weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth

English

Etymology

Biblical, Matthew 13:42,[1] although the exact wording is not present in any translation.[2]

Noun

weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth (uncountable)

  1. consternation, worry
    • 1883, Mark Twain, chapter 15, in Life on the Mississippi:
      There was weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth in the camp of the outsiders now.
    • 1910, The Old Man, Melbourne: Punch, page 6:
      There was weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth in South Melbourne last Saturday night. For weeks past there had been only one topic of conversation'—football.
    • 2005, Corey Kilgannon, “You Probably Say That to All Naughty Columnists”, in New York Times:
      And there was weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth among the crowd of reporters invited to the Stellan Holm Gallery, then promptly expelled from it, on Sunday night.

Translations

References
  1. The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], 1611, →OCLC, Matthew 13:42.: “And shall cast them into a furnace of fire: there shall be wayling and gnashing of teeth.”
  2. David Crystal (2010) Begat: The King James Bible and the English Language, Oxford University Press, →ISBN, page 152: “The modern expression is weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth, but that exact combination is nowhere to be found in the Bible. […] Somehow, a synthesis of all three verbs took place, resulting in the full form of the modern expression.”
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