Language: en
Meaning: (idiomatic)Toconcealone'spositivequalitiesortalents, especiallydue tomodestyorshyness; toavoidattention.[1624March 23 (date delivered; Gregorian calendar), Robert Saunderson [i.e.,Robert Sanderson], “[Ad Clerum.]The Third Sermon. At a Visitation at Boston Lincoln[shire]13. March. 1624.”, inTwelve Sermons,[…],[new]edition, London:[…]Aug[ustine]Math[ews], for Robert Dawlman, and are to be sold byRobert Allet,[…], published1632,→OCLC,§. 33, [https:// page117]:O then doe not knit vp your Maſters talent in aNapkin;ſmothernot hislight vnder abuſhell;[…]but aboue all,ſquandernot avvay your rich portions by riotous living.][1731, Augustus Hermannus Franke [i.e.,August Hermann Francke], “Of the Signs and Effects which Discover the Fear of Man”, in [Anton Wilhelm Böhme], transl.,Nicodemus: Or, A Treatise against the Fear of Man:[…], 2nd English edition, Edinburgh:[…]Thomas Lumisden and John Robertson,[…],→OCLC,page 8:VVhen after all, a Man is fully convinced of Truth, and believes it in his Heart; yet, for Fear of Man,hehidesthisLight under a Bushel, by not confeſſing it before Men.Used to refer to a person’s reluctance to share his faith with others.]1859, Harriet Beecher Stowe, “The Party”, inThe Minister’s Wooing, New York, N.Y.: Derby and Jackson,[…],→OCLC,page210:"Really, Mrs. Scudder," said gallant old General Wilcox, "where have you kept such a beauty all this time? It's a sin and a shame tohidesuch alight under a bushel."1867September, “History of the Foreign Missions of the Secession and United Presbyterian Church.By Rev. John McKerrow, D.D. Bridge of Teith. 8vo., pp. 528. Edinburgh: A. Elliot, 1867.[book review]”, inThe Home & Foreign Record of the Canada Presbyterian Church, volume VI, number11, Toronto, Ont.:[…][F]or the Committee, by Lovell & Gibson,[…],→OCLC,page362:He is singularly sparing in his correspondence, and unaccountablyhideshislight under a bushel.1910September,P[elham] G[renville] Wodehouse, “Pillingshot, Detective”, inTales of Wrykyn and Elsewhere: Twenty-five Short Stories of School Life, Maidenhead, Berkshire: Porpoise Books, published1997,→ISBN,pages179–180:[Y]ou've got a bright, intelligent face. I shouldn't wonder if you weren't rather clever. Why do youhideyourlight under a bushel?1915,Winston Churchill, chapter VI, inA Far Country, New York, N.Y.:The Macmillan Company,→OCLC, section 4,page91:He says I must become a writer. Think of it,mea writer! He says I'm a youngShakespeare, that I've been lazy andhidmylight under a bushel!1950March 13,Harry Flood Byrd, Sr., quotee, “The Congress: The Elephant Hunt”, inThomas Stanley Matthews, editor,Time[1], New York, N.Y.:Time Inc.,→ISSN,→OCLC, archived fromthe originalon5 July 2009:If he has everhiddenhislight under a bushel, I am not aware of it. I have not observed that he is of the shrinking-violet type …1991,David Daiches, “Introduction: Boswell’s Ambiguities”, inGreg Clingham, editor,New Light on Boswell: Critical and Historical Essays on the Occasion of the Bicentenary ofThe Life of Johnson, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire; New York, N.Y.:Cambridge University Press,→ISBN,page 3:For all his enormous vanity, it can be said that[James] Boswellhidhis truelight under a bushel.2001, Susan Mitchell Crawley, “Catalogue”, inLet It Shine: Self-taught Art from theT. Marshall HahnCollection, Atlanta, Ga.:High Museum of Art,→ISBN,page75:[P]rovoked by the hesitancy of a Pennsylvania friend to display his artistic talent, [Ned] Cartledge created this work.[…]Cartledge accused him ofhidinghislight under a busheland has inscribed the back of his panel: "Modesty is for those without talent."2007December 12,Joanna Moorhead, “Sisters vow to end their silence”, inAlan Rusbridger, editor,The Guardian[2], London:Guardian News & Media,→ISSN,→OCLC, archived fromthe originalon16 March 2016:British soroptimists havehiddentheirlight under a bushel: there's a feeling here that we shouldn't seek publicity because we'd be drawing attention to ourselves.
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