Etymologie, Etimología, Étymologie, Etimologia, Etymology, (griech.) etymología, (lat.) etymologia, (esper.) etimologio
UK Vereinigtes Königreich Großbritannien und Nordirland, Reino Unido de Gran Bretaña e Irlanda del Norte, Royaume-Uni de Grande-Bretagne et d'Irlande du Nord, Regno Unito di Gran Bretagna e Irlanda del Nord, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, (esper.) Britujo
eXterne Wortlisten, (esper.) eksteruloj vortlistoj
XWHist - Word Histories

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wordhistories.net
XWHist
Word Histories

(E?)(L?) https://wordhistories.net/

word histories

“AD FONTES!”

Erstellt: 2023-01

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XWHist
Word Histories

(E?)(L?) https://wordhistories.net/alphabetical-index/

ALPHABETICAL INDEX

A – B – C – D – E – F – G – H – I – J – K – L – M – N – O – P – Q – R – S – T – U – V – W – X – Y – Z – numerals – miscellany

Erstellt: 2023-01

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2025-03

‘dog in a blanket’: meaning and early occurrences 2nd Apr 2025.Reading time 10 minutes. UK, 1827—a rolled jam pudding or currant dumpling—also (Sussex): a roly-poly suet pudding made with slices of bacon Read More ‘to turn in one’s grave’: meaning and early occurrences 31st Mar 2025.Reading time 12 minutes. UK, 1801—said of a dead person: to be likely to have reacted with horror to something if they were still alive to experience it Read More ‘pecking order’: meanings and origin 30th Mar 2025.Reading time 10 minutes. 1927 (translation of German ‘Hackordnung’): a dominance hierarchy, seen especially in domestic poultry, that is maintained by one bird pecking another of lower status—hence (1929): any hierarchy based on rank or status Read More ‘a horse’s head in one’s bed’: meaning and origin 29th Mar 2025.Reading time 12 minutes. USA, 1972—a chilling warning given to somebody—from Francis Ford Coppola’s The Godfather (1972), in which the severed head of a horse is left as a warning in a film producer’s bed Read More ‘how can you sleep at night?’: meaning and early occurrences 28th Mar 2025.Reading time 8 minutes. UK, 1806—‘to be able to sleep at night’: to be untroubled by the moral consequences of one’s actions, or by the risks and responsibilities of one’s situation Read More ‘to shoot oneself in the foot’: meaning and origin 26th Mar 2025.Reading time 6 minutes. USA, 1951—to act in a way that inadvertently damages one’s cause or reputation or spoils one’s chances—alludes to accidental shooting Read More ‘éclair’ (cake): early occurrences and notes on its origin 25th Mar 2025.Reading time 10 minutes. French, 1848; English, 1861—a small, oblong cake made of choux pastry, filled with cream, and typically topped with chocolate icing—literally ‘lightning’—origin unknown Read More How Voltaire (and English) revived the French verb ‘désappointer’ 23rd Mar 2025.Reading time 10 minutes. Voltaire revived the use of ‘désappointer’ in the sense ‘to frustrate the expectation or desire of (a person)’ with reference to this use of the English verb ‘disappoint’. Read More How French borrowed ‘sentimental’ from English 21st Mar 2025.Reading time 3 minutes. French, 1769, in Voyage sentimental, a translation by Joseph-Pierre Frenais of A Sentimental Journey (1768) by Laurence Sterne Read More ‘last-chance saloon’: meanings and origin 20th Mar 2025.Reading time 10 minutes. a final opportunity or hope for success; the last refuge of the unsuccessful or desperate—originally (USA, 1858): a saloon at the edge of a town or at the border between two U.S. states Read More ‘easy street’: meanings and origin 19th Mar 2025.Reading time 11 minutes. USA, 1885—a condition of carefreeness, of ease, usually one marked by financial security—also (USA, 1889) in sporting contexts, a situation where winning will be easy Read More

2025-02

‘pas ce soir, Josephine’ : meaning and early occurrences 25th Feb 2025.Reading time 8 minutes. UK, 1935—jocular—is used by a man to defer his sexual duties to a wife or lover; is also applied to any postponement—translation of the earlier phrase ‘not tonight, Josephine’ Read More ‘not tonight, Josephine’: meanings and early occurrences 13th Feb 2025.Reading time 8 minutes. USA, 1904—a jocular phrase apparently originally applied to any postponement—of unknown origin Read More ‘where the sun don’t shine’: meaning and origin 12th Feb 2025.Reading time 6 minutes. U.S. slang, 20th century—in reference to a person’s anus, ‘to stick (something) where the sun don’t shine’ expresses contemptuous rejection Read More ‘platinum blonde’: meanings and origin 11th Feb 2025.Reading time 9 minutes. USA, 1927: a woman with a silvery-blonde hair colour—USA, 1930: specifically applied to Jean Harlow—also (USA, 1927) ‘platinum’: a silvery-blonde hair colour Read More ‘hollow legs’: meaning and origin 9th Feb 2025.Reading time 7 minutes. USA, 1866—the capacity to eat or drink a lot without ill effects Read More ‘to pee on a stick’: meanings and origin 8th Feb 2025.Reading time 7 minutes. USA & UK, 1995—to take a pregnancy test of a type involving urinating on a disposable plastic stick which immediately indicates the result—also, more generally: to take any of various other diagnostic tests of this type Read More ‘more than one can shake a stick at’: meaning and origin 7th Feb 2025.Reading time 7 minutes. more than one can count, a considerable amount or number—USA, 1808—probably refers to a stick that is used as a pointer in the process of counting Read More ‘flat-earther’: meaning and origin 6th Feb 2025.Reading time 10 minutes. a person who believes that the planet Earth is flat—USA, 1896—earlier synonym: ‘flat-earth man’ (UK, 1872) applied to John Hampden (1819-1891) Read More ‘rabbit punch’: meaning and origin 5th Feb 2025.Reading time 8 minutes. UK, 1911—a sharp blow to the back of the neck—refers to the practice of killing rabbits in this way, and originated in boxing—Australia, 1913: ‘rabbit killer’, also ‘rabbit-killer punch’ Read More ‘Rasputin’: meaning and origin 3rd Feb 2025.Reading time 9 minutes. a person exercising an insidious or corrupting influence, especially over a ruler, government, etc.—UK, 1917—refers to Grigori Efimovich Rasputin (circa 1869-1916), mystic and influential favourite at the court of Tsar Nicholas II Read More ‘cop shop’: meaning and origin 2nd Feb 2025.Reading time 13 minutes. a police station—USA, 1882—here, the noun ‘cop’ designates a police officer and the noun ‘shop’ designates the place where one works Read More ‘omniverbivorous’: meaning and origin 1st Feb 2025.Reading time 5 minutes. having a large or inexhaustible appetite for words—USA, 1858—coined by the U.S. physician and author Oliver Wendell Holmes (1809-1894) Read More

