from late 16th century after it was referred by Shakespeare and Chaucher.