snake
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banana oil
Superfluous, disingenuous, or nonsensical talk, especially that which is meant to flatter someone or exaggerate something. Look, I know I won't get past the first round of this tournament, so you can stop feeding me banana oil.
a snake in (one's) bosom
Someone whom one has befriended, taken care of, or treated well but proves to be traitorous, untrustworthy, deceitful, or ungrateful. (Used especially in the phrase "nourish/nurse/nurture a snake in one's bosom.") Well, it turns out that Margaret was quite a snake in my bosom. I put my neck on the line to get her a job in our company, and then she turns around and tries to get me fired! I thought our love was not only mutual but indestructible; and yet, I have nursed a snake in my bosom all these years: my darling husband has cast me out and run off with a younger woman.
nurse a snake in (one's) bosom
To befriend, look after, or take care of someone who proves to be traitorous, untrustworthy, deceitful, or ungrateful. I thought the profligate had seen the light and was seeking redemption, and so I took him into my care. But before long, I knew I had nursed a snake in my bosom, as I awoke one morning to find myself robbed blind! I thought our love was not only mutual but indestructible; and yet, I have nursed a snake in my bosom all these years: my darling husband has cast me out and run off with a younger woman.
nurture a snake in (one's) bosom
To befriend, look after, or take care of someone who proves to be traitorous, untrustworthy, deceitful, or ungrateful. I thought the profligate had seen the light and was seeking redemption, and so I took him into my care. But before long, I knew I had nurtured a snake in my bosom, as I awoke one morning to find myself robbed blind! I thought our love was not only mutual but indestructible; and yet, I have nurtured a snake in my bosom all these years: my darling husband has cast me out and run off with a younger woman.
nourish a snake in (one's) bosom
To befriend, look after, or take care of someone who proves to be traitorous, untrustworthy, deceitful, or ungrateful. I thought the profligate had seen the light and was seeking redemption, and so I took him into my care. But before long, I knew I had nourished a snake in my bosom, as I awoke one morning to find myself robbed blind! I thought our love was not only mutual but indestructible; and yet, I have nourished a snake in my bosom all these years: my darling husband has cast me out and run off with a younger woman.
snake oil salesman
Someone who sells, promotes, or is a general proponent of some valueless or fraudulent cure, remedy, or solution. (Can also be formed as "snake oil saleswoman" if referring to a woman, or "salesperson" to be gender neutral.) I find it hard to believe anyone would fall for those snake oil salesmen on TV selling holistic medicines and therapies. A lot of people have been swayed by the presidential candidate's plan for economic growth, but if you ask me, she sounds like a snake oil saleswoman.
snake in the grass
One who feigns friendship with the intent to deceive. Did you hear that Daria's best friend stole money from her bank account? What a snake in the grass.
snakes and ladders
A children's board game in which players try to reach the finish while encountering ladders that move them quickly forward, and snakes that force them back near the start. My little sister loves to play snakes and ladders, but I find it so frustrating because I always seem to land on snakes!
snake oil
A valueless or fraudulent cure, remedy, or solution. (Often used in the phrase "snake oil salesman," one who sells or promotes such a product.) My mom keeps giving me all of these hippie-dippie pills to help my migraines, but I think they’re just snake oil, honestly.
go at something like a boy killing snakes
Rur. to do something with a great deal of energy. Once Mary decided to take that test, she went at her books like a boy killing snakes. I hired Joe to weed my garden, and he went at it like a boy killing snakes.
If it was a snake it woulda bit you.
Rur. It was very close to you. Jane: Where's the phone book? Tom: Right there! If it was a snake it woulda bit you. Bill: I can't find my other shoe. I've looked all over the house. Mary: It's right behind you. If it was a snake it would have bit you.
like fighting snakes
Rur. chaotic; challenging. (As if every time one snake is subdued, another one attacks.) It's like fighting snakes to get anything done at this time of year. Arguing with you is like fighting snakes.
seeing pink elephants
and seeing pink spiders; Seeing snakesintoxicated; recovering from a drinking bout; having the delirium tremens. When I got to the point of seeing pink elephants, I knew that something had to be done. The old one who's shaking—he's probably seeing snakes.
snake along
to move along in a curving line, looking like a snake; to move along in a line, moving as a snake moves. The train snaked along, gaining speed as it went downhill. The line of people waiting to buy tickets snaked along slowly.
