English Explanatory Dictionary

throw the baby out with the bathwater

English dictionary entry

Meanings

verb
  1. To discard, inadvertently or through overzealousness, something valuable or essential ("the baby") in the process of removing or rejecting something unwanted or undesirable ("the bathwater").

Pronunciation

/θɹəʊ ðə ˈbeɪbi aʊt wɪð ðə ˈbɑːθwɔːtə(ɹ)/ /θɹoʊ ðə ˈbeɪbi aʊt wɪθ ðə ˈbæθwɔtɚ/ En-au-throw the baby out with the bathwater.ogg

Word forms

throw the baby out with the bathwater throws the baby out with the bathwater throwing the baby out with the bathwater threw the baby out with the bathwater thrown the baby out with the bathwater throw the baby out with the bath water throw out the baby with the bathwater throw out the baby with the bath water

Etymology

Calque of German das Kind mit dem Bade ausschütten, a proverb first recorded by Thomas Murner in his satire Narrenbeschwörung (1512). First appeared in English when Thomas Carlyle translated it in an essay on slavery (1849).

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