In Like a Lion, Out Like a Lamb

 

In Like a Lion, Out Like a Lamb 

Watch this on YouTube here - March Video - YouTube Video

Meaning:

In Like a Lion, Out Like a Lamb is used to describe the weather in March in the northern hemisphere, where it tends to be very harsh and unpleasant at the beginning of the month, then get milder and more palatable toward the end of the month.

Origin:

The earliest record of “Comes in like a Lion, goes out like a Lamb” was in 1732 by Thomas fuller; in the book about “wise sentences and witty sayings,” he writes about march coming in harsh and wintery but ending warmer and more spring-like. This is how we still use the saying today.

Gnomologia: adagies and proverbs; wise sentences and witty sayings, ancient and modern, foreign and British

However, it is also said that this could have come about due to the stars, In Like a Leo, Out Like an Aries. The constellation Leo, the lion, rises in the east at the beginning of March, and thus the month “comes in like a lion,” while Aries, the ram, sets in the west at the end of the month, and hence, the month “will go out like a lamb.” 

Example:

Today we can hear it be used the same way it has been used since 1732 to express the wild weather of march; an example sentence is:

“I know, I know, in like a lion, out like a lamb—but spring still can't come fast enough!”

Watch this on YouTube here - March Video - YouTube Video