Job's news

English

Alternative forms

• Job's-news

Etymology

From the Biblical story in which many bad things happen to Job.

Noun

Job's news (uncountable)

1. Very bad news.
   • 1837, Thomas Carlyle, chapter IV, in The French Revolution: A History […], volume I (The Bastille), London: Chapman and Hall, →OCLC, book V (The Third Estate):

     What mystery is in the wind?—Hark! a human voice reporting articulately the Job’s-news: Necker, People’s Minister, Saviour of France, is dismissed.

Translations

bad news

• Czech: Jobova zvěst f, jobovka (cs) f
• Dutch: jobstijding (nl) f
• German: Hiobsbotschaft (de) f
• Polish: hiobowa wieść (pl) f
• Swedish: jobspost (sv)

See also

• poor as Job