Weasels suck eggs. Hence Shakespeare-
The weazel Scot
Comes sneaking, and so sucks the princoly egg.
Henry V., i. 2.
“I can suck melancholy out of a song, as a weazel sucks
eggs.” —As You Like It, ii.
To catch a weasel asleep. To expect to
find a very vigilant person nodding, off his guard; to suppose that
one who has his weather-eye open cannot see what is passing before
him. The French say, Croir avoir trouvé la pie au
nid (To expect to find the pie on its nest). The vigilant
habits of these animals explain the allusions.
Source: Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, E. Cobham Brewer, 1894
More on Weasel from Fact Monster:
- weasel - weasel weasel, name for certain small, lithe, carnivorous mammals of the family Mustelidae (weasel ...
- stoat - stoat stoat , European name for the short-tailed weasel, Mustela erminea, also called ermine when ...
- zorilla - zorilla zorilla, small, carnivorous, nocturnal mammal, Ictonyx striatus, of the weasel family, ...
- ermine - ermine ermine, name for a number of northern species of weasel having white coats in winter, and ...
- mink - mink mink, semiaquatic carnivorous mammal of the genus Mustela, closely related to the weasel and ...