rhyme or reason en · NOUN
Pronunciation
- (Australia) audio
Etymology
Calque of Middle French n'y avoir ryme ne raison (Eustache Deschamps), attributed to the poet Edmund Spenser in a conversation with Queen Elizabeth I.
Meanings
-
(idiomatic, in the negative, uncountable) Logic; common sense.
He would often fly into an unexpected rage without rhyme or reason.
Prices vary considerably from one town to another with no apparent rhyme or reason.
I could see no rhyme or reason for the referee's decision. It was baffling!
While many of your essays were interesting, some seemed little more than self-promotion on the part of authors. I wished there had been a central essay to anchor the others or some kind of discernable rhyme or reason to their placement. As it was, I could not help but feel that it was a mish-mash of unrelated and poorly edited information.
1992 February 2, Ed Zirnheld, “Disappointed”, in Gay Community News, volume 19, number 28, page 4:
Forms
| Spelling | Features | Labels | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| rhyme nor reason | alternative | lexicographic |
Translations (20)
bg никаква мисъл (logic or common sense) · gd gun ì, gun ò, gun adhbhar (logic or common sense) · it senza capo né coda (logic or common sense) · fi tolkku (logic or common sense) · es sin pies ni cabeza (logic or common sense) · bg никаква логика (logic or common sense) · sv rim och reson (logic or common sense) · es sin ton ni son (logic or common sense) · ru ни скла́ду, ни ла́ду (logic or common sense) · de Sinn und Verstand (logic or common sense) · pt sem pé nem cabeça (logic or common sense) · fi syyttä suotta (logic or common sense) · es sin ton y sin son (logic or common sense) · fr ne rimer à rien (logic or common sense) · gl sen ton nin son (logic or common sense) · es razón alguna (logic or common sense) · it né capo né coda (logic or common sense) · es no tener / llevar pies ni cabeza (logic or common sense) · pl but see bez ładu i składu (logic or common sense) · fr n'avoir ni queue ni tête (logic or common sense)
wikipedia: Edmund Spenser · wikipedia: Eustache Deschamps · wikipedia: Edmund_Spenser#Rhyme_and_reason