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Thorn in the Flesh (A)

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Something to mortify; a skeleton in the cupboard. The allusion is to a custom common amongst the ancient Pharisees, one class of which used to insert thorns in the borders of their gaberdines to prick their legs in walking and make them bleed. (See Pharisees.)

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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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Thomas (St.)
Thomas-a-Kempis
Thomas the Rhymer
Thomasing
Thomists
Thomson (James)
Thone
Thopas (Sir)
Thor
Thorn
Thorn in the Flesh (A)
Thorns
Thorps-men
Thoth
Though Lost to Sight, to Memory Dear
Thousand
Thousand Years as One Day (A)
Thrall
Thread
Threadneedle Street
Three