green eyed monster

green eyed monster
Meaning
Jealousy Green is a colour associated with sickness, possibly because people's skin takes on a slightly greenish tinge when the colour is drained from it. Green is also the colour of many unripe foods with cause stomach pains. Used by, and possibly coined by, Shakespeare to denote jealousy. In The Merchant of Venice.
Portia: ' How all the other passions fleet to air, As doubtful thoughts, and rash-embraced despair, And shuddering fear, and green-eyed jealousy! O love, Be moderate; allay thy ecstasy, In measure rein thy joy; scant this excess. I feel too much thy blessing: make it less, For fear I surfeit.' Shakespeare also alludes to cats as green-eyed monsters in the way that they play with mice before killing them. Iago: 'O, beware, my lord, of jealousy; It is the green-eyed monster which doth mock The meat it feeds on; that cuckold lives in bliss Who, certain of his fate, loves not his wronger; But, O, what damned minutes tells he o'er Who dotes, yet doubts, suspects, ye Origin

Meaning and origin of phrases. 2013.

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Look at other dictionaries:

  • green-eyed monster — The green eyed monster is an allegorical phrase for somebody s strong jealousy …   The small dictionary of idiomes

  • green-eyed monster — ► NOUN (the green eyed monster) informal, humorous ▪ jealousy personified. ORIGIN from Shakespeare s Othello …   English terms dictionary

  • green-eyed monster — noun a feeling of jealous envy (especially of a rival) • Syn: ↑jealousy • Hypernyms: ↑envy, ↑enviousness * * * noun the green eyed monster informal : jealousy thought of as a monster that bites or attacks people She was bitten by the green eyed… …   Useful english dictionary

  • green-eyed monster — {n. phr.} Jealousy; envy. * /When John s brother got the new bicycle, the green eyed monster made John fight with him./ …   Dictionary of American idioms

  • green-eyed monster — {n. phr.} Jealousy; envy. * /When John s brother got the new bicycle, the green eyed monster made John fight with him./ …   Dictionary of American idioms

  • green-eyed monster — jealousy: Othello fell under the sway of the green eyed monster. [1595 1605] * * * …   Universalium

  • green-eyed monster — noun Envy, jealousy, covetousness. [Iago:] O, beware, my lord, of jealousy; It is the green eyed monster which doth mock The meat it feeds on; [...] …   Wiktionary

  • green-eyed\ monster — n. phr. Jealousy; envy. When John s brother got the new bicycle, the green eyed monster made John fight with him …   Словарь американских идиом

  • Green-eyed monster —   The green eyed monster is an allegorical phrase for somebody s strong jealousy …   Dictionary of English idioms

  • green-eyed monster — green′ eyed mon′ster n. jealousy • Etymology: 1590–1600 …   From formal English to slang

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