Idioms

ladybug, ladybug, fly away home

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ladybug, ladybug, fly away home

A children's rhyme said as a chant to shoo away the ladybug beetle. The full rhyme goes "ladybug, ladybug, fly away home, your house is on fire and your children will burn," an allusion to the practice of farmers burning their fields after the harvest. In British English, "ladybird" is typically used instead of "ladybug." A: "Look! A ladybug landed on your arm." B: "Ladybug, ladybug, fly away home!"

See also: away, fly, home

Farlex Dictionary of Idioms. © 2024 Farlex, Inc, all rights reserved.

ladybug ladybug, fly away home

A chant to send a ladybug on its way. The ladybug (or ladybird) beetle is helpful to farmers by reducing the number of harmful larvae and insects on crops. In certain parts of the English-speaking world, farmers chanted right before they burned their fields after harvest, “Ladybug ladybug, fly away home / Your house is on fire, your children alone [or your children are gone].” Some people still recite the verse when a ladybug lands on them and before gently flicking the insect off them, because swatting a ladybug is considered very bad luck.

See also: away, fly, home, ladybug

Endangered Phrases by Steven D. Price Copyright © 2011 by Steven D. Price

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References in periodicals archive

Visitors will also be able to get more involved with the magical Ladybird world by dressing up, having a photo opportunity in Rapunzel's tower and the Wicked Queen's mirror on the wall, trip trapping over the Troll's bridge or having a picnic in the park outside the museum, where three Ladybird-themed benches have been installed.

Museum exhibition has Stories from a Ladybird Childhood

Harlequin ladybirds are rumoured to pass on a "dangerous" sexuallytransmitted disease to our native species, called Laboulbeniales fungal disease.

Warning over ladybird 'invasion'

A Ladybird caught by Mary Cordwell next to a [pounds sterling]1 coin

Warning over STD-ridden ladybirds that 'dropped from ceiling into food'; The foreign bugs have been spotted in Merseyside homes, clustered together, after hiding away for the winter

Experts believe our native species of ladybird, which is already threatened by loss of its natural habitat, will become infected with the fungus, which is passed on through mating.

STD-ridden ladybirds are back - and they've already 'dropped from ceiling into food'; Invasions of the 'large and aggressive' Harlequin ladybird - originally from Asia - have already been reported in UK

LADYBIRDS are colourful little insects - and it seems some of them lead colourful lives too.

Invasion of the Harlequins; ladybirds carried by autmumn winds

Called 'Harlequin ladybirds', the flying insects are rumoured to carry a "dangerous" sexually-transmitted fungal disease - though humans can't catch it so it's only an issue for other ladybirds.

HOUSEHOLDERS BUGGED BY LADYBIRD INVASION

Ladybird survey organiser Peter Brown told the BBC that Harlequin ladybirds sometimes bite people if no food is available, which can leave a little bump and sting.

STD ladybirds in the UK carrying laboulbeniales fungal disease: What you need to know; The annual swarm of Harlequin ladybirds has arrived in the UK and people are posting pictures of them everywhere

Peter Brown, senior lecturer at Anglia Ruskin University, added that we are most likely to be seeing the Harlequin ladybird.

Ladybirds have been invading homes - and here's why they are everywhere; The hot summer is thought to have boosted their numbers this year

First published in 2009, What The Ladybird Heard is one of several collaborations between Julia and Lydia, including the sequels What The Ladybird Heard Next and What the Ladybird Heard on Holiday.

Have you 'heard' about colourful new production?

How did you come up with the idea of the Ladybird? One wouldn't ordinarily associate Ladybirds with farmyard animals.

You'll never believe what the ladybird heard... From the deep dark wood to a whole farmyard of fun, chidren's writer Julia Donaldson talks to us ABOUTWHAT the Ladybird Heard and the stage show based on it

Ladybirds have an unsurpassed appetite for aphids, munching up to 50 a day or 5,000 during their lives.

Attracting the ladies; THE LADYBIRD IS NATURE'S NUMBER-ONE WEAPON AGAINST APHIDS... SO INVITE SOME TO YOUR PATCH

He added they eat native species of ladybird and are "outcompeting them to food, resources and habitats".

Plague of STI-riddled ladybirds invades UK; They also give off a stink and ruin soft furnishings

To celebrate the iconic publisher's centenary, they've teamed up with comedy writers Jason Hazeley and Joel Morris, to issue a tongue-firmly-incheek (and little bit rude) series that uses original Ladybird artwork.

Ladybird embroidered cushion, PS19.50, HEART AND PARCEL 3D Butterfly cushion, PS10, BHS These coasters remind me of pictures from London's Natural History Museum.

THREE OF THE BEST INSECT CUSHIONS

LADYBIRD Books, the series that inspired generations of youngsters to read, is 100 years old this week.

The books gave millions the reading bug; FROM FAIRY TALES TO THE E FALKLANDS.. 100 YEARS OF LADYBIRD

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