what does the phraseologism mean to make an elephant out of a fly? and got the best answer

Answer from CHRISTINA.[guru]
From an insignificant, simple case, from a small problem to inflate everything into a huge, complex, colossal problem.
Compare: a fly is an elephant!

Answer from BAGIRA[expert]
From an insignificant thing to make a very significant one

Answer from Ksenia Katunova[newbie]
means to exaggerate

Answer from Nastyushka Gryzlova))[newbie]
"Make an elephant out of a fly" - do not exaggerate, do not worry.
- Do not make an elephant out of a fly, everything is fine! - as you can see, you can understand that this is "do not worry" do not "exaggerate"

Answer from Liudmila Sharukhia[guru]

In Russia, in such situations, phraseological units are used: “Make an elephant out of a fly”.
This catch phrase came to us from Greece. It was introduced into circulation by the writer Lucian, who lived two millennia ago, in his satirical work Praise of the Fly. Yet Lucian was not the real author of the expression. Lucian only used an already existing proverb, the authorship of which is still a mystery. “I interrupt the word, although I could still say a lot, so that someone would not think that, according to the proverb, I make an elephant out of a fly,” Lucian writes at the end of his “Praise to the Fly.”

Answer from Xenia Kogut[active]
Turn a small problem into a big one!

Answer from Maria Alexandrovna Sirotkina[newbie]
When someone greatly exaggerates, turning an insignificant fact into a big event, the French will ironically remark: "He makes a mountain out of emptiness." The English in this case will say a more specific version of the saying: "He makes a mountain out of a molehill."

Answer from mado[active]
booty
80 goal

Answer from 3 answers[guru]

Hey! Here is a selection of topics with answers to your question: what does the phraseologism mean to make an elephant out of a fly?

Make an elephant out of a fly

Make an elephant out of a fly
From Latin: Elephantem ex muscafacis (elephantem ex musca facis).
Ancient Greek proverb.
It is first found in the ancient Greek satirist Lukiap (II century), who in his work “Praise to the Fly” confirms the folklore origin of this expression: “But I interrupt my word, although I could say a lot more so that someone would not think that I, according to the proverb, make an elephant out of a fly.
Allegorically: it is exorbitant to exaggerate something, to attach great importance to some objectively insignificant event (jokingly ironic).

Encyclopedic Dictionary of winged words and expressions. - M.: "Lokid-Press". Vadim Serov. 2003 .

Make an elephant out of a fly

The expression used in the sense of "strongly exaggerate something" belongs to the number of ancient. It is cited by the Greek writer Lucian (2nd century AD), who ends his satirical "Praise of the Fly" as follows: "But I interrupt my word - although I could say a lot more - so that someone would not think that I , according to the proverb, I make an elephant out of a fly. (Lucian. Collected works: Translation edited by B.L. Bogaevsky. - M.L., 1935, p.118).

Dictionary of winged words. Plutex. 2004

See what "Make an elephant out of a fly" is in other dictionaries:

Make an elephant out of a fly- wing. sl. The expression used in the sense of "greatly exaggerate something" belongs to the number of ancient. It is cited by the Greek writer Lucian (2nd century AD), who ends his satirical “Praise of the Fly” as follows: “But I interrupt my ... ... Universal additional practical explanatory dictionary by I. Mostitsky

to make mountains out of molehills- make / make an elephant out of a fly Col. Unapproved More often than not. Strongly, unreasonably exaggerate the importance of something insignificant. From noun. with meaning faces: brother, reader, patient ... makes an elephant out of a fly. I don't think anything bad happened here... Educational Phraseological Dictionary

Inflate the censer, make a lot of noise about nothing, add, exaggerate, exaggerate, make a tragedy, exaggerate, inflate the Dictionary of Russian Synonyms ... Synonym dictionary

Cm … Synonym dictionary

Add, exaggerate, inflate, exaggerate, inflate the censer, exaggerate, make an elephant out of a fly, make a lot of noise out of nothing Dictionary of Russian Synonyms ... Synonym dictionary

To make mountains out of molehills- Express. To attach great importance to something insignificant, unimportant. Fear has big eyes, prince. You always make an elephant out of a fly. A soldier sneezes, and you are already ready to see a shock to the foundations in this, Gobyatko ironically (A. Stepanov. Port ... ... Phraseological dictionary of the Russian literary language

do- ay, aye; de/lanny; lan, a, o; nsv. (sv. do / do) see also. to be done, doing what 1) To create, manufacture, produce something. De / Lat machines. De / lay furniture ... Dictionary of many expressions

Ayu, aye; done; lan, a, o; nsv. (St. do). what. 1. Create, manufacture, produce smth. D. machine tools. D. furniture. D. fabrics. D. porcelain. 2. Do something, work, show some kind of l. activity; do, perform, make... encyclopedic Dictionary

Razg. To greatly exaggerate smth., to attach to smth. insignificant great importance. FSRYA, 256; BTS, 565; Mokienko 1989, 113; BMS 1998, 391 ... Big dictionary of Russian sayings

to make mountains out of molehills- to greatly exaggerate something, to attach great importance to something insignificant. The expression - tracing paper from French, goes back to an ancient saying ... Phraseology Handbook

You can tell a person in different ways that he is mistaken in the scale of the danger or in general of some event. In this sense, we are interested today in the meaning of the phraseological unit “to make an elephant out of a fly”. As always, consider the origin, examples and content.

