widow's cruse

American  

noun

1. an inexhaustible supply of something: in allusion to the miracle of the cruse of oil in 1 Kings 17:10–16 and 2 Kings 4:1–7.

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widow's cruse British  

noun

1. an endless or unfailing source of supply

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Etymology

Origin of widow's cruse

First recorded in 1600–10

Example Sentences

The other 17 were dry as the widow's cruse, were rapidly deteriorating into a useless mass of rust.

From Time Magazine Archive

In the U.S. today, he adds grimly, "There is no widow's cruse."

From Time Magazine Archive

"And everything so cheap too!" exclaimed the twins gleefully, whose £200 was behaving, it appeared, very like the widow's cruse.

From Christopher and Columbus by Elizabeth

Never before in all his life had he known the widow's cruse.

From The Broken Gate A Novel by Hough, Emerson

In the widow's cruse is oil enough to furnish light for all the world.'

From Memoirs of Margaret Fuller Ossoli, Volume I by Fuller, Margaret