Definition
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.
Origins
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.
In Context
- "[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."
- "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."
- "[…] 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."
- "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."
- "Professor Cusins: you are a young man after my own heart."
- "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."
- "“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.”"
- "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."
- "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."
Also Said As
- after one's heart
- after one's own soul