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Augean stables

noun

(Greek mythology) the extremely dirty stables that were finally cleaned by Hercules who diverted two rivers through them.

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Etymology of 'Augean stables'

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"Augean stables" Quotes from Famous Books

... clean by removing dirt, impurities, or soil of any kind. Cleanse implies a worse condition to start from, and more to do, than clean. Hercules cleansed the Augean stables. Cleanse is especially applied to purifying processes where liquid is used, as in the flushing of a street, etc. We brush clothing if dusty, sponge it, or sponge it off, if soiled; or sponge off a spot. Furniture, books, etc., are ...

— English Synonyms and Antonyms - With Notes on the Correct Use of Prepositions • James Champlin Fernald

... tradition is, says Pliny, that King Augeas was the first in Greece to use manure, and that Hercules introduced the practice into Italy. To the wise farmer the myth of the Augean stables is the genesis of ...

— Roman Farm Management - The Treatises Of Cato And Varro • Marcus Porcius Cato

... that is just it," Mr. Price exclaimed. "You will perceive, if you reflect for a moment, that there must have been a good deal that was disagreeable in the cleansing of the Augean stables to which people in the neighbourhood would certainly and very naturally object at the time; but it has since been pretty generally conceded that the undertaking was a very good sanitary measure nevertheless; and had Hercules lived in our day, and survived the ...

— The Heavenly Twins • Madame Sarah Grand

... it behoves Washington and those concerned in Washington to make themselves free. It is the Augean stables through which some American Hercules must turn a purifying river before the American people can justly boast either of their capital or of their government. As to the material mud, enough has been ...

— Volume 2 • Anthony Trollope

... entered it as an extirpating warrior, to oust that heathen shape which Strabo describes as dwelling in its dank recesses, and to take possession of the cleft in the name of Christianity. Sant' Angelo is one of many places where Michael has performed the duty of Christian Hercules, cleanser of Augean stables. ...

— Old Calabria • Norman Douglas

... seemed determined to sweep all before it with an unmitigable energy. Mr. Oldeschole found that he could not stand at all before this young Hercules, seeing that his special stall was considered to be the foulest in the whole range of the Augean stables. He soon saw that the river was to be turned in on him, and that he was to be officially ...

— The Three Clerks • Anthony Trollope

Words linked to "Augean stables" : stalls, Greek mythology, plural, plural form, stable, horse barn