Our podcast “American Thanksgiving” included the following sentence: “People will express gratitude for the gifts of plenty that they are privileged to have.”. One reader asked this question:
please what is the meaning of “gifts of plenty”?
Alfonso
We answered him this way:
Hello.
Thank you for your inquiry.
“Gifts of plenty” is an expression that implies an abundance of things that we need in order to live as human beings.
It is related to the expression, the “horn of plenty”, whose definition on Wikipedia is:
” * Cornucopia, a symbolic, hollow horn filled with the inexhaustible gifts of celebratory fruits”.
If you do a search on “Google” for “cornucopia”, you will see the photo of a cornucopia, the horn of plenty, which you will surely recognize.
So “gifts of plenty” is a reference to this.
The gifts of plenty are technically a reference to food, but in a greater sense can include anything that we have been blessed with: a home, a roof over our heads, clothing, etc.
Yours,
The ESL Help! Desk
We are happy to answer your questions about any English expressions.