2025-01

‘Speakers’ Corner’: meanings and origin 31st Jan 2025.Reading time 9 minutes. UK, 1923—the north-east corner of Hyde Park, London, near Marble Arch, where public speaking and debate are traditionally permitted with minimal restriction—by extension: any location where public speaking and debate are permitted or encouraged Read More ‘from shirtsleeves to shirtsleeves in three generations’: meaning and origin 29th Jan 2025.Reading time 9 minutes. wealth gained in one generation of a family will be lost by the third generation—USA, 1874—refers to a hard-working man wearing a shirt with nothing over it Read More ‘from clogs to clogs in three generations’: meaning and origin 27th Jan 2025.Reading time 11 minutes. wealth gained in one generation of a family will be lost by the third generation—UK, 1842, as “there is but one generation in Lancashire between clog and clog”—refers to clogs being typically worn by factory workers Read More ‘clogdogdo’: meaning and origin 26th Jan 2025.Reading time 10 minutes. a term of abuse or disparagement, especially for a man’s wife or female relative—1616 in Epicœne, or The Silent Woman, by Ben Jonson—perhaps in reference to an encumbrance, like a clog (i.e., a heavy piece of wood) tied to a dog Read More ‘mechanical bull’: original meaning and early occurrences 24th Jan 2025.Reading time 6 minutes. UK, 1869—a mechanised full-size model of a bull, simulating the movement and behaviour of a bull (particularly in a corrida), used in public entertainments Read More ‘chatmate’: meaning and origin 23rd Jan 2025.Reading time 7 minutes. 1599—a person with whom one chats, a partner in informal or friendly conversation—now, more specifically: a person with whom one communicates via online chat or messaging Read More ‘fish finger’: meanings and early occurrences 22nd Jan 2025.Reading time 10 minutes. UK, 1898—a small oblong piece of filleted or minced fish coated in batter or breadcrumbs, typically fried or grilled—but originally designated various dishes Read More ‘in two shakes of a lamb’s tail’: meaning and origin 20th Jan 2025.Reading time 11 minutes. very soon or very quickly—USA, 1836, in a text attributed to Davy Crockett—alludes to the friskiness of lambs Read More ‘sword of Damocles’: meaning and origin 19th Jan 2025.Reading time 7 minutes. 1625—an imminent danger—alludes to Damocles, a courtier of ancient Syracuse, who was given a lesson in the perils to a ruler’s life when forced to sit under a naked sword hanging by a single hair Read More Is ‘(as) right as a trivet’ an alteration of ‘(as) tight as a rivet’? 16th Jan 2025.Reading time 16 minutes. It has been said that ‘(as) right as a trivet’ an alteration of ‘(as) tight as a rivet’. But the latter phrase, which postdates the former, originally meant ‘extremely tight’, not ‘thoroughly or perfectly right’. Read More ‘empleomania’: meaning and origin 12th Jan 2025.Reading time 7 minutes. mania for holding public office—USA, 1829—a borrowing from Spanish ‘empleomanía’, from ‘empleo’ (i.e., ‘employment’) and the suffix ‘-manía’ (i.e., ‘-mania’) Read More ‘scenester’: meaning and origin 10th Jan 2025.Reading time 7 minutes. 1974: a person who tries to fit into a particular cultural scene—1970: an actor who performs a minor role in a stage play—from ‘scene’ and the suffix ‘-ster’, forming agent nouns Read More ‘demonagerie’: meaning and origin 7th Jan 2025.Reading time 3 minutes. a menagerie of demons—UK, 1848—a blend of the nouns ‘demon’ and ‘menagerie’ Read More ‘ashtray breath’: meaning and origin 6th Jan 2025.Reading time 8 minutes. foul-smelling breath caused by smoking—USA, 1931, in advertisements for Old Golds, a U.S. brand of cigarettes Read More ‘information fatigue’: meaning and early occurrences 5th Jan 2025.Reading time 9 minutes. 1988, Australia & USA—apathy, indifference or mental exhaustion arising from exposure to too much information—especially stress induced by the attempt to assimilate excessive amounts of information from the media, the Internet or at work Read More ‘blandification’: meaning and origin 4th Jan 2025.Reading time 10 minutes. USA, 1969—the action or process of becoming or being made plain, ordinary, uninteresting or insipid—from the adjective ‘bland’ and the suffix ‘-ification’, forming nouns of action Read More ‘sandcastle’: meanings and origin 3rd Jan 2025.Reading time 4 minutes. UK, 1833: a small castle-like structure made of wet sand, as by children on a beach—UK, 1837: a plan or idea with little substance Read More ‘White-Van Man’: meaning and origin 1st Jan 2025.Reading time 7 minutes. UK, derogatory—a male van driver, often of a white van, whose driving is selfish and aggressive—1997, in a report issued by the Freight Transport Association Read More

