"treat them mean, keep them keen" meaning in All languages combined

See treat them mean, keep them keen on Wiktionary

Proverb [English]

Head templates: {{en-proverb}} treat them mean, keep them keen
  1. (informal) A woman will be more interested in a man if he is not kind to her. Tags: informal Synonyms: treat 'em mean, keep 'em keen, treat 'em mean to keep 'em keen Related terms: be cruel to be kind
    Sense id: en-treat_them_mean,_keep_them_keen-en-proverb-X88HkUxF Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header, English imperative sentences, English proverbs, Pages with 1 entry, Pages with entries
{
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "treat them mean, keep them keen",
      "name": "en-proverb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "proverb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English imperative sentences",
          "parents": [
            "Imperative sentences",
            "Sentences"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English proverbs",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with 1 entry",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with entries",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A woman will be more interested in a man if he is not kind to her."
      ],
      "id": "en-treat_them_mean,_keep_them_keen-en-proverb-X88HkUxF",
      "links": [
        [
          "woman",
          "woman"
        ],
        [
          "interested",
          "interested"
        ],
        [
          "man",
          "man"
        ],
        [
          "kind",
          "kind"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(informal) A woman will be more interested in a man if he is not kind to her."
      ],
      "related": [
        {
          "word": "be cruel to be kind"
        }
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "treat 'em mean, keep 'em keen"
        },
        {
          "word": "treat 'em mean to keep 'em keen"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "informal"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "treat them mean, keep them keen"
}
{
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "treat them mean, keep them keen",
      "name": "en-proverb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "proverb",
  "related": [
    {
      "word": "be cruel to be kind"
    }
  ],
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English entries with incorrect language header",
        "English imperative sentences",
        "English informal terms",
        "English lemmas",
        "English multiword terms",
        "English proverbs",
        "English rhyming phrases",
        "Pages with 1 entry",
        "Pages with entries"
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A woman will be more interested in a man if he is not kind to her."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "woman",
          "woman"
        ],
        [
          "interested",
          "interested"
        ],
        [
          "man",
          "man"
        ],
        [
          "kind",
          "kind"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(informal) A woman will be more interested in a man if he is not kind to her."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "informal"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "synonyms": [
    {
      "word": "treat 'em mean, keep 'em keen"
    },
    {
      "word": "treat 'em mean to keep 'em keen"
    }
  ],
  "word": "treat them mean, keep them keen"
}

Download raw JSONL data for treat them mean, keep them keen meaning in All languages combined (0.9kB)


This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable All languages combined dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2025-01-13 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2025-01-01 using wiktextract (4ba5975 and 4ed51a5). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.