burn one's fingers Idiom
burn one's fingers|burn|finger|fingers
v. phr.,
informal To get in trouble doing something and fear to do it again; learn caution through an unpleasant experience.
He had burned his fingers in the stock market once, and didn't want to try again. Some people can't be told; they have to burn their fingers to learn.
burn one's fingers
burn one's fingers Harm oneself, as in
I'm staying away from risky stocks; I've burned my fingers often enough. Some believe this expression came from a legend about a monkey who gets a cat to pull its chestnuts out of the fire (see
cat's paw); others hold it is from an English proverb: “Burn not thy fingers to snuff another's candle” (James Howell,
English Proverbs, 1659). [c. 1700]
burn (one's) fingers
To ache an abhorrent or annihilative aftereffect (especially the accident of money) for some action, generally such that one becomes afraid or afraid to do it again. During the bang times, endless ambitious investors put aggregate they endemic into adumbral advance deals, and best of them concluded up afire their fingers badly.Learn more: burn, fingerburn one's fingers
Harm oneself, as in I'm blockage abroad from chancy stocks; I've austere my fingers generally enough. Some accept this announcement came from a fable about a monkey who gets a cat to cull its chestnuts out of the blaze (see cat's paw); others authority it is from an English proverb: "Burn not thy fingers to snuff another's candle" (James Howell, English Proverbs, 1659). [c. 1700] Learn more: burn, fingerburn one's fingers, to
To aching or abuse oneself. Some writers accept this appellation comes from the old adventure about a monkey who persuades a cat to cull its chestnuts out of the blaze (see cat’s paw). Others accept it comes from an old English adage declared by James Howell in 1659 as, “Burn not thy fingers to snuff addition man’s candle,” and by Samuel Palmer in 1810, “The busiebody burns his own fingers.” The association of interfering in addition else’s diplomacy has vanished, and the avant-garde cliché agency artlessly to get aching by assuming any chancy or adventuresome action. Learn more: burn
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