viper in bosom
viper in bosom
Meaning | Synonyms
- a person who deceives you after receiving help from you
- an unappreciative friend
Example Sentences
- I got my friend a good position in my company and all he did is convinced my manager to get him the designation I had in the project. He was no more than a viper in my bosom.
- He provided Anaya shelter in his house when she was rendered homeless and she kept stealing money from his cupboard until he knew that she was a viper in his bosom.
- She was confident of their relationship being truthful and transparent to only know that she has nursed a viper in her bosom all these years: Her husband eloped with a younger woman of the age of his daughter.
- Only after the police arrested him for sheltering a friend involved in terrorist activities did he know that all these years he had been nursing a viper in his bosom.
Origin
The phrase has originated from one of the tales of Aesop, in which a farmer who gives shelter to a viper dying from cold is eventually bitten by the viper after its recovery. A similar thought is also found in Latin ( insinu viperam habere) & the expression is found in various forms in English from the late 16th century after it was referred by Shakespeare and Chaucher.
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