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单词 the left hand does not know what the right hand is doing
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the left hand does not know what the right hand is doing
P1. the left hand does not know what the right hand is doing and variants: originally with allusion to Matthew 6:3, referring to acts of charity performed in a discreet or secret manner. Later also used to express unawareness or (deliberate) ignorance of one's actions or activities, frequently implying lack of coordination. [Alluding to Matthew 6:3 (compare quots. c1384, 1526); compare post-classical Latin nesciat sinistra tua quid faciat dextera tua (Vulgate), Hellenistic Greek μὴ γνώτω ἡ ἀριστερά σου τί ποιεῖ ἡ δεξιά σου (New Testament).]
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OE West Saxon Gospels: Matt. (Corpus Cambr.) vi. 3 Soþlice þonne þu þine ælmessan do, nyte þin wynstre hwæt do þin swyþre.]
1340 Ayenbite (1866) 196 Huanne þou dest elmesse ne wyte naȝt þi left hand huet deþ þi riȝt hand.
c1384 Bible (Wycliffite, E.V.) (Douce 369(2)) (1850) Matt. [vi.] 3 But thee doynge almesse, knowe nat the left hond what thi riȝt hond doth, that thi almes be in hidlis.
a1400 (a1325) Cursor Mundi (Vesp.) 28968 Þat þi lefthand wijt noght for roos, þe almus þat þi right hand doos.
1526 Bible (Tyndale) Matt. vi. f. vij But when thou doest thine almes, let not thy lyfte hond knowe, what thy righte hand doth, that thyne almes may be secret.
1630 J. Taylor Wks. 341/2 Yet was his bounty from the world so hid; His right hand knew not what his left hand did.
1683 O. Heywood Narr. Holy Life John Angier (new ed.) 55 He was exceeding liberal to the Poor..: his left hand knew not what his right hand did.
1708 F. Atterbury 14 Serm. 196 She was wonderfully Secret; endeavouring to come up, as near as she could, to the Rule of not letting her right hand know what her left hand did.
1779 Hist. Ascanius ix, in R. Griffiths Ascanius (rev. ed.) 173 The inhabitants were all stricken with amazement, insomuch that no man's right hand knew what his left did.
1829 A. Herbert Nimrod IV. i. i. 106 The works of secrecy are not more absurd and terrible than they are complicated; the left hand does not know what the right is executing.
1856 Hunt's Merchants' Mag. Jan. 47 He kept no note of his charities—his right hand did not know what his left hand had done.
1936 Philos. & Phenomenol. Res. 7 272 Human beings are capable of stowing away their mental goods into different trunks;..the philosopher's academic right hand does not know what his work-a-day left hand is doing.
1960 Washington Post 30 Sept. d10/3 The Americans would make us a laughingstock if they found out that in our government the left hand does not know what the right hand is doing.
2006 C. Stross Clan Corporate xiv. 281 There's been a board of enquiry... Left hand didn't know what the right hand was doing, excessive compartmentalization in our security architecture, et cetera.
extracted from left handn.adj.
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更新时间:2024/11/13 12:56:51