Idioms

eternal

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eternal life

Everlasting life, often thought of as life that extends into the afterlife. While we all will miss Stu's presence here on Earth, he will now enjoy eternal life in heaven. Grandma said she's never been afraid of death because she knows that death is just a transition into eternal life. I was very glad to awaken from my surgery on this earthly plane. I'm only 45 years old—I'm not ready for eternal life yet!
See also: eternal, life

eternal sleep

euphemism Death. Even though she had been sick for months, we were all devastated when our grandmother entered her eternal sleep. Wendy said she's not scared to enter her eternal sleep? Well, that makes sense, considering how long she's suffered with this horrific illness. Why did you buy Billy a goldfish? That thing will enter its eternal sleep by tomorrow, and then I'm gonna have to explain the concept of death to a four-year-old. Ugh.
See also: eternal, sleep

eternal triangle

A sexual encounter or relationship between three people. Although exciting at first, the eternal triangle caused their relationship to suffer and ultimately end. Why is an eternal triangle so appealing to men? If you ask me, a sexual encounter between three people is just asking for drama! There's no way those two girls will go home with you, bud. Let your dreams of an eternal triangle die now.
See also: eternal, triangle

hope springs eternal

proverb People can always find a reason to hope, even in the bleakest situations. The phrase is a shortening of the line "Hope springs eternal in every human breast," from Alexander Pope's poem Essay on Man. We don't know how this business venture will work out, but hope springs eternal, right? A: "Hope springs eternal, though. Maybe this is the house we finally get." B: "I wish I could be as optimistic as you." If the doctors think the diagnosis is grim, let them. For me, hope springs eternal no matter what.
See also: eternal, hope, spring

hope springs eternal in the human breast

proverb People can always find a reason to hope, even in the bleakest situations. The phrase comes from Alexander Pope's poem Essay on Man. We don't know how this business venture will work out, but hope springs eternal in the human breast, right? A: "Hope springs eternal in the human breast, right? So maybe this is the house we finally get." B: "I wish I could be as optimistic as you." If the doctors think the diagnosis is grim, let them. For me, hope springs eternal in the human breast no matter what.

the eternal checkout

euphemism Death or the afterlife. Don't worry, boss. We'll send that no-good snitch to the eternal checkout. I thought we were heading for the eternal checkout when the brakes failed on our bus.
See also: checkout, eternal

the Eternal City

Rome, Italy. The celebrated singer is traveling to the Eternal City for a performance at the Vatican for the Pope himself!
See also: city, eternal
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms. © 2024 Farlex, Inc, all rights reserved.

eternal life

Euph. life after death. He passed on into eternal life, leaving us behind to mourn. She is now at rest in eternal life.
See also: eternal, life

(the) eternal triangle

a sexual or emotional relationship involving two women and one man or two men and one woman. (*Typically, a couple [man and woman] and another man or woman.) Henry can't choose between his wife and his mistress. It's the eternal triangle. I'm surprised Jane doesn't get tired of the eternal triangle. She goes out with Peter at the weekend and Jim during the week.
See also: eternal, triangle

Hope springs eternal (in the human breast).

Prov. People will continue to hope even though they have evidence that things cannot possibly turn out the way they want. (From Alexander Pope's poem, "Essay on Man." Sometimes used to remark that you believe someone's situation is hopeless, as in the first example.) Jill: The boss may have turned me down the first twelve times I asked for a raise, but this time I really think she'll give it to me. Jane: Hope springs eternal in the human breast. Alan: You're not still trying to teach the dog to shake hands! Jane: Hope springs eternal.
See also: eternal, hope, spring
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs. © 2002 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.

eternal triangle

A relationship involving three lovers, such as two women involved with one man or two men with one woman. For example, The plot of the murder mystery revolved around the eternal triangle of a husband, wife, and another woman . [c. 1900]
See also: eternal, triangle

hope springs eternal

People will keep on hoping, no matter what the odds. For example, I keep buying lottery tickets-hope springs eternal. This expression was coined by Alexander Pope ( An Essay on Man, 1732) and quickly became proverbial.
See also: eternal, hope, spring
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.

