The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Proverbs (599 page)

Read The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Proverbs Online

Authors: John Andrew Simpson,

BOOK: The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Proverbs

9.37Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub

Read Book Download Book

weak

see
YORKSHIRE born and Yorkshire bred, strong in the arm and weak in the head
.

Back
-

New Search

The WEAKEST go to the wall

Usually said to derive from the installation of seating (around the walls) in the churches of the late Middle Ages.
To go to the wall
means figuratively ‘to succumb in a conflict or struggle.’

a
1500
Coventry Plays
(EETS) 47
The weykist gothe eyuer to the walle.
c
1595
Romeo & Juliet
I. i. 14
That shows thee a weak slave; for the weakest goes to the wall.
1714
(
title
)
The weakest go to the wall, or the Dissenters sacrific'd by all parties.
1834
Peter Simple
I
. v.
You will be thrashed all day long… The weakest always goes to the wall there.
1888
Travels in Arabia Deserta
I. x.
There perished many among them; … it is the weak which go to the wall.
1916
My Lady of Moor
i.
He saw to it that I had a good education,.. knowing the necessity and value of it in these strenuous days of the ‘weak to the wall.’
1955
Doors of Sleep
i.
‘As in the early church, the weakest go to the wall,’ the Archdeacon said, seating himself on the low parapet.