See also: snake
snake in the grass
a sneaky and despised person. How could I ever have trusted that snake in the grass? John is such a snake in the grass.
banana oil
Nonsense, exaggerated flattery, as in I should be on television? Cut out the banana oil! The precise analogy in this idiom is not clear, unless it is to the fact that banana oil, a paint solvent and artificial flavoring agent, has no relation to the fruit other than that it smells like it. Possibly it is a variation on snake oil, a term for quack medicine that was extended to mean nonsense. [1920s]
snake in the grass
A treacherous person, as in Ben secretly applied for the same job as his best friend; no one knew he was such a snake in the grass . This metaphor for treachery, alluding to a poisonous snake concealed in tall grass, was used in 37 b.c. by the Roman poet Virgil ( latet anguis in herba). It was first recorded in English in 1696 as the title of a book by Charles Leslie.
snake oil
see under banana oil.
viper in one's bosom
Also, snake in one's bosom. An ungrateful or treacherous friend, as in I got him dozens of freelance jobs, and then he told everyone I was a lousy musician-nothing like nourishing a viper in one's bosom . This metaphoric expression, often put as nourish a viper (or snake) in one's bosom, comes from Aesop's fable about a farmer who shelters a snake dying from the cold, which then fatally bites him after it recovers. It was referred to by Chaucer and Shakespeare, and appeared in numerous proverb collections.
banana oil
AMERICAN, INFORMALIf you call what someone says banana oil, you mean that it is only said to gain an advantage and is not sincere. All the things he said about her qualities of leadership were just banana oil.
a snake in the grass
If you describe someone as a snake in the grass, you mean they are false because they pretend to be your friend while actually harming you. He's a snake in the grass — a guy you really can't trust. Note: This phrase was first used by the Roman poet Virgil in his work `The Eclogues' to refer to a hidden danger.
snake oil
Snake oil is something which is sold or presented as a cure or a solution to a problem but which, in fact, has no use or value. Do vitamins really help the skin or are cosmetic companies simply promoting the latest in snake oil? Note: You can also describe someone as a snake-oil salesman, meaning that they try to sell you or persuade you to believe in snake oil. Smooth-talking snake-oil salesmen use the telephone to take money from the foolish and the greedy and then vanish. Note: In the United States, snake oil was a substance typically made from the plant snakeroot. Dishonest salesmen tried to persuade people to buy it, claiming that it was a medicine which would cure their illnesses.
banana oil
nonsensical talk; bullshit. US and Australian informalmad as a (cut) snake
crazy or eccentric. Australian informala snake in the grass
a treacherous or deceitful person.Since the late 17th century this expression has entirely superseded the earlier idiom a pad in the straw . Pad is an old dialect term for a toad, an animal that was formerly thought to be poisonous.
a ˌsnake in the ˈgrass
(disapproving) a person who pretends to be your friend but who cannot be trusted: We used to be friends, but who knew he’d turn out to be such a snake in the grass?banana oil
n. nonsense. I refuse to listen to any more of your childish banana oil.
seeing pink elephants
and seeing pink spiders and seeing snakes tv. alcohol intoxicated; recovering from a drinking bout; having the delirium tremens. When I got to the point of seeing pink elephants, I knew that something had to be done. He’s screaming something about seeing pink spiders, and he wants a drink.
seeing snakes
verbsnake
1. in. to scheme; to plot and plan. (Prisons.) He spent a lot of time snaking about that job.
2. tv. to steal something. Where did you snake that bike?
snake eyes
n. the two in dice, one spot on each die. The baby needs shoes, and all I get is snake eyes.
snake in the grass
n. a sneaky and despised person. How could I ever have trusted that snake in the grass?
trouser snake
and trouser trout n. the penis. The doctor was taken aback when young Willard used the term “trouser snake.” Stop scratching your trouser trout in public.
banana oil
insincere or ridiculous talk. Like “horse feathers,” there's no such substance as banana oil. Also like “horse feathers,” the phrase Described something utterly preposterous. It has been attributed to Milt Gross, a cartoonist who first used the expression in his comic strips during the 1920s.