feast or famine

Either an overabundance or a shortage. This expression originated as either feast or fast, which is how it appeared in Thomas Fuller’s Gnomologia (1732) and still survived in 1912 (“Dock labour has been graphi- cally described as ‘either a feast or a fast,’” London Daily Telegraph). In Amer- ica, famine was substituted sometime during the twentieth century. The term is still frequently applied to alternating overabundance and shortages of work, as is often the case for freelancers, seasonal laborers, and the like.

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feast one’s eyes on, to

To enjoy the sight of something or someone. Shakespeare’s Sonnet 47, “With my love’s picture then my eye doth feast,” is one of the early sources of this metaphor. It may have been a cliché by the time George Meredith used it in The Adventures of Harry Richmond (1871): “The princess . . . let her eyes feast incessantly on a laughing sea.”

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eyes in the back of one’s head, to have

To be exceptionally alert. This expression dates from Roman times, appearing in Plautus’s play Aulularia (c. 210 B.C.) and cited by Erasmus in his collection of adages. Put slightly differently, it appeared in John Still’s play Gammer Gurton’s Needle (c. 1565): “Take heed of Sim Glovers wife, she hath an eie behind her!” (2.2).

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eye of a needle

See CAMEL THROUGH A  NEEDLE’S  EYE.

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dose of one’s own medicine

See OWN  MEDICINE.

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do’s and don’ts

Rules about what one should and shouldn’t do or say in certain situations. One of the earliest uses of this term appeared in 1902 as the title of a book, Golf Do’s and Don’ts. It rapidly spread into numerous other contexts, as in “Her big sister was about to tell her the do’s and don’ts of a first date.” It has been a cliché for some decades.

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do’s and don’ts

Rules about what one should and shouldn’t do or say in certain situations. One of the earliest uses of this term appeared in 1902 as the title of a book, Golf Do’s and Don’ts. It rapidly spread into numerous other contexts, as in “Her big sister was about to tell her the do’s and don’ts of a first date.” It has been a cliché for some decades.

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