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May 25, 2012
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Dictionary of Phrase and Fable—C

Chameleon

You are a chameleon, i.e. very changeable- shifting according to the opinions of others, as the chameleon changes its hue to that of contiguous objects.

As the chameleon, who is known
To have no colours of its own,
But borrows from his neighbour's hue,
His white or black, his green or blue.

Prior

Pliny tells us that Democritus wrote a book on superstitions connected with the chameleon.

C'est un cameleon.
One who shifts his opinions according to circumstances; a vicar of Bray. To chameleonise is to change one's opinions as a chameleon changes its colour.

Source: Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, E. Cobham Brewer, 1894
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