Kill two birds

Posted by ESC on October 01, 2003

In Reply to: Kill two birds with one stone posted by ESC on October 01, 2003

: : where did this come from?

: I'm not having any luck finding this in my references. Bartleby.com says:

: kill two birds with one stone -- To accomplish two objectives with a single action: "If we can get gas and have lunch at the next rest stop, we will be killing two birds with one stone."

KILL TWO BIRDS WITH ONE STONE - "Achieve two objectives with a single effort. It would be remarkable indeed if someone slinging a stone at a bird got one bird, let alone two. Ovid had a similar expression in L*tin nearly 2,000 years ago. Related phrases were in English and French literature by the 16th century. Thomas Hobbes used the modern version in a work on liberty in 1656: 'T. H. thinks to kill two birds with one stone, and satisfy two arguments with one answer.'" The Dictionary of Cliches by James Rogers (Wings Books, Originally New York: Facts on File Publications, 1985).