cloven


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Related to cloven: cloven foot

cloven hoof

An evil or malicious nature. The devil is typically depicted with cloven hooves. I thought I could trust Eric until he showed the cloven hoof by spreading rumors about me. Jill definitely sabotaged my last two relationships. She might seem nice, but she always shows a cloven hoof eventually.
See also: cloven, hoof

show the cloven hoof

To reveal one's evil or malicious nature. The devil is typically depicted with cloven hooves. I thought I could trust Eric until he showed the cloven hoof by spreading rumors about me. Jill definitely sabotaged my last two relationships. She might seem nice, but she always shows the cloven hoof eventually.
See also: cloven, hoof, show
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms. © 2022 Farlex, Inc, all rights reserved.

a cloven hoof

a symbol or indication of evil.
Traditional pictures of the Devil show him with the head and torso of a man but the legs and cloven hoofs of a goat. Therefore, a cloven hoof is a giveaway sign of the Devil.
1959 François Mauriac A Woman of Pharisees She had been a trial to him from the beginning, and now the cloven hoof was beginning to show.
See also: cloven, hoof
Farlex Partner Idioms Dictionary © Farlex 2017
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References in periodicals archive ?
Cloven, the six-minute short film, is the debut production of Bahraini film-maker Mohammed Fakhro.
Bahraini actress set for US film festival
1855: The "Devil's Footprints" appeared in snowbound South Devon - an estimated 100 miles of cloven hoofprints, eight inches apart in a single line and measuring four inches by two, reported from more than 30 different locations.
IT HAPPENED ON THIS DAY
1855: The "Devil's Footprints" appeared in snowbound South Devon - reportedly, between 40 and 100 miles of cloven hoofprints, eight inches apart in a single line and measuring four inches by two.
ON THIS DAY IN ..
1855: The ''Devil's Footprints'' appeared in snowbound South Devon - 100 miles of cloven hoofprints, eight inches apart in a single line and measuring four inches by two.
ON THIS DAY
1607-1681) "A Procession of Diabolical Creatures": feline heads atop demon-like silhouettes with cloven hooves-imagine if sphinxes returned only to fall in with the wrong crowd.
Rembrandt's World: Dutch Drawings from the Clement C. Moore Collection
The government has now begun a programme to vaccinate all pigs, cows and cloven hoofed animals.
Pigs 'buried alive' claim; FARM & COUNTRY
To Steven old is go the name on it, the world are, in are to buy the my kit look after L4 The cloven hooves of Thatcher can be heard slowly creeping back up Downing Street through Cameron.
The bad old days; You Say Email:letters@liverpoolecho.co.uk
Here, it suffices to state that this article will attempt to apply this definition to a novella of Italo Calvino, The cloven Viscount.
Magic realism in Aristophanes?
Caesar had his horse's hooves cloven into five toes.
Happened this day
In all, the season comprises 19 works spanning nearly 50 years, from the bubbling Esplanade to that vigorous inquiry into man's inner animal, Cloven Kingdom.
Season of dreams
Our greed in wanting cheaper and cheaper prices; manufacturers' greed in wanting to make money even out of cloven hoof and shrivelled gizzard?
Meat eaters at the point of no return
Muslims, and my own Jewish religion says: 'Anything to do with a pig is strictly forbidden, only animals with a cloven hoof which chew the cud may be eaten.'
ViewpointsBible makes it perfectly clear
1855: The "Devil's Footprints" appeared snowbound South Devon - 100 miles of cloven hoofprints, eight inches apart in a single line and measuring four inches by two.
On this day
1855: The Devil''s Footprints appeared in snowbound South Devon - 100 miles of cloven hoofprints, eight inches apart in a single line and measuring four inches by two.
On this day
1855: The "Devil's Footprints" appeared in snowbound South Devon - allegedly, 100 miles of cloven hoofprints, eight inches apart in a single line and measuring four inches by two.
ON THIS DAY IN ..
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