the Eternal City

a name for the city of Rome.
See also: city, eternal

eternal triangle

a relationship between three people, typically a couple and the lover of one of them, involving sexual rivalry.
See also: eternal, triangle

hope springs eternal

it is human nature always to find fresh cause for optimism.
This is a shortened version of Alexander Pope's line in An Essay on Man ( 1733 ): ‘Hope springs eternal in the human breast’.
1992 Angela Lambert A Rather English Marriage Hope springs eternal—she smiled wryly—even in Tunbridge Wells .
See also: eternal, hope, spring
Farlex Partner Idioms Dictionary © Farlex 2017

ˌhope springs eˈternal

(saying) human beings never stop hoping: She’s sure that he’ll come back to her one day. I’m not so sure, but hope springs eternal.This comes from An Essay on Man by Alexander Pope: ‘Hope springs eternal in the human breast’.
See also: eternal, hope, spring
Farlex Partner Idioms Dictionary © Farlex 2017

the eternal checkout

n. death. Hank knew the eternal checkout was just around the corner, and he suddenly got religion.
See also: checkout, eternal
McGraw-Hill's Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions Copyright © 2006 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

eternal triangle, the

A threesome of lovers, either two men involved with or vying for one woman or two women and one man. “Eternal” here simply means that this situation has occurred over and over through the ages. The term has been traced to a book review appearing in the London Daily Chronicle in 1907, describing a novel that “deals with the eternal triangle, which, in this case, consists of two men and one woman.”
See also: eternal

hope springs eternal

It is human nature to keep on hoping against all odds. This particular expression was coined by the poet Alexander Pope in An Essay on Man (1732), “Hope springs eternal in the human breast,” and very quickly became proverbial. It was quoted by Robert Burns and Charles Dickens, among many others, usually without benefit of quotation marks.
See also: eternal, hope, spring
The Dictionary of Clichés by Christine Ammer Copyright © 2013 by Christine Ammer
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References in periodicals archive
Therefore firstly, he rejects the immortality as continuation of life after death and says: "Not only there is no guarantee for Immortality and eternality of human soul meaning the eternal survival of the soul after death, but also this assumption doesn't fulfill by no means what they wanted to achieve.
Of course, it should not be surprising that some of the more conservative groups that hold other views that seem to cast doubt on the legitimacy of Judaism--such as support for converting Jews to Christianity--would simultaneously insist on the eternality of the covenant in order to minimize an apparent paradox between affirming the biblical covenant and wanting Jews to become Christian.
Wordsworth's coda does, admittedly, function as a kind of wish fulfillment by trying to impose a philosophical eternality about the Hericlitean flux of the poem, made more acute and poignant through the stark rendering of that transience in the visual imagery.
If God's intent was to open the door to the eternality of existence through this Christ, has that, too, been altered or negated or denied by the years 1933-45, more specifically, 1939-45, and the death camps that, even today, continue to puncture and mar the landscape of Europe, most especially in Poland?
Part 1 has chapters on the Trinity and on (alleged) divine properties like simplicity, omnipotence, omniscience, omnipresence, eternality, and perfect goodness.
London's eternality ensures that it contains them all simultaneously, making them into a single yet polyphonic voice of the city where "the dead seem to be pursuing at the heels of the living." (36)
In simple terms, sensibilia are purely temporal, intelligibilia are perpetual and "share" in eternality, and God is eternal.
Whereas a more vengeful God speaks of how he will punish the wicked in Deuteronomy, a merciful God tells his followers in Romans to forget themselves and their egos because they are fleeting in comparison with the eternality and omniscience of God.
Similarly the Islamic concept of human rights is factually based on eternality and sanctity.
For Giusti, Rome should have embodied both imperial and spiritual eternality. Even well into the twentieth century, the overlap between the political and religious "eternal" persisted in the Italian language in relation to Rome.
She takes advantage of word properties that fail to secure the eternality they seem to promise.
Yet, compelled by the Scriptures, we have no right to minimize the eternality of this state by placing limits on it or by seeing the warnings as conditional, pedagogically motivated statements.
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