feet of clay

if you say that someone you admire has feet of clay, you mean they have hidden faults Some of the greatest geniuses in history had feet of clay.

See also: clay, feet, of

feet of clay

A failing or weakness in a person's character, as in The media are always looking for a popular idol's feet of clay. This expression comes from the Bible (Daniel 2:31-33), where the prophet interprets Nebuchadnezzar's dream of a statue with a head of gold and feet of iron clay. [c. 1600]

See also: clay, feet, of

feet of clay

An underlying weakness or fault: "They discovered to their vast discomfiture that their idol had feet of clay, after placing him upon a pedestal" (James Joyce).

See also: clay, feet, of

feet of clay

A flaw or vulnerability of someone who is otherwise admirable. In the Bible's Book of Daniel, King Nebuchadnezzar dreamed that he saw a statue made of gold, silver, and brass, but with feet of clay. Daniel interpreted the vision to mean that the clay symbolized the Babylonian Empire's vulnerability and imminent collapse. (See Achilles' heel.)

See also: clay, feet, of

Common Names:

Name	Pronounced	Usage
Penny	PEN-ee	English
'Ismat	-	Arabic
Baron	['bærən]
Margit	-	Hungarian, Danish, Swedish, Norwegian, Estonian
Lysanne	-	Dutch
Sher	-	Urdu, Pashto