2024-12

‘would bog a duck’: meaning and origin 31st Dec 2024.Reading time 6 minutes. is used of waterlogged land—USA,1859—Australia, 1874—now chiefly Australian Read More ‘hen’s milk’: meaning and origin 29th Dec 2024.Reading time 6 minutes. UK, 1793—a drink made from an egg yolk whisked into warm water, used as a remedy for colds—loan translation from French ‘lait de poule’ (1746) Read More ‘Christmas spirit’: meaning and early occurrences 28th Dec 2024.Reading time 7 minutes. UK, 1827—a mood or attitude appropriate to the Christmas season, especially one involving feelings of goodwill, benevolence and a willingness to enjoy oneself Read More ‘annus horribilis’: meaning and origin 25th Dec 2024.Reading time 7 minutes. UK, 1867—a disastrous or particularly unpleasant year—Latin, literally ‘a horrible year’—coined after Latin ‘annus mirabilis’, literally ‘an extraordinary year’ Read More ‘husband’s tea’ meaning and origin 16th Dec 2024.Reading time 6 minutes. UK, 1837—very weak tea—from the fact that the wife drank the first brew, and then, to make her husband’s tea, filled the pot with water, adding no fresh leaves Read More ‘ships that pass in the night’: meanings and origin 12th Dec 2024.Reading time 9 minutes. people who meet for a short time, by chance, and then do not see each other again—people who, although living together, are unable to see very much of each other—coined in 1873 by the U.S. poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow Read More ‘damsel in distress’: meaning and early occurrences 10th Dec 2024.Reading time 8 minutes. the clichéd literary topos of a young woman who is in trouble and needs a man’s help—1694, in a text by Joseph Addison Read More ‘gallows-humour’: meaning and origin 9th Dec 2024.Reading time 11 minutes. grim and ironical humour—UK, 1860, in reference to the practice of public executions—UK, 1870, as a loan translation from German ‘Galgenhumor’, in the context of the Franco-Prussian War Read More ‘candid camera’: meaning and origin 5th Dec 2024.Reading time 10 minutes. UK, 1929—a small camera for taking informal photographs of persons, usually without their knowledge—earlier occurrences (UK & USA, from 1907 to 1924) are often of unclear meaning Read More ‘to get a guernsey’: meanings and origin 3rd Dec 2024.Reading time 9 minutes. Australia, 1918—to get selected for a task, to gain recognition or approval, to succeed—the image is of getting selected in a sporting team (‘guernsey’: a shirt worn by soccer or rugby players) Read More

2024-11

‘shaggy-dog story’: meaning and early occurrences 30th Nov 2024.Reading time 11 minutes. USA, 1914—origin unknown—a long rambling joke ending in a deliberate anticlimax, such as an absurd or irrelevant punchline Read More the noun ‘pig tracks’ in U.S. phrases 28th Nov 2024.Reading time 8 minutes. in the phrases ‘(as) regular as pig tracks’ (1853) and ‘(as) common as pig tracks’ (1854), the plural noun ‘pig tracks’ is an intensifier—Southern United States Read More ‘piscinity’: meaning and origin 27th Nov 2024.Reading time 6 minutes. USA, 1859—humorous—the quality or condition of being a fish—from the prefix ‘pisci-’ (of, or relating to, fish) and the suffix ‘-ity’ (after the noun ‘humanity’) Read More ‘dreamcatcher’: original meaning 26th Nov 2024.Reading time 5 minutes. USA, 1943—a mattress, a pillow, pyjamas, etc., advertised as ensuring a good night’s sleep Read More ‘beer goggles’: meaning and origin 25th Nov 2024.Reading time 8 minutes. U.S. College slang, 1985—the effects of alcohol thought of metaphorically as a pair of goggles that alter a person’s perceptions especially by making others appear more attractive than they actually are Read More ‘Quatorze Juillet’: meaning and origin 24th Nov 2024.Reading time 8 minutes. USA, 1882—the fourteenth of July, the national holiday of the French republic, commemorating the storming of the Bastille on 14th July 1789—also shortened to ‘Quatorze’ (1898) Read More ‘Bastille Day’: meaning and origin 23rd Nov 2024.Reading time 9 minutes. the fourteenth of July, the national holiday of the French republic, commemorating the storming of the Bastille on 14th July 1789—coined in 1837 by Thomas Carlyle Read More ‘kiwi’ (air-force slang): meaning and origin 22nd Nov 2024.Reading time 8 minutes. First World War—a non-flying member of an air force—in reference to the flightless bird of New Zealand Read More ‘(here’s) mud in your eye’: meaning—and origin? 21st Nov 2024.Reading time 8 minutes. USA, 1911—a humorous drinking toast—origin unknown—the image is perhaps that mud in one’s eye blurs one’s vision like alcohol does Read More ‘council-house television’: meaning and origin 20th Nov 2024.Reading time 11 minutes. UK, 1993—derogatory—Sky Television Network, regarded as downmarket—alluded to the number of satellite dishes on council houses and council tower-blocks Read More Please, donate to this blog 17th Nov 2024.Reading time 1 minutes. After many years, I have finally (and reluctantly) resolved to ask my readers to contribute to this nonprofit blog. In order to add new posts to this blog, I must (in particular) subscribe to such sites as the Oxford English Dictionary, the British Newspaper Archive and Newspapers.com—and, of course, to WordPress. Unfortunately, now that I’m […] Read More ‘Kiwiness’: meaning and origin 16th Nov 2024.Reading time 9 minutes. the quality or fact of being from New Zealand; characteristics regarded as typical of New Zealand or New Zealanders—coined in 1967 by the U.S. Professor of Psychology Eugene Leonard Hartley Read More ‘the wider the brim, the smaller the property’: meanings and origin 15th Nov 2024.Reading time 8 minutes. chiefly Australian, 20th century—formula for estimating the size of rural holdings—also used figuratively of someone who talks boastfully without acting on their words Read More ‘Z-car’: meaning and origin 13th Nov 2024.Reading time 10 minutes. a police patrol car—UK, 1959—originally any of the special crime police patrol cars used in Lancashire—from the radio call-sign ‘Z’ allotted to such cars—popularised by the British television series ‘Z Cars’ (1962-78) Read More ‘zambuck’: meaning and origin 12th Nov 2024.Reading time 9 minutes. Australia, 1906; New Zealand, 1918—a medic, paramedic or first-aid worker, especially when in attendance at a sporting event—from the proprietary name of a popular brand of antiseptic ointment Read More ‘beer-pong’: meaning and origin 11th Nov 2024.Reading time 11 minutes. U.S. College slang, 1972—a drinking game in which players attempt to throw ping-pong balls into cups of beer, which must then be drunk by their opponents—from ‘beer’ and the second element of ‘ping-pong’ Read More more on French ‘femmicide’ & early occurrences of English ‘femicide’ 10th Nov 2024.Reading time 7 minutes. the killing of a woman or girl by a man—French ‘femmicide’: 1839; 1854 in the sense of a man who has killed a woman—English ‘femicide’: 1801; 1827 in the sense of a man who has killed a woman Read More ‘a trap for young players’: meaning and origin 8th Nov 2024.Reading time 8 minutes. a hazard for the unwary—UK, 1887—originally used in reference to the game of draughts—then (Australia, 1894) in reference to cricket Read More ‘cowyard confetti’ and variants: meaning and origin 7th Nov 2024.Reading time 10 minutes. Australia, 1932—also ‘Flemington confetti’ (1933) and ‘farmyard confetti’ (1967)—bullshit (i.e., nonsense, rubbish)—also occasionally used literally in the sense of faeces Read More ‘fine weather for ducks’: meaning and origin 6th Nov 2024.Reading time 8 minutes. UK, 1811—refers humorously to wet weather Read More ‘back of an envelope’: meaning and origin 5th Nov 2024.Reading time 9 minutes. USA, 1931—indicates that something has been formulated or devised hurriedly, roughly or carelessly, as though sketched or scribbled on the back of an envelope Read More ‘mischief night’: original meaning 4th Nov 2024.Reading time 14 minutes. Yorkshire & Lancashire (northern England), first half of the 19th century—the evening of 30th April (May Eve), on which people traditionally indulged in mischievous pranks Read More precursors of French ‘féminicide’ and of English ‘femicide’ 3rd Nov 2024.Reading time 6 minutes. French, 1648: ‘famicide’; 1684: ‘femmicide’; 1695: ‘femmicide’—English, 1718: ‘femmicide’ (from French)—the killing of a woman or girl by a man Read More ‘back of a napkin’: meaning and origin 2nd Nov 2024.Reading time 10 minutes. USA, 1972—indicates that something has been formulated or devised hurriedly, roughly or carelessly, as though sketched or scribbled on the back of a napkin—also with ‘cocktail napkin’ Read More ‘back of a cigarette packet’: meaning and origin 1st Nov 2024.Reading time 15 minutes. UK, 1967—indicates that something has been formulated or devised hurriedly, roughly or carelessly, as though sketched or scribbled on the back of a cigarette packet Read More

