ossa



pile Pelion on Ossa

1. To further complicate something that is already tedious or challenging. Ossa and Pelion are two mountains in Greece. A: "I told Becky you would pick her up." B: "I already have so much to do today—quit piling Pelion on Ossa!" Just when I thought I was almost done sorting these files, my boss piled Pelion on Ossa and brought me another box of them.
2. To do something that seems futile. I know that I'm just piling Pelion on Ossa by telling you to stay away from that boy, but I'm your father, and I don't want to see you get hurt. That couch will never fit up the steps—tell them to stop piling Pelion on Ossa!
See also: on, ossa, Pelion, pile

heaping Pelion upon Ossa

Adding difficulty to difficulty; fruitless efforts. The reference is to the attempt by the giants in Greek mythology to climb to heaven by piling Mount Ossa upon Mount Pelion.
See also: heap, ossa, Pelion, upon

Common Names:

NameGenderPronouncedUsage
Cynbel-Ancient Celtic
Mahesh-Indian, Hindi, Marathi, Gujarati, Telugu, Tamil, Malayalam, Kannada, Nepali
Tomokoto-mo-koJapanese
EdwardED-wərd (English), ED-vahrt (Polish)English, Polish
Caprice-English (Rare)
BecciBEK-eeEnglish (Modern)