Definitions
from The Century Dictionary.
- To discover mare's nests; make absurd discoveries; imagine that one has made an important discovery which is really no discovery at all, or is a hoax.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun A supposed discovery which turns out to be a hoax; something grossly absurd.
- noun A confused multitude of things.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun Alternative spelling of
mare's nest .
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun a confused multitude of things
Etymologies
Sorry, no etymologies found.
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Examples
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Ten men and women, eight of them working on new projects that had been started since young van Riebeek had started after this mare's-nest of his, all of them diverted from serious planned research.
The Fuzzy Papers Piper, H. Beam 1962
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Company found to their cost, that it was they who were burying their treasure, instead of Captain Kidd who had buried his; so, having realized their mare's-nest, they gave it up.
Lands of the Slave and the Free Cuba, the United States, and Canada Henry A. Murray
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But I don't suppose the denial had the smallest effect upon Mr. KING, who probably went off and dined heartily on a magnum of mare's-nest soup.
Punch, or the London Charivari, Volume 153, November 28, 1917 Various
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Generalizations are commonly unsafe in proportion as they are tempting; and this, together with its pretty twin-brother about Cavaliers and Roundheads, would seem to have been hatched from the same egg and in the same mare's-nest.
The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 08, No. 50, December, 1861 Various
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The machine that was growing in a mare's-nest on the second floor began to evolve faster.
The Fourth R George Oliver Smith 1946
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Jackson's voice, quavering with excitement, said, "I've run into a mare's-nest up here."
The Case of the Sleepwalker's Niece Gardner, Erle Stanley, 1889-1970 1936
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"Well, how about this Peruvian mare's-nest of yours?"
Whose Body? Dorothy Leigh 1923
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"It's no mare's-nest," I said; "come and have a look at it."
Whose Body? Dorothy Leigh 1923
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We talked money for about a quarter of an hour and then he said: "Well, how about this Peruvian mare's-nest of yours?"
Whose Body Sayers, Dorothy L. 1923
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"It's no mare's-nest," I said; "come and have a look at it."
Whose Body Sayers, Dorothy L. 1923
qms commented on the word mare's-nest
Ideas can be swiftly assessed
By the old-fashioned equine test.
If it explains events
It is called horse sense
Or, failing, is scorned as a mare's-nest.
April 1, 2014