 |
Sick Man
(The). So Nicholas of Russia (in 1844) called the Ottoman
Empire, which had been declining ever since 1586.
“I repeat to you that the sick man is dying; and we must never allow
such an event to take us by surprise.” —Annual Register, 1858.
N.B. Don John, Governor-General of the Netherlands, writing in 1579
to Philip II. of Spain, calls the Prince of Orange “the sick man,” because he was in the way, and he wanted him “finished.”
“ `Money' (he says in his letter)' is the gruel with which we must
cure this sick man [for spies and assassins are expensive drugs]'.” —Motley: Dutch Republic, bk. v. 2.
Source: Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, E. Cobham Brewer, 1894 More on Sick Man from Infoplease:
See a map of "" in the Visual Thesaurus
|
|
