bird in the bosom
- idiom
- Archaic
:
tesoro
- The letter was his little bird in the bosom, bringing him comfort on difficult days.
Examples
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She kept the memory of her grandmother as a bird in the bosom throughout her life.
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For many, hope remains a bird in the bosom even in hard times.
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Her family is a bird in the bosom for her.
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The memories of childhood are like a bird in the bosom of my heart.
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For many, hope remains a bird in the bosom even in hard times.
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She kept the memory of her grandmother as a bird in the bosom throughout her life.
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The letter was his little bird in the bosom, bringing him comfort on difficult days.
How Cherished
Surface Forms
Morphology
The sense 'kept safe, cherished' is directly derivable from the constituents: 'bosom' denotes a close, protective embrace and placing a 'bird' in it evokes holding something small and valued. This is a straightforward spatial/possessive composition following common cross‑linguistic metaphors of keeping something close, so a learner who knows the words would infer the figurative meaning.
Etymology
Bird in the bosom may come from old pictures of someone holding a small bird close to their bosom, a word for 'chest', to keep it safe and warm. That's why the phrase means 'something kept safe or cherished'.