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It never rains but it pours

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It never rains but it pours.

Prov. Good (or bad) things do not just happen a few at a time, but in large numbers all at once. Fred: I can't believe this. This morning I had a flat tire. When I went to the garage to get the tire patched, I discovered I didn't have any money, and I couldn't even charge it because my credit card's expired. Jane: It never rains but it pours.

See also: but, never, pour, rain

It never rains but it pours.

something that you say which means that when one bad thing happens, a lot of other bad things also happen, making the situation even worse First of all it was the car breaking down, then the fire in the kitchen and now Mike's accident. It never rains but it pours!

See also: but, never, pour, rain

it never rains but it pours

When something occurs it often does so to excess. For example, First Aunt Sue said she and Uncle Harry were coming for the weekend and then my sister and her children said they were coming too-it never rains but it pours . This expression may have come from either a book by Queen Anne's physician, John Arbuthnot, or an article by Jonathan Swift, both entitled It Cannot Rain But It Pours and both published in 1726.

See also: but, never, pour, rain