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jodi commented on the word put a ferret down the hole
To flush out.
June 10, 2018
jodi commented on the word put a ferret down the hole
Literal example, from hunting:
THE WAR YEARS by Derek and Alan Wheeler, Bromton Regis, UK
http://bromptonregis.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/1939-The-War-Years-Edited.pdf
"With dogs, a load of green string nets and two ferrets in a sack, we’d go to a rabbit warren which we knew, from the rabbit dung, was occupied. Then we’d put nets over all the rabbit holes we could see or get at, put a ferret down the hole and wait. It would not be long before a rabbit came bounding out of a hole, often one we had not netted, in thick brambles. Then the animal would either run down another hole, often netted, or across the field, zigzagging, with the dogs in hot pursuit."
Similar, more detail: http://www.worcesternews.co.uk/news/7492920.The_merits_of_ferrets/
1st November 2004
The merits of ferrets
Worcester News
June 10, 2018
jodi commented on the word put a ferret down the hole
Figurative example of flushing out:
"The second was when I asked to see the culture minister to tell him about a festival we were planning, Britain in Greece. I got no answer from his office, so I tried again. When I got no answer the third time I put a ferret down the hole to find out what was going on. My ferret reported that the minister, who was a distinguished musician but no politician, didn’t want to see me because he knew that if he did he would have to bang on about the marbles, but he wasn’t interested and didn’t want to. I left it at that."
Clooney and the Marbles
Oliver Miles
13 February 2014
https://www.lrb.co.uk/blog/2014/02/13/oliver-miles/clooney-and-the-marbles/
June 10, 2018