shout (something) from the housetop(s)
To share some news or information publicly and with as many people as possible. I was ready to shout that we'd be having a baby from the housetops, but my wife wanted to wait for a while before we made the news public. I know you want to shout it from the housetop that you came in first in your class, but you should have a bit of modesty about it.
shout (something) from the rooftop(s)
To share some news or information publicly and with as many people as possible. I was ready to shout that we'd be having a baby from the rooftops, but my wife wanted to wait for a while before we made the news public. I know you want to shout it from the rooftop that you came in first in your class, but you should have a bit of modesty about it.
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms. © 2024 Farlex, Inc, all rights reserved.
shout from the rooftops
Announce publicly, as in Just because I won first prize you needn't shout it from the rooftops. This term alludes to climbing on a roof so as to be heard by more people. A similar phrase, using housetops, appears in the New Testament (Luke 12:3): "That which ye have spoken ... shall be proclaimed upon the housetops." [c. 1600]
The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer. Copyright © 2003, 1997 by The Christine Ammer 1992 Trust. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
shout from the housetops/rooftops, to
To publicize something. Obviously antedating electronic communication, this term echoes a slightly different one in the Bible, where Jesus exhorts his disciples to spread the word of God: “Therefore whatsoever ye have spoken in darkness shall be heard in the light; and that which ye have spoken in the ear in closets shall be proclaimed upon the housetops” (Luke 12:3).
The Dictionary of Clichés by Christine Ammer Copyright © 2013 by Christine Ammer