Love's Labor's Lost
by William Shakespeare

Love's Labor's Lost: Idioms 1 key example

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Definition of Idiom

An idiom is a phrase that conveys a figurative meaning that is difficult or impossible to understand based solely on a literal interpretation of the words in the phrase. For... read full definition
An idiom is a phrase that conveys a figurative meaning that is difficult or impossible to understand based solely on a literal interpretation of the... read full definition
An idiom is a phrase that conveys a figurative meaning that is difficult or impossible to understand based solely on... read full definition
Act 4, Scene 2
Explanation and Analysis—Florio's Venice:

When Jacquenetta enters with her letter in Act 4, she asks Holofernes to read it to her. However, Holofernes ignores her and instead quotes an Italian poet (Baptista Spagnuli of Mantua). In reference to Spagnuli, Holofernes quotes an Italian idiom:

HOLOFERNES
[...] I may speak of                                                                                                                 
thee as the traveler doth of Venice:
Venetia, Venetia,
Chi non ti vede, non ti pretia.