Origin

The Greeks gave a lot to the world. Here is the cradle of European civilization, and the source of philosophy. If we talk about the language, then the people under consideration should also be grateful to the Hellenes. The author of the saying is unknown, but history has preserved the name of the one who passed on this heritage to his brothers.

Lucian (ancient satirist) created the work "Praise of the fly." Those who are interested in primary sources should look into this creation. We turn to the main question: what is the meaning of the phraseological unit “to make an elephant out of a fly”? Naturally, examples will also be presented.

Meaning

It is clear that a person will not turn a fly into an elephant unnecessarily. There must be a reason. It is - fear or other emotions. And on the wave of the latter, a person draws frightening tragic pictures for himself. For example, someone scratched or even here he sees the words “gangrene” and the phrase “blood poisoning”, but in fact you just need to wash the wound and cover it with a band-aid, and everything will be all right.

Probably, from the example it became clear that the meaning of the phraseological unit “to make an elephant out of a fly” comes down to the desire to exaggerate the importance of an event without objective, visible reasons.

For example, a child brought home for the first time a "goose" - a deuce. And his mother, according to the meaning of the expression that we are considering, inflated a global tragedy from this ordinary, in general, phenomenon. She tells her husband about her dark fantasies. In them, a child with a "goose" works as a janitor all his life and in the end dies in obscurity. The husband of an impressionable parent may say: “Darling, it seems to me that you are well aware of the meaning of the phraseologism “to make an elephant out of a fly.” That's exactly the transformation of an insect into a beast, for the most part, you are now busy. Everything will be wonderful and wonderful for our child. Well, I grabbed a “couple”, just think, with whom it doesn’t happen. ”

Morality

Phraseologisms are such that even in their brevity one can see a certain moral message. The expression teaches: do not surrender to the power of emotions. Experiences will subside, and then a person will look at the world without blinders and take the right step.

We examined the saying "make an elephant out of a fly." The meaning of phraseologism, the history of its occurrence were also presented in our review. Do not be so impressionable - and the world will smile at you!

To make mountains out of molehills(meaning) - extremely exaggerate, represent a trifle and an insignificant thing of great importance “He makes an elephant out of a fly: he is glad for the opportunity to be smart.” Goncharov. (Explanatory Dictionary, 1935-1940, for the word "elephant")

Make an elephant out of a fly(trans.) - greatly exaggerate something; (disapprovingly). (Explanatory dictionary of the Russian language (1992), N. Yu. Shvedova, "Fly")

Make an elephant out of a fly (, out of a camel flea)(inosk.) - exaggerate (Big explanatory phraseological dictionary (1904))

"From a fly (From a mosquito) they make an elephant."

The proverb has ancient Greek roots, and was also known in Ancient Rome (Elephantem ex musca facis, lat.). She, for example, is given by the ancient Greek writer Lucian (2nd century AD). He ends his satirical "Praise of the Fly" as follows: "But I interrupt my word - although I could have said much more - so that no one would think that, according to the proverb, I am making an elephant out of a fly."

A similar expression is also used in English - make a mountain out of a molehill (to make a mountain out of a molehill), with the meaning of exaggerating minor difficulties. The expression is listed in the American Heritage Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer, 1992, where it is noted that it was first recorded in 1570 in John Fox's The Book of Martyrs.

Examples

Benjamin Graham (1894 - 1976)

“Reasonable investor. The Complete Guide to Value Investing (1973), translated by Alpina (2014), ch. 7:

"The market loves to make mountains out of molehills: short-term difficulties of companies can lead to a drop in their stock prices"

(1873 - 1938)

"" (1932) (, part two), 79:

"Over the forty years of working on the stage, I really have had collisions with various conductors, and yet I am amazed at the ease with which my" fans " make an elephant out of a fly, and the moral carelessness with which they simply slander me in these cases. "

(1821 - 1881)

"Idiot", 4, 5:

She remarked, among other things, that "it seems that they are all there, then, according to their usual habit, they ran too far ahead and made an elephant out of a fly;"

"You never know what Ivan Fedorovich could imagine, don't make an elephant out of a fly?""

Eternal husband, 2:

"Let me be a hypochondriac and, therefore, ready to make an elephant out of a fly...."

(1831 - 1895)

"The Man on the Clock":

“A lot of terrifying and absurd things were said about Chief Police Master Kokoshkin in St. Petersburg at that time, but, among other things, they claimed that he had an amazing multilateral tact and, with the assistance of this tact, not only “knows how to make an elephant out of a fly, but just as easily knows how to make a fly out of an elephant.

(1860 - 1904)

"You are a suspicious person and you make an archdeacon out of a fly"

"When I recently read Bezhetsky's Family Tragedy, this story aroused in me something like a feeling of compassion for the author; I feel exactly the same feeling when I see my books. There is truth in this feeling the size of a fly, but my suspiciousness and envy of other people's labors inflate it to the size of an elephant."