"bring owls to Athens" meaning in English

{
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "grc",
        "3": "-"
      },
      "expansion": "Calque from Ancient Greek",
      "name": "calque"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "Calque from Ancient Greek proverb γλαῦκ' εἰς Ἀθήνας (glaûk' eis Athḗnas). The owl, which roosted in the rafters of the old Parthenon (the one burnt by Xerxes I), was the symbol of the city of Athens, and was sacred to its patron goddess, Athena. It was featured on Athens’ silver coins, and as Athens both mined its own silver and minted its own coins, bringing owls (either the real birds, or the coins) to Athens would be pointless.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "brings owls to Athens",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "bringing owls to Athens",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "brought owls to Athens",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "brought owls to Athens",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "bring<,,brought> owls to Athens"
      },
      "expansion": "bring owls to Athens (third-person singular simple present brings owls to Athens, present participle bringing owls to Athens, simple past and past participle brought owls to Athens)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "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 predicates",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with 1 entry",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with entries",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "414 BCE, Aristophanes, Ian C. Johnston (translator into English), The Birds:",
          "text": "Euelpides: Who brings owls to Athens?",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1832 March 17, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Louis H. Gray (translator into English), Letter to Wilhelm von Humboldt:",
          "text": "Forgive me, then, for bringing owls to Athens as a thanks-offering.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1996 June 27, Herbert Burkert, “Access To Public Information: A Key To Commercial Growth And Electronic Democracy”, in parliamentary debates, Stockholm:",
          "text": "Perhaps we have not been sufficiently aware that talking about access and its implications in Scandinavia is like bringing owls to Athens.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To undertake a pointless venture, one that is redundant, unnecessary, superfluous, or highly uneconomical."
      ],
      "id": "en-bring_owls_to_Athens-en-verb-HVg78RIQ",
      "links": [
        [
          "pointless",
          "pointless"
        ],
        [
          "venture",
          "venture"
        ],
        [
          "redundant",
          "redundant"
        ],
        [
          "unnecessary",
          "unnecessary"
        ],
        [
          "superfluous",
          "superfluous"
        ],
        [
          "uneconomical",
          "uneconomical"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic) To undertake a pointless venture, one that is redundant, unnecessary, superfluous, or highly uneconomical."
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "carry coals to Newcastle"
        },
        {
          "word": "carry owls to Athens"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic"
      ],
      "wikipedia": [
        "Xerxes I"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/bɹɪŋ ˈaʊlz tu ˈæ.θɪnz/"
    },
    {
      "audio": "en-us-bring owls to Athens.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/9/98/En-us-bring_owls_to_Athens.ogg/En-us-bring_owls_to_Athens.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/98/En-us-bring_owls_to_Athens.ogg"
    },
    {
      "audio": "en-au-bring owls to Athens.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/1/1d/En-au-bring_owls_to_Athens.ogg/En-au-bring_owls_to_Athens.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1d/En-au-bring_owls_to_Athens.ogg"
    }
  ],
  "word": "bring owls to Athens"
}

{
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "grc",
        "3": "-"
      },
      "expansion": "Calque from Ancient Greek",
      "name": "calque"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "Calque from Ancient Greek proverb γλαῦκ' εἰς Ἀθήνας (glaûk' eis Athḗnas). The owl, which roosted in the rafters of the old Parthenon (the one burnt by Xerxes I), was the symbol of the city of Athens, and was sacred to its patron goddess, Athena. It was featured on Athens’ silver coins, and as Athens both mined its own silver and minted its own coins, bringing owls (either the real birds, or the coins) to Athens would be pointless.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "brings owls to Athens",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "bringing owls to Athens",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "brought owls to Athens",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "brought owls to Athens",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "bring<,,brought> owls to Athens"
      },
      "expansion": "bring owls to Athens (third-person singular simple present brings owls to Athens, present participle bringing owls to Athens, simple past and past participle brought owls to Athens)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English entries with incorrect language header",
        "English idioms",
        "English lemmas",
        "English multiword terms",
        "English predicates",
        "English terms calqued from Ancient Greek",
        "English terms derived from Ancient Greek",
        "English terms derived from toponyms",
        "English terms with quotations",
        "English verbs",
        "Pages with 1 entry",
        "Pages with entries"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "414 BCE, Aristophanes, Ian C. Johnston (translator into English), The Birds:",
          "text": "Euelpides: Who brings owls to Athens?",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1832 March 17, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Louis H. Gray (translator into English), Letter to Wilhelm von Humboldt:",
          "text": "Forgive me, then, for bringing owls to Athens as a thanks-offering.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1996 June 27, Herbert Burkert, “Access To Public Information: A Key To Commercial Growth And Electronic Democracy”, in parliamentary debates, Stockholm:",
          "text": "Perhaps we have not been sufficiently aware that talking about access and its implications in Scandinavia is like bringing owls to Athens.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To undertake a pointless venture, one that is redundant, unnecessary, superfluous, or highly uneconomical."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "pointless",
          "pointless"
        ],
        [
          "venture",
          "venture"
        ],
        [
          "redundant",
          "redundant"
        ],
        [
          "unnecessary",
          "unnecessary"
        ],
        [
          "superfluous",
          "superfluous"
        ],
        [
          "uneconomical",
          "uneconomical"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic) To undertake a pointless venture, one that is redundant, unnecessary, superfluous, or highly uneconomical."
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "carry coals to Newcastle"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic"
      ],
      "wikipedia": [
        "Xerxes I"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/bɹɪŋ ˈaʊlz tu ˈæ.θɪnz/"
    },
    {
      "audio": "en-us-bring owls to Athens.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/9/98/En-us-bring_owls_to_Athens.ogg/En-us-bring_owls_to_Athens.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/98/En-us-bring_owls_to_Athens.ogg"
    },
    {
      "audio": "en-au-bring owls to Athens.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/1/1d/En-au-bring_owls_to_Athens.ogg/En-au-bring_owls_to_Athens.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1d/En-au-bring_owls_to_Athens.ogg"
    }
  ],
  "synonyms": [
    {
      "word": "carry owls to Athens"
    }
  ],
  "word": "bring owls to Athens"
}