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Carry Fire in one Hand and Water in the other (To)

.

To say one thing and mean another; to flatter, to deceive; to lull suspicion in order the better to work mischief.

“Altera manu fert aquam, altera ignem.

Altera manu fert lapidem, altera panem ostentat.”


Plautus.

 

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Entry taken from Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, edited by the Rev. E. Cobham Brewer, LL.D. and revised in 1895.

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Carpet-bag Adventurer (A)
Carpet-bag Government
Carpet Knight
Carpocratians
Carriage Company
Carriages
Carronades
Carry Arms!
Carry Coals
Carry Everything before One (To)
Carry Fire in one Hand and Water in the other (To)
Carry One’s Point (To)
Carry Out (To)
Carry out one’s Bat (To)
Carry Swords!
Carry the Day (To)
Carry Weight (To)
Cart before the Horse
Carte Blanche (French)
Carte de Visite (French)
Cartesian Philosophy