Primrose Path

Primrose Path

=The idiom=

To be "led down the primrose path" is a common idiom suggesting that one is being deceived or led astray, often by a hypocrite.

An early appearance of the phrase in print occurs in Shakespeare's 1602 play Hamlet (Act I, Scene III), where Ophelia, rebuffing her brother Laertes' insistence that she resist Hamlet's advances, accuses Laertes of hypocrisy:

Do not, as some ungracious pastors do,
Show me the steep and thorny way to heaven,
Whiles, like a puff'd and reckless libertine,
Himself the primrose path of dalliance treads
And recks not his own rede.

Variations of the phrase, such as "primrose way" and "primrose lane" are known. In Macbeth, the Porter speaks of "the primrose way to th'everlasting bonfire".

The film

"Primrose Path" is a 1940 film directed by Gregory La Cava and starring Ginger Rogers, Joel McCrea, and Marjorie Rambeau.

External links

*imdb title | id=0032946 | title=Primrose Path


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Look at other dictionaries:

  • primrose path — The primrose path is an easy and pleasurable lifestyle, but one that ends in unpleasantness and problems …   The small dictionary of idiomes

  • primrose path — ► primrose path the pursuit of pleasure, especially when bringing disastrous consequences. [ORIGIN: with allusion to Shakespeare s Hamlet I. iii. 50.] Main Entry: ↑primrose …   English terms dictionary

  • primrose path — n. [popularized after Shakespeare, Hamlet, I, iii] 1. the path of pleasure, self indulgence, etc. 2. a course of action that is deceptively easy, proper, etc. but that can lead to disaster …   English World dictionary

  • primrose path — noun a life of ease and pleasure • Hypernyms: ↑way, ↑path, ↑way of life * * * noun 1. : a path of ease or pleasure had made some progress in the primrose path of Epicurean wisdom George Santayana especially …   Useful english dictionary

  • Primrose Path — Pour les articles homonymes, voir Primrose. Primrose Path Données clés Titre original Primrose Path Réalisation Gregory La Cava Scénario …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Primrose Path — Filmdaten Originaltitel Primrose Path Produktionsland USA …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • primrose path — 1. a way of life devoted to irresponsible hedonism, often of a sensual nature: The evangelist exhorted us to avoid the primrose path and stick to the straight and narrow. 2. a course of action that is easy or tempting but hazardous: the primrose… …   Universalium

  • primrose path — noun Date: 1601 1. a path of ease or pleasure and especially sensual pleasure < himself the primrose path of dalliance treads Shakespeare > 2. a path of least resistance …   New Collegiate Dictionary

  • primrose path — Meaning Origin From Shakespeare s Hamlet. Ophelia: Do not, as some ungracious pastors do, Show me the steep and thorny way to heaven, Whiles, like a puff d and reckless libertine, Himself the primrose path of dalliance treads, And recks not his… …   Meaning and origin of phrases

  • primrose path —    The primrose path is an easy and pleasurable lifestyle, but one that ends in unpleasantness and problems.   (Dorking School Dictionary) …   English Idioms & idiomatic expressions

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