2024-10

‘dangling participle’: meaning and origin
30th Oct 2024.Reading time 13 minutes.
USA, 1890—a participle, often found at the beginning of a sentence, that appears from its position to modify an element of the sentence other than the one it was intended to modify
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‘nice little earner’: meaning and origin
28th Oct 2024.Reading time 7 minutes.
UK, 1982—a profitable undertaking, especially one that is not strenuous or demanding—popularised by the British television series Minder (1979-1989)
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‘dusty answer’: meaning and origin
27th Oct 2024.Reading time 6 minutes.
an unhelpful or bad-tempered reply—1862 in Modern Love, by George Meredith—this sense of ‘dusty’ is related to corresponding uses of ‘dust’, as in ‘dry as dust’
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‘to rattle one’s dags’: meaning and origin
26th Oct 2024.Reading time 7 minutes.
New Zealand, 1968—to hurry up—‘dags’: clumps of matted wool and dung which hang around a sheep’s rear end—the allusion is to the rattling sound of a sheep’s dags when it runs
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‘couldn’t train a choko vine over a country dunny’: meaning and origin
25th Oct 2024.Reading time 7 minutes.
Australia, 1969—is used of an ineffectual person—‘choko’ (i.e., ‘chayote’): the cucumber-like fruit of a cucurbitaceous vine (‘Sechium edule’)
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‘girlboss’: meaning and origin
24th Oct 2024.Reading time 14 minutes.
an entrepreneurial, ambitious woman; especially one who runs her own business—USA, 1895
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‘shabby chic’: meaning and origin
22nd Oct 2024.Reading time 11 minutes.
someone or something that is fashionably or artfully dishevelled or dilapidated—in early use: someone or something whose dishevelment or dilapidation is unintentionally attractive or fashionable—USA, 1901
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‘beer-belly’: meanings and origin
21st Oct 2024.Reading time 8 minutes.
1615—a protruding belly caused by excessive beer drinking; a person (typically a man) who has a protruding belly caused by excessive beer drinking
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‘beer-can chicken’: meaning and origin
20th Oct 2024.Reading time 8 minutes.
USA (Louisiana), 1996—a dish consisting of a chicken which has been cooked with an open can of beer wedged inside the cavity
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‘hoop snake’: meaning and origin
19th Oct 2024.Reading time 10 minutes.
USA, 1784—a mythical snake that puts its tail in its mouth and then rolls after its intended victim—also, occasionally: ‘horn snake’, with reference to a horny sting in the snake’s tail
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‘drop bear’: meaning and origin
18th Oct 2024.Reading time 10 minutes.
Australia, 1967—a mythical creature, similar in appearance to a koala, that drops from trees to kill and eat prey, including humans
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‘like a duck takes to water’: meaning and origin
13th Oct 2024.Reading time 6 minutes.
easily, readily—UK, 1825
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‘like water off a duck’s back’: meaning and origin
9th Oct 2024.Reading time 7 minutes.
also ‘like water from a duck’s back’—UK, 1801—with no effect or reaction
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‘will a duck swim?’: meaning and origin
8th Oct 2024.Reading time 12 minutes.
1680—also ‘would a duck swim?’ and ‘does a duck swim?’—expresses enthusiastic acceptance or confirmation
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‘not to be able to head a duck’: meaning and origin
7th Oct 2024.Reading time 7 minutes.
Australia, 1890, & New Zealand, 1891—is used, in sports, of slowness, in particular as a disparaging comment on a racehorse
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‘sglods’: meaning and origin
2nd Oct 2024.Reading time 4 minutes.
Welsh English, 1994—potato chips—alteration of the Welsh plural noun ‘sglodion’ (potato chips) with substitution of the English plural ending ‘-s’ for the Welsh plural ending ‘-ion’
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‘never put anything smaller than your elbow in your ear’: meaning and origin
1st Oct 2024.Reading time 5 minutes.
The phrase never put anything smaller than your elbow in your ear was explained as follows in Guidelines: Put nothing smaller than your elbow in your ear, published by Industrial Safety & Hygiene News (Birmingham, Michigan, USA) on 10th January 2017: Updated clinical guidelines published the journal Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery say cotton swabs are […]
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2024-09

