in the green tree … in the dry
Word Rarity
Uncommon
Frequency: Zipf frequency 4.40 in modern English
33
Scrabble Score
22
Letters
3
Syllables
9
Unique Chars
Meaning
prep_phrase
In a better situation as against a worse one; used chiefly in rhetorical questions to suggest that the current unfavorable situation will worsen in the future.
Dated
Example Sentences
- "If this is seen in the green tree, what will it be in the dry? If this is so apparent now when the earth is loaded with her spontaneous fruits; what will it be when winter shall find them unprovided with the necessaries of life?"
- "[…] disfranchisement was imposed upon 10,000 legal voters by a tribunal which had no jurisdiction to exclude a vote; if these things can be done in the green tree, what may we not expect to see in the dry?"
- "If you do that sort of thing in the green tree, what will you do in the dry? When the honourable member does it to members who support the Prime Minister, what will he do to members of his own party?"
- "His case, though never called, was kept in suspense for more than a year, and the dozen Italian workmen, arrested with him, too poor and friendliess to raise the exorbitant bail, remained in prison all that time. These things, and worse, were done in the green tree. Mr. Wallas’ article gives altogether too mild an impression of what is being done in the dry."
- "They saw it as an ominous, a fatal precedent; for if these things were done in the green tree, what would be done in the dry, when the Whigs returned despite the king?"
Etymology
From Luke 23:31, Koine Greek ὅτι εἰ ἐν τῷ ὑγρῷ ξύλῳ ταῦτα ποιοῦσιν, ἐν τῷ ξηρῷ τί γένηται (hóti ei en tōî hugrōî xúlōi taûta poioûsin, en tōî xērōî tí génētai), rendered “For if they do these things in a green tree [when the trees are green], what shall be done in the dry?” in the King James Version.
Word Breakdown
- Root: ὅτι εἰ ἐν τῷ ὑγρῷ ξύλῳ ταῦτα ποιοῦσιν, ἐν τῷ ξηρῷ τί γένηται