old wine in a new bottle
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English
Alternative forms
Etymology
A reference to the parable of Jesus of New Wine into Old Wineskins, Matthew 9:14–17, Mark 2:21–22, and Luke 5:33–39.
Noun
old wine in a new bottle (uncountable)
- (idiomatic) An existing concept or institution offered as though it were a new one.
- 2003, Stephen M Colarelli, No Best Way:
- Finally, some critics argue that evolutionary psychology is old wine in a new bottle — the old instinct theory in a new package.
- 2022 February 6, Lauren Gambino, quoting Robert Gangi, “Can Biden tackle rising crime without abandoning police reform promise?”, in The Guardian, →ISSN:
- Police reform advocate Robert Gangi called the plan “old wine in a new bottle” that relied “mainly on punitive law enforcement tactics”.
Usage notes
- Often confused and used interchangeably with new wine in an old bottle; according to David Crystal, this could be explained by the fact that wineskin was translated as bottle in the KJV, obscuring the original metaphor.
Translations
existing concept or institution presented as if new
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See also
References
- ^ The Holy Bible, (King James Version), London: Robert Barker, , 1611, →OCLC, Matthew 9:14–17: “Neither doe men put new wine into old bottels: else the bottels breake, and the wine runneth out, and the bottels perish: but they put new wine into new bottels, and both are preserued.”
- ^ The Holy Bible, (King James Version), London: Robert Barker, , 1611, →OCLC, Mark 2:21–22: “And no man putteth new wine into old bottles, else the new wine doeth burst the bottles, and the wine is spilled, and the bottles will bee marred: But new wine must bee put into new bottles.”
- ^ The Holy Bible, (King James Version), London: Robert Barker, , 1611, →OCLC, Luke 5:33–39: “And no man putteth new wine into old bottles: else the new wine will burst the bottles, and be spilled, and the bottles shall perish.”
- ^ David Crystal (2010) “Salt and wine”, in Begat: The King James Bible and the English language, Oxford University Press, →ISBN, page 238: “Perhaps if the translators had used wineskins (as some later versions did), the sense would have been clearer, for it is the flexibility of new wineskins that allows new wine to ferment without bursting the skins.”