‘galah session’: meanings and origin
30th Sep 2024.Reading time 7 minutes.
Australia, 1948—a period allocated for private conversation, especially between women on isolated stations, over an outback radio network—by extension (1967): any long chat—‘galah’: a very common Australian cockatoo
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‘flat stick’: meaning and origin
29th Sep 2024.Reading time 5 minutes.
New Zealand, 1970—at full speed—perhaps after ‘flat out’ (i.e., with the maximum speed or effort) and after ‘quicksticks’ (i.e., quickly, without delay)
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an Australian use of the expression ‘sick canary’
27th Sep 2024.Reading time 21 minutes.
has been used with reference to feebleness and ineffectualness since the late 19th century
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‘wouldn’t give you a fright if he/she was a ghost’: meaning and early occurrences
26th Sep 2024.Reading time 8 minutes.
is used of a miserly person—Australia, 1929—UK, 1934
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‘couldn’t pick a seat at the pictures’: meaning and origin
25th Sep 2024.Reading time 3 minutes.
is used of an ineffectual person—Australia, 1984—originally used in sports of team selectors
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‘drunk as a pissant’: meaning and origin
24th Sep 2024.Reading time 8 minutes.
extremely drunk—Australia, 1892, as ‘drunk as an ant’—USA, 1925, as ‘drunk as a pissant’ in Manhattan Transfer, by John Dos Passos
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‘game as a pissant’: meaning and origin
23rd Sep 2024.Reading time 20 minutes.
also ‘game as an ant’, ‘game as a bulldog ant’, etc.—Australia, 1874—plucky, courageous, willing to put up a fight against considerable odds
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‘brown Windsor soup’: meaning and early occurrences
22nd Sep 2024.Reading time 16 minutes.
UK, 1919—a thick brown meat-based soup of a type now often depreciatively depicted as emblematic of traditional British cookery
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‘spud-cocky’: meaning and origin
20th Sep 2024.Reading time 7 minutes.
Australia, 1911—a potato farmer—composed of ‘spud’ (a potato) and ‘cocky’ (a farmer working a small-scale farm)—‘cocky’: shortened form of ‘cockatoo’ (a farmer working a small-scale farm)
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‘to disappear up one’s own arse’: meaning and early occurrences
19th Sep 2024.Reading time 10 minutes.
British slang, 1960s—‘to disappear up one’s own arse’: to become self-involved, pretentious or conceited—‘to be up one’s own arse’: to be self-involved, pretentious or conceited
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‘old boiler’: meaning and origin
18th Sep 2024.Reading time 21 minutes.
Australia, 1950—UK, 1962—derogatory and offensive: a middle-aged or elderly woman, especially one who is unattractive or unfeminine—refers to ‘boiler’, i.e., a tough old chicken for cooking by boiling
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‘Gloria Soame’: meaning and origin
15th Sep 2024.Reading time 9 minutes.
Australia, 1965—the Strine equivalent of ‘glorious home’—‘Strine’: the English language as spoken by Australians
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‘Ma State’: meaning and origin
14th Sep 2024.Reading time 13 minutes.
the State of New South Wales—Australia, 1905—alludes to New South Wales as the ‘mother’ colony, i.e., the first colony that Britain founded in Australia—hence (1908) ‘Ma Stater’, a native or inhabitant of New South Wales
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‘brimstone and treacle’: meaning and origin
13th Sep 2024.Reading time 17 minutes.
Britain, 1746—refers to old-fashioned medicinal remedies—notably used by Charles Dickens in ‘The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby’ (1838-39)
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‘grey death’: meaning and origin
12th Sep 2024.Reading time 5 minutes.
Australian slang, 1960s—the unpalatable and unnutritious evening stew that used to be served to prison inmates—by extension: any unpalatable item of food
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‘the lady’s not for turning’: meaning and origin
11th Sep 2024.Reading time 10 minutes.
UK, 1980—is used by, or of, a woman who asserts her determination to do what she has decided to do—from Margaret Thatcher’s speech delivered on 10 October 1980 at the Conservative Party Conference in Brighton
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‘parkour’: meaning and origin
10th Sep 2024.Reading time 5 minutes.
the discipline of moving rapidly and freely over or around the obstacles presented by an urban environment by running, jumping, climbing, etc.—French—altered spelling of the noun ‘parcours’ in ‘parcours d’obstacles’ (i.e., ‘obstacle course’)
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‘elementary, my dear Watson’: meaning and early occurrences
6th Sep 2024.Reading time 17 minutes.
the solution to a problem is very straightforward and easy—UK, 1901—supposedly said by Sherlock Holmes to Dr. Watson—but this phrase is not (in this form) found in any of Arthur Conan Doyle’s stories
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‘Paralympics’: meaning and origin
4th Sep 2024.Reading time 17 minutes.
an international athletic competition, modelled on the Olympic Games, for disabled athletes—UK, 1953—from the prefix ‘para-‘ in ‘paraplegic’ and ‘-lympics’ in ‘Olympics’—cf. early synonym ‘Paraplegic Games’
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2024-08

‘monkey see, monkey do’: meaning and origin
24th Aug 2024.Reading time 7 minutes.
is used to comment contemptuously on an instance of unthinking imitation, or of learning or performing by rote—USA, 1889—apparently first used by Californian retailers
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‘sausage-wrapper’ (i.e., a newspaper)
23rd Aug 2024.Reading time 12 minutes.
colloquially used as a contemptuous appellation for a newspaper that the speaker regards as downmarket—Australia, 1880—but had occurred once (USA, 1874) as ‘bologna sausage wrapper’
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‘on the wrong tram’: meaning and origin
22nd Aug 2024.Reading time 8 minutes.
Australia, 1929—mistaken, astray, following the wrong tactics
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‘tarpaulin muster’: meaning and origin
21st Aug 2024.Reading time 10 minutes.
the collecting of a pool of money, to be used either to provide assistance to some (other) person(s) or cause, or to buy drinks for the contributors—USA, 1863—nautical origin: such funds were originally collected by having the ship’s crew drop their money onto a tarpaulin
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‘green cart’: meaning and early occurrences
20th Aug 2024.Reading time 9 minutes.
the imaginary vehicle supposed to take people to the mental asylum—Australia (1869), New Zealand (1884)—the reason the colour green was chosen is unknown
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‘to do a perish(er)’: meaning and origin
17th Aug 2024.Reading time 16 minutes.
to reach, or to be in, a state of extreme privation; to suffer hardship; to die, especially of thirst—New Zealand (miners, 1871) & Australia (1881)
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‘to put on jam’: meanings and early occurrences
16th Aug 2024.Reading time 24 minutes.
Australia, 1881—to adopt an affected speech or manner, to display self-importance—also, in early use: to embellish the truth, to depict flatteringly
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‘you can’t polish a turd’: meaning and origin
15th Aug 2024.Reading time 7 minutes.
you cannot improve something which is inherently or unalterably unpleasant, or of poor quality—USA, 1977—originally in reference to rock music
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‘couldn’t get a kick in a stable’: meaning and origin
14th Aug 2024.Reading time 8 minutes.
Australia, 1947—used of any ineffectual Australian-Rules-Football player, and, by extension, of any ineffectual person
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‘skateboarding duck’: meaning and origin
9th Aug 2024.Reading time 6 minutes.
UK—a trifling, whimsical news item, especially one that is used as a light-note ending to a television or radio news broadcast—from a short film about a pet duck, first broadcast on the BBC on 24 May 1978
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‘without fear or favour’: meaning and origin
7th Aug 2024.Reading time 9 minutes.
without pressure from, or partiality to, any person or other external influence—1638, as a translation of French ‘sans crainte et sans respect’ (‘without fear and without respect’)
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‘Aqua Libra’: meaning and origin
5th Aug 2024.Reading time 6 minutes.
proprietary name for a soft drink supposed to maintain or restore the body’s alkaline balance—Ireland & UK, 1986—from the Latin nouns ‘aqua’ (water) and ‘libra’ (a balance)
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‘NEVER A DULL MOMENT’: MEANINGS AND ORIGIN
4th Aug 2024.Reading time 6 minutes.
literally: constant variety or interest (originally with reference to theatrical performances; USA, 1879)—ironically: constant variety of troubles, difficulties, etc. (in Three Men in a Boat (1889), by British author Jerome K. Jerome)
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2024-07

‘MOLLY THE MONK’: MEANING (AND ORIGIN?)
26th Jul 2024.Reading time 9 minutes.
rhyming slang for ‘drunk’—Australia, 1952—may have originally alluded to ‘Molly the Monk’, the name given in Australia to various primates kept in captivity or used for entertainment
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‘VEE-DUB’: MEANING AND ORIGIN
24th Jul 2024.Reading time 7 minutes.
a Volkswagen car—USA, 1967—from the pronunciation of ‘VW’ (initialism from the name ‘Volkswagen’)—‘dub’: shortened form of the adjective ‘double’ in ‘double U’
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‘EUREKA MOMENT’: MEANING AND ORIGIN
14th Jul 2024.Reading time 9 minutes.
a moment of sudden discovery, inspiration or insight—1918—from the reputed exclamation of Archimedes when he realised that the volume of a solid could be calculated by measuring the water displaced when it was immersed
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‘MOTHER OF THE HOUSE (OF COMMONS)’: MEANING AND ORIGIN
9th Jul 2024.Reading time 14 minutes.
the longest serving female member of the British House of Commons—1920—originally applied to Nancy Astor, Member of Parliament from 1919 to 1945—coined after ‘Father of the House (of Commons)’
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‘PORTILLO MOMENT’: MEANING AND ORIGIN
7th Jul 2024.Reading time 11 minutes.
UK, 2001: the defeat of a high-profile Member of Parliament, indicating a significant political change—originally, UK, 1997: the announcement of Michael Portillo’s defeat, seen as emblematic of the Conservative defeat in the general election
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‘CUT-LUNCH COMMANDO’: MEANING AND ORIGIN
1st Jul 2024.Reading time 7 minutes.
Australia, 1943, derogatory—a soldier who does not see active service, especially a reservist—from ‘cut lunch’, denoting a packed lunch, typically consisting of sandwiches
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2024-06

‘TO PAINT SOMEONE INTO A CORNER’: MEANINGS AND ORIGIN
28th Jun 2024.Reading time 21 minutes.
USA, 1929: to force someone into a situation from which it is not easy to escape—the image is of someone who is painting a floor and ends up in a corner of the room with wet paint all around them (USA, 1913)
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‘LIKE A LILY ON A DUSTBIN’: MEANINGS AND EARLY OCCURRENCES
26th Jun 2024.Reading time 8 minutes.
also ‘like a lily on a dirt-tin’ and variants—something or somebody that is incongruous or conspicuous—UK, 1934, but chiefly Australian (from 1948 onwards)
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‘TO STIR THE POSSUM’: MEANING AND ORIGIN
25th Jun 2024.Reading time 10 minutes.
Australia, 1888—to stir up controversy; to liven things up—also ‘to rouse the possum’ (Australia, 1898)—this phrase probably developed as the obverse of ‘to play possum’
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‘TO JOCKEY FOR POSITION’: MEANINGS AND ORIGIN
23rd Jun 2024.Reading time 7 minutes.
literally, of a jockey in horseracing (USA, 1869): to manoeuvre in order to get one’s horse into a desired position at the beginning of a race—figuratively (USA, 1881): to manoeuvre in order to gain advantage over rivals in a competitive situation
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‘TO BE PACKED LIKE SARDINES’: MEANING AND ORIGIN
22nd Jun 2024.Reading time 12 minutes.
UK, 1841—to be crowded or confined tightly together, as sardines in a tin
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‘POUND SHOP’: MEANINGS AND ORIGIN
20th Jun 2024.Reading time 13 minutes.
UK & Ireland—a shop that sells a wide range of goods at low prices, typically one pound or less—hence also: of the type or quality found in a pound shop, cheap, second-rate
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‘TO HAVE A BÉGUIN FOR’: MEANING AND ORIGIN
19th Jun 2024.Reading time 10 minutes.
‘to have a fancy for’—UK, 1900—loan translation from French ‘avoir un béguin pour’—French ‘béguin’ is from ‘s’embéguiner de’, meaning ‘to put on a bonnet’, hence ‘to put a sudden capricious idea into one’s head’
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A BRITISH USE OF ‘SATELLITE ALLEY’
18th Jun 2024.Reading time 3 minutes.
1990—a street in which many satellite dishes are attached to the front of the buildings—‘satellite dish’: a bowl-shaped antenna used to view satellite television
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‘JOINED-UP WRITING’: MEANING AND ORIGIN
17th Jun 2024.Reading time 10 minutes.
UK, 1933—cursive handwriting as learnt in elementary school as a stage beyond printing individual letters separately—from the adjective ‘joined-up’, meaning ‘conjoined’
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‘BABYCCINO’: MEANINGS AND ORIGIN
16th Jun 2024.Reading time 7 minutes.
a drink of frothy milk, designed as an alternative to coffee for young children—also: a small cup of cappuccino—Australia, 1995—from ‘baby’ and ‘-ccino’ in ‘cappuccino’
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‘KNOCKER-UP’ (A WAKENER-UP)
15th Jun 2024.Reading time 14 minutes.
Ireland & Britain, 1850—a person who goes round the streets in the early morning to awaken factory hands—from ‘to knock somebody up’, meaning ‘to awaken somebody by knocking at the door’
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‘JOB’S COMFORTER’: MEANING AND ORIGIN
13th Jun 2024.Reading time 10 minutes.
1673—a person who aggravates distress under the guise of administering comfort—alludes to Job’s reply to his friends in the Book of Job, 16:2
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‘(AS) POOR AS JOB’S CAT’: MEANING AND ORIGIN
11th Jun 2024.Reading time 6 minutes.
‘extremely poor’—USA, 1810—humorous variant of ‘(as) poor as Job’, from the name of the eponymous protagonist of a book of the Old Testament, taken as the type of extreme poverty
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‘(AS) POOR AS JOB’S TURKEY’: MEANING AND ORIGIN
10th Jun 2024.Reading time 11 minutes.
‘extremely poor’—USA, 1817—humorous variant of ‘(as) poor as Job’, from the name of the eponymous protagonist of a book of the Old Testament, taken as the type of extreme poverty
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‘SCHOLASTICIDE’: MEANING AND ORIGIN
9th Jun 2024.Reading time 6 minutes.
the systematic destruction of Palestinian education by Israel—apparently coined in 2009 by Karma Nabulsi, Fellow in Politics at St Edmund Hall, University of Oxford
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‘OLD BOY NETWORK’: MEANING AND ORIGIN
8th Jun 2024.Reading time 16 minutes.
UK, 1950, as ‘old boy net’—a system of favouritism and preferment operating among people of a similar social, usually privileged, background, especially among former pupils of public schools
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‘NEPOTISM BABY’ AND ‘NEPO BABY’: MEANING AND ORIGIN
7th Jun 2024.Reading time 9 minutes.
a person whose career is believed to have been advanced by having a famous or successful relative—‘nepotism baby’ (USA, 1915)—‘nepo baby’ (USA, 2022)
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‘DAFFYNITION’: MEANING AND ORIGIN
6th Jun 2024.Reading time 9 minutes.
a humorous redefinition of an existing word or phrase, presented as a dictionary definition—USA, 1910—a blend of the adjective ‘daffy’ and of the noun ‘definition’
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‘JEAN-AGE’, ‘JEAN-AGER’ AND JEAN-AGED’: MEANING AND ORIGIN
5th Jun 2024.Reading time 9 minutes.
refer to the teenage years regarded as an age at which jeans are often worn—USA, from 1946 onwards—punningly after, respectively, ‘teenage’, ‘teenager’ and ‘teenaged’
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‘CORRIDOR CARE’ AND ‘CORRIDOR NURSING’: MEANING AND ORIGIN
4th Jun 2024.Reading time 8 minutes.
Ireland, 1989—treatment given to hospital patients in overcrowded and inappropriate spaces such as corridors and waiting rooms—had been used earlier (UK, 1980) of treatment given to schoolchildren
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‘FISH AND CHIPS’: MEANING AND ORIGIN
3rd Jun 2024.Reading time 7 minutes.
a dish consisting of deep-fried battered fish fillets served with potato chips—Lancashire, England, 1886 (1879, as ‘fried fish and chipped potatoes’)
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NOTES ON ‘KLEENEX’ IN SIMILES
1st Jun 2024.Reading time 9 minutes.
USA, 1945—‘Kleenex’ (a proprietary name for a soft, disposable paper tissue) is used in similes expressing, in particular, disposability, ephemerality, fragility, weakness
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2024-5

‘KLEENEX MUSIC’: MEANINGS AND ORIGIN
31st May 2024.Reading time 10 minutes.
1962: a type of popular music that is rapidly discarded—also, 1967: Benjamin Britten’s War Requiem, regarded as a lachrymose piece of music by Igor Stravinsky—‘Kleenex’: a proprietary name for a soft, disposable paper tissue
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‘NOT ON YOUR NELLY’: MEANING AND ORIGIN
30th May 2024.Reading time 17 minutes.
‘not under any circumstances’—Royal Air Force slang, 1942—short for ‘not on your Nelly Duff’, i.e., ‘not on your life’, ‘Nelly Duff’ being rhyming slang for ‘puff’ as used colloquially in the sense of ‘life’
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A SLANG USE OF ‘MUSLIN’ (WOMEN)
28th May 2024.Reading time 8 minutes.
UK, 1821—‘muslin’: women regarded collectively as objects of sexual desire—‘a bit of muslin’: a woman regarded as an object of sexual desire
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‘BUNDLE OF NERVES’: MEANING AND ORIGIN
27th May 2024.Reading time 10 minutes.
someone who is extremely nervous, worried or tense—UK, 1832—originally (18th century) in physiology: a set of nervous fibres bound closely together
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‘SERIAL LIAR’: MEANING AND ORIGIN
26th May 2024.Reading time 6 minutes.
USA, 1985—an inveterate liar—coined after, and in reference to, the expressions ‘serial killer’ and ‘serial murderer’
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‘NERVOUS NELLIE’: MEANING AND ORIGIN
25th May 2024.Reading time 16 minutes.
an overly timid, cautious or fearful person—U.S. politics, 1921—originally used of U.S. lawyer and politician Frank B. Kellogg
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‘BAKING HOT’: MEANING AND ORIGIN
24th May 2024.Reading time 8 minutes.
UK, 1833—the expression ‘baking hot’ is used of excessive heat—in this expression, the adverb ‘baking’ is an intensifier
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‘TO GET ONE’S ACT TOGETHER’: MEANINGS AND ORIGIN
23rd May 2024.Reading time 9 minutes.
USA, 1900: to get a stage act ready—Canada, 1961: to organise oneself to undertake or achieve something—from ‘to get together’ (i.e., to organise, put in order, harmonise)
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‘TO SHOOT A TRAFFIC-LIGHT’: EARLY BRITISH USES
22nd May 2024.Reading time 17 minutes.
also ‘to shoot the red light’, ‘to shoot the amber’, etc.—to drive past a traffic-light when it indicates that one should stop—UK, 1934, as ‘to shoot the lights’
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‘TO SHOOT A TRAFFIC-LIGHT’: EARLY AMERICAN USES
21st May 2024.Reading time 8 minutes.
also ‘to shoot the red light’, ‘to shoot the amber’, etc.—to drive past a traffic-light when it indicates that one should stop—USA, 1926, as ‘to shoot the yellow’
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‘LIKE A RAT UP A DRAINPIPE’: MEANINGS AND ORIGIN
19th May 2024.Reading time 12 minutes.
very quickly; also, very energetically—Australia, 1881, as ‘like a rat up a pump’
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‘JEEVESIAN’: MEANING AND ORIGIN
18th May 2024.Reading time 9 minutes.
of, or relating to, or characteristic of, or resembling, Jeeves—UK, 1934—refers to Jeeves, the perfect valet in stories by P. G. Wodehouse
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‘JEEVES-LIKE’: MEANING AND ORIGIN
17th May 2024.Reading time 11 minutes.
Canada, 1928—resembling Jeeves, the perfect valet in stories by the English author Pelham Grenville Wodehouse (1881-1975); this fictional character first appeared in 1915
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‘MILK MONITOR’: MEANING AND ORIGIN
16th May 2024.Reading time 9 minutes.
a schoolchild responsible for distributing servings of milk to other children—USA, 1922—UK, 1935
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‘A FROG IN ONE’S THROAT’: MEANING AND ORIGIN
14th May 2024.Reading time 8 minutes.
USA, 1808—an irritation in the throat suggestive of an obstruction, producing a temporary croakiness or hoarseness—occasionally associated with the French, probably because ‘frog’ is derogatorily applied to them
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‘THAT’S RICH, COMING FROM —’: MEANING AND ORIGIN
13th May 2024.Reading time 9 minutes.
UK, 1836—that’s a surprisingly unfair criticism, considering that the person who has just made it has the same fault—here, ‘rich’ means ‘preposterous’, ‘outrageous’
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‘A HARD ACT TO FOLLOW’: MEANING AND ORIGIN
12th May 2024.Reading time 11 minutes.
an impressive person or thing, viewed as being difficult to rival or surpass—USA, 1912, in reference to the difficulty faced by an entertainer coming on stage immediately after a popular or successful act
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‘STAKHANOVITISM’: MEANINGS AND ORIGIN
11th May 2024.Reading time 14 minutes.
a movement, developed in the U.S.S.R. in 1935, aimed at encouraging hard work and maximum output, following the example of Alexei Stakhanov—by extension: exceptionally productive work, excessively intensive work
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‘TO DO A VANISHING ACT’: MEANINGS AND ORIGIN
9th May 2024.Reading time 20 minutes.
late 19th century—to disappear suddenly without leaving information about one’s whereabouts—from conjuring, in which ‘vanishing act’ designates an act of making a person or thing disappear as if by magic, and an act of disappearing in this manner
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‘THE MIDDLE OF NOWHERE’: MEANINGS AND EARLY OCCURRENCES
7th May 2024.Reading time 7 minutes.
a completely isolated, featureless or insignificant place—USA, 1848, as ‘to knock [something or someone] into the middle of nowhere’ with reference to annihilation
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‘GIVE SOMEONE AN INCH AND THEY’LL TAKE A MILE’: MEANING AND ORIGIN
6th May 2024.Reading time 9 minutes.
the slightest concession will be unscrupulously exploited—USA, 1837, in Ralph Waldo Emerson’s diary—a later form of ‘give someone an inch and they’ll take an ell’
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‘TO STICK OUT A MILE’: MEANING AND ORIGIN
4th May 2024.Reading time 11 minutes.
New Zealand, 1883, as ‘to stick out half a mile’—to be very prominent or conspicuous
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‘ONE MIGHT HEAR A PIN DROP’ | ‘ONE CAN HEAR A PIN DROP’
3rd May 2024.Reading time 15 minutes.
‘one might hear a pin drop’ (UK, 1739): the silence and sense of expectation are intense—‘one can hear a pin drop’ (UK, 1737): one has a keen sense of hearing
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‘DEIRDRE SPECTACLES’: MEANING AND ORIGIN
2nd May 2024.Reading time 12 minutes.
UK, 1981—a pair of spectacles with an oversized frame of a style that was fashionable in the 1980s—refers to the spectacles worn by Deirdre Barlow, a fictional character in the soap opera Coronation Street
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2024-4

‘DILLBRAIN’: MEANING AND ORIGIN
30th Apr 2024.Reading time 10 minutes.
Australia, 1943—a foolish or silly person—from the synonymous noun ‘dill’ (1933), itself apparently a back-formation from the adjective ‘dilly’, meaning ‘foolish’, ‘silly’
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‘VIENNOISERIE’: MEANINGS AND ORIGIN
29th Apr 2024.Reading time 8 minutes.
France—1883: Viennese-style baked goods—1887: a bakery that makes and sells this type of baked goods—those baked goods were introduced into France in 1839 by the Austrian entrepreneur August Zang
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‘PROPHET OF DOOM’: MEANINGS AND ORIGIN
27th Apr 2024.Reading time 7 minutes.
UK, 1809—a person who predicts disaster, a doomsayer—also: a person who is (especially unduly) pessimistic about the future
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‘TURISTA’: MEANING AND ORIGIN
26th Apr 2024.Reading time 8 minutes.
USA, 1956—diarrhoea suffered by travellers, originally and especially in Mexico—borrowed from Spanish ‘turista’, translating as ‘tourist’
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‘SLANGUIST’: MEANINGS AND ORIGIN
24th Apr 2024.Reading time 15 minutes.
USA, 1871: a person who frequently uses or coins slang words and phrases—USA, 1926: a person who studies the use and historical development of slang—blend of the nouns ‘slang’ and ‘linguist’
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‘BAEDEKER RAID’: MEANING AND ORIGIN
22nd Apr 2024.Reading time 12 minutes.
one of the German air raids in 1942 on places of cultural and historical importance in Britain—from ‘Baedeker’: any of a series of guidebooks to foreign countries, issued by the German publisher Karl Baedeker (1801-1859) and his successors
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‘COMMON-OR-GARDEN’: MEANINGS AND ORIGIN
21st Apr 2024.Reading time 13 minutes.
16th century: a plant of the most familiar or frequently occurring kind, especially one that is cultivated—hence, figuratively, 19th century: something ordinary or usual for its type
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‘TO MAKE A PIG’S EAR OF SOMETHING’: MEANING AND ORIGIN
19th Apr 2024.Reading time 9 minutes.
UK—the noun ‘pig’s ear’ is colloquially used to designate a mess, a botched job—probably a euphemism for ‘pig’s arse’
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‘PIG IN THE MIDDLE’: MEANINGS AND ORIGIN
17th Apr 2024.Reading time 11 minutes.
UK—a ball game for three players, in which the middle player tries to intercept the ball as it passes between the other two—hence: a person, party, etc., caught between others in a conflict, dispute, etc.
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‘TO HITCH ONE’S WAGON TO A STAR’: MEANINGS AND ORIGIN
14th Apr 2024.Reading time 12 minutes.
USA, 1862—coined by