blow hot and cold
English
[edit]Etymology
[edit]From Aesop's fable The Satyr and the Traveller, in which a satyr declares he cannot trust a man who blows hot (to warm his hands) and cold (to cool his food) with the same breath.
Pronunciation
[edit]Audio (General Australian): (file)
Verb
[edit]blow hot and cold (third-person singular simple present blows hot and cold, present participle blowing hot and cold, simple past blew hot and cold, past participle blown hot and cold)
- (intransitive, idiomatic) To behave inconsistently; to vacillate or to waver, as between extremes of opinion or emotion.
- 1852 July 1, “New-York University: Commencement Ceremonies-Anniversaries of the Literary Societies”, in New York Times:
- He blows hot and cold. He will speak for or against.
- 1968 October 25, “A Goat, Twins and a Virgin”, in Time:
- Geminis, like air, blow hot and cold. They go this way today and another way tomorrow.
- 2002 May 12, “China says DPP is only welcome if it changes platform”, in Taipei Times, retrieved 9 July 2008:
- The Xinhua commentary said that Chen "blows hot and cold, behaves capriciously and is a hard man to trust."
Synonyms
[edit]Translations
[edit]inconsistent behavior
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