after one's own heart

English

WOTD – 13 October 2021

Etymology

From after (“in imitation of; following”) + one’s + own + heart (“disposition; personality”), a reference to 1 Samuel 13:14 and Acts 13:22 in the Bible: see the 1526 and 1611 quotations.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈæftə wʌnz əʊn ˈhɑːt/, /ˈɑːf-/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈæftɚ wʌnz oʊn ˈhɑɹt/

• Audio (AU)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɑː(ɹ)t
• Hyphenation: af‧ter one's own heart

Prepositional phrase

after one's own heart

1. (idiomatic) Of a person: having the same disposition, feelings, or opinions as oneself.

   Synonyms: after one's heart, after one's own soul

   • 1526, [William Tyndale, transl.], The Newe Testamẽt […] (Tyndale Bible), [Worms, Germany: Peter Schöffer], →OCLC, The Actes off the Apostles xiij:[22], folio clxxiij, verso:

     [H]e [God] ſet vppe David to be their kynge⸝ to whome he gave witnes⸝ ſaynge: I have founde David the ſonne of Jeſſe⸝ a man after myne awne hert⸝ he ſhall fullfyll all my will.

   • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, 1 Samuel 13:14, column 2:

     But now thy [Saul's] kingdome ſhall not continue: the Lord hath ſought him a man after his owne heart, and the Lord hath commanded him to bee captaine ouer his people, becauſe thou haſt not kept that which the Lord hath commanded thee.

   • 1809, Diedrich Knickerbocker [pseudonym; Washington Irving], chapter III, in A History of New York, from the Beginning of the World to the End of the Dutch Dynasty. […], volume I, New York, N.Y.: Inskeep & Bradford, […], →OCLC, book III, pages 141–142:

     […] I turn with great complacency to the fourth class of my readers, who are men, or, if possible, women, after my own heart; grave, philosophical and investigating; fond of analyzing characters, of taking a start from first causes, and so hunting a nation down, through all the mazes of innovation and improvement.

   • 1900, Homer, “Book IV”, in Samuel Butler, transl., The Odyssey: Rendered into English Prose for the Use of Those who Cannot Read the Original, London: A[rthur] C. Fifield, →OCLC, page 41:

     Look, Pisistratus, man after my own heart, see the gleam of bronze and gold—of amber, ivory, and silver. Everything is so splendid that it is like seeing the palace of Olympian Jove. I am lost in admiration.

   • 1905, [George] Bernard Shaw, “Major Barbara”, in John Bull’s Other Island and Major Barbara: Also How He Lied to Her Husband, London: Archibald Constable & Co., published 1907, →OCLC, Act II, page 234:

     Professor Cusins: you are a young man after my own heart.

   • 1913 December – 1914 March, Edgar Rice Burroughs, “New Allies”, in The Warlord of Mars, Chicago, Ill.: A[lexander] C[aldwell] McClurg & Co., published September 1919, →OCLC, page 133:

     I found the father of Thuvia a man after my own heart, and that night saw the beginning of a friendship which has grown until it is second only to that which obtains between Tars Tarkas, the green Jeddak of Thark, and myself.

   • 2017, David Walliams [pseudonym; David Edward Williams], Bad Dad, London: HarperCollins Children’s Books, →ISBN:

     “I am impressed, young Frank,” began the master criminal. “Breaking into my house in the dead of night. You are a boy after my own heart. You need to come and live here with me and your mother. I could be the father you never had. I could train you up. Teach you everything I know. You could become a master criminal like me. One day all this could be yours.”

2. (idiomatic) Of a situation or thing: according to, or appealing to, one's own desire, liking, or taste.

   Synonyms: after one's heart, after one's own soul

   • 1885, Hugh Conway [pseudonym; Frederick John Fargus], “Gastronomic and Erotic”, in A Family Affair […], volume I, London: Macmillan and Co., →OCLC, pages 244–245:

     In this particular party, small as it was, culture, learning, art, arms, landed interest and hereditary sway were properly personified. It was, indeed, a representative gathering after the Talberts' own hearts.

   • 1927, M[ohandas] K[aramchand] Gandhi, “My Choice”, in Mahadev Desai, transl., The Story of My Experiments with Truth: Translated from the Original in Gujarati, volume I, Ahmedabad, Gujarat: Navajivan Press, →OCLC, part I, page 119:

     During these wanderings I once hit on a vegetarian restaurant in Farringdon Street. The sight of it filled me with the same joy that a child feels on getting a thing after its own heart. […] This was my first hearty meal since my arrival in England.

Translations

of a person: having the same disposition, feelings, or opinions as oneself

of a situation or thing: according to, or appealing to, one’s own desire, liking, or taste

See also

• of one mind