The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Proverbs (351 page)

BOOK: The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Proverbs

10.69Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub

ads

MANY a mickle makes a muckle

A popular corruption of the preceding entry. This alternative form is in fact nonsensical, as
muckle
is merely a variant of the dialectal
mickle
‘a large quantity or amount’.

1793
Writings
(1939) XXXII. 423
A Scotch addage, than which nothing in nature is more true.. ‘many mickles make a muckle’.
1940
Huntly Express
19 Jan. 3
He said at the close of his address ‘As the Scots say, and they should know, mony a mickle mak's a muckle.’ .. As the Scots know, he had quoted the proverb wrongly.
1968
Death among Stars
v.
Many a mickle makes a muckle, as Sir P. says. And Sir P. would be generous.
1982
Local Lads
x.
Though you can perform a minor task easily yourself, command that a minion do it. It emphasizes your eminence, many a mickle making a muckle.

great and small

Back
-

New Search

There's MANY a slip between cup and lip

Cf. CATO THE ELDER in Aulus Gellius
Noctes Atticae
XIII
. xviii. 1 (
saepe audivi
)
inter os atque offam multa intervenire posse
, (I have often heard) that many things can come between mouth and morsel; PALLADAS (attrib.) in
Anthologia Palatina
x. 32