| 单词 | not to be the rose but to be near it |
| 释义 | > as lemmasnot to be the rose but to be near it P3. not to be the rose but to be near it and variants: to approximate closely, or be closely associated with, an admired person, ideal, etc. [Ultimately with allusion to a passage in Persian (translated in quot. 1806) in Sa’adi Gūlistān (1258–9 ), author's preface. Compare French je ne suis pas la rose, mais j'ai vécu près d'elle (late 18th cent. or earlier). Quot. 1806 is taken from the first full English translation of the Persian text, but translations into French, Latin, and German were available from the mid 17th cent.] ΘΚΠ the mind > goodness and badness > quality of being good > excellence > [phrase] not to be the rose but to be near it1818 a whale of1913 a snip of a1932 the best (or greatest, etc.) thing since sliced bread1958 1806 F. Gladwin tr. Sa‘dī Gulistān i. Pref. 7 I was a worthless piece of clay, but having for a season associated with the rose, the virtue of my companion was communicated to me.] 1818 C. R. Maturin Women I. x. 191 ‘I am not the rose,’ said he, ‘but I have been near the rose.’ 1825 H. Wilson Mem. (ed. 2) I. 234 I considered her with respect and admiration, unmixed with jealousy. This was not the rose; but she had dwelled with it. 1848 W. M. Thackeray Pendennis (1850) I. ii. 11 If they were not the roses, they lived near the roses, as it were, and had a good deal of the odour of genteel life. 1899 H. James Awkward Age ii. viii. 84 Mrs. Grendon, though not perhaps herself quite the rose, is decidedly, in these days, too near it. 1907 E. Gosse Father & Son iv. 91 I was not permitted to go forth and trade with this old person, but sometimes our servant-maid did, thereby making me feel that if I did not hold the rose of merchandise, I was very near it. 1979 Country Life 7 June 1863/4 Laura moves to Candleford Green, which, if not the rose of Candleford itself, is still nearer the rose than was Lark Rise. < as lemmas |
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