heart of hearts

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary
Jump to navigation Jump to search

English

[edit]

Pronunciation

[edit]

Noun

[edit]

heart of hearts (plural hearts of hearts)

  1. (idiomatic) One's innermost private feelings.
    • 1876, [Mary Elizabeth Braddon], “At His Door”, in Joshua Haggard’s Daughter [], volume III, London: John Maxwell and Co. [], →OCLC, pages 180–181:
      Yet the darling sin is there in our heart of hearts; we hug it close—we hide it from every human eye. But in the still night-watches it comes forth like a serpent out of his hole, and rears its venomous crest, and stings us with the horror of our guilt.
    • 1896 November – 1897 May, Rudyard Kipling, chapter X, in Captains Courageous, Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday & Company, published 1897, →OCLC:
      With the "Constance," which in his heart of hearts he loathed, departed the last remnant of Cheyne's millionairedom, and he gave himself up to an energetic idleness.
    • 1913, D[avid] H[erbert] Lawrence, chapter V, in Sons and Lovers, London: Duckworth & Co. [], →OCLC:
      She was grieved, and bitterly sorry for the man who was hurt so much. But still, in her heart of hearts, where the love should have burned, there was a blank.

Translations

[edit]