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A Plague on both your houses
A Plague on both your houses
A Plague on both your houses : Phrases
Meaning:
A frustrated curse on both sides of an argument.
Example:
Origin:
From Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, 1594:
MERCUTIO:
I am hurt.
A plague o' both your houses! I am sped.
Is he gone, and hath nothing?
The houses are those of the feuding Montague and Capulet families, which caused Juliet so much grief and was the source of her 'O Romeo, Romeo! wherefore art thou Romeo' speech.
Shakespeare was fond of the word plague and used it hundreds of times in his plays. Surprisingly, as the Bible is the other most prominent source of phrases that have entered the English language, there isn't a single use of the word 'Bible' in any of his plays.