shout from the rooftops

Idioms & Phrases

shout from the rooftops

Announce publicly, as in Just because I won first prize you needn't shout it from the rooftops. This term alludes to climbing on a roof so as to be heard by more people. A similar phrase, using housetops, appears in the New Testament (Luke 12:3): "That which ye have spoken ... shall be proclaimed upon the housetops." [c. 1600]

The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer.
Copyright © 1997. Published by Houghton Mifflin.
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