Knowledge

Cutting off one's nose to spite one's face

Source 📝

88:, Abbess of Coldingham Priory in south-east Scotland, and her nuns, who are reported to have severed their own noses and upper lips, were not motivated by anger or revenge, but desperately tried to save their integrity by grossly disfiguring themselves to the point of becoming unattractive as targets of rape to the invading 61:
for (often unwise) self-destructive actions motivated purely by anger or desire for revenge. For example, if a man was angered by his wife, he might burn down their house to punish her; however, burning down
17: 81:, "He cut off his nose to be revenged of his face" is said to apply to "one who, to be revenged on his neighbor, has materially injured himself." 38:
overreaction to a problem: "Don't cut off your nose to spite your face" is a warning against acting out of pique, or against pursuing
54:
for a person to cut off the nose of another for various reasons, including punishment from the state, or as an act of revenge.
196: 35: 166: 8: 85: 201: 112: 27:
Expression; harming the self unintentionally trying to solve a problem or get revenge
151:
Groebner, V. "Losing face, saving face: Noses and honor in the late medieval town."
117: 137: 107: 190: 74: 58: 51: 42:
in a way that would damage oneself more than the object of one's anger.
101: 89: 39: 167:"origin of 'to cut off one's nose to spite one's face'" 34:" is an expression used to describe a needlessly 188: 32:Cutting off one's nose to spite one's face 79:Classical Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue 164: 70:, along with all of their possessions. 14: 189: 18:Cutting off the nose to spite the face 120:, an analogous Russian language idiom 84:In contradistinction to the above, 66:house would also mean burning down 24: 57:The expression has since become a 25: 213: 165:Tréguer, Pascal (2017-08-23). 158: 145: 131: 13: 1: 124: 7: 95: 50:It was not uncommon in the 10: 218: 45: 104:, the removal of the nose 153:History Workshop Journal 197:English-language idioms 73:In the 1796 edition of 139:The Phrase Finder 113:Inequity aversion 16:(Redirected from 209: 181: 180: 178: 177: 162: 156: 149: 143: 135: 118:To bomb Voronezh 36:self-destructive 21: 217: 216: 212: 211: 210: 208: 207: 206: 187: 186: 185: 184: 175: 173: 163: 159: 150: 146: 136: 132: 127: 108:Appeal to spite 98: 48: 28: 23: 22: 15: 12: 11: 5: 215: 205: 204: 199: 183: 182: 171:word histories 157: 144: 129: 128: 126: 123: 122: 121: 115: 110: 105: 97: 94: 47: 44: 26: 9: 6: 4: 3: 2: 214: 203: 200: 198: 195: 194: 192: 172: 168: 161: 154: 148: 142: 140: 134: 130: 119: 116: 114: 111: 109: 106: 103: 100: 99: 93: 91: 87: 82: 80: 76: 75:Francis Grose 71: 69: 65: 60: 55: 53: 43: 41: 37: 33: 19: 174:. Retrieved 170: 160: 152: 147: 138: 133: 83: 78: 72: 67: 63: 59:blanket term 56: 49: 31: 29: 155:, 40, 1-15. 52:Middle Ages 191:Categories 176:2021-07-15 141:definition 125:References 102:Rhinectomy 86:Saint Ebbe 92:raiders. 202:Proverbs 96:See also 46:Origins 40:revenge 90:Viking 77:'s 68:his 64:her 193:: 169:. 179:. 30:" 20:)

Index

Cutting off the nose to spite the face
self-destructive
revenge
Middle Ages
blanket term
Francis Grose
Saint Ebbe
Viking
Rhinectomy
Appeal to spite
Inequity aversion
To bomb Voronezh
The Phrase Finder definition
"origin of 'to cut off one's nose to spite one's face'"
Categories
English-language idioms
Proverbs

Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License. Additional terms may apply.