spoil the ship for a ha'p'orth of tar
Look at other dictionaries:
don't spoil the ship for a ha'p'orth of tar — ► don t spoil the ship for a ha p orth of tar proverb don t risk the failure of a large project by trying to economize on trivial things. [ORIGIN: referring to the use of tar to keep flies off sores on sheep (from dialect pronunciation of sheep… … English terms dictionary
spoil the ship for a ha'pennyworth of tar — spoil the ˌship for a ha p orth/ha pennyworth of ˈtar idiom (saying) to spoil sth good because you did not spend enough money or time on a small but essential part of it Main entry: ↑spoilidiom … Useful english dictionary
do not spoil the ship for a ha’porth of tar — Ship is a dialectal pronunciation of sheep, and the original literal sense of the proverb was ‘do not allow sheep to die for the lack of a trifling amount of tar’, tar being used to protect sores and wounds on sheep from flies. Hog (quots. 1623… … Proverbs new dictionary
halfpenny worth (ha'p'orth) of tar, spoil the ship for a — Achieve less than full satisfaction because of a slight economy … A concise dictionary of English slang
ha'p'orth — Brit. var. of HALFPENNYWORTH. * * * [ hāpərTH] n. variant spelling of halfpennyworth * * * ha p orth 7 [ha p orth] [ˈheɪpəθ] [ˈheɪpərθ] noun singular ( … Useful english dictionary
halfpennyworth — (also ha p orth) ► NOUN Brit. 1) as much as could be bought for a halfpenny. 2) (ha p orth) informal a negligible amount: he s never been a ha p orth of bother. ● don t spoil the ship for a ha p orth of tar Cf. ↑don t spoil the ship for a ha p… … English terms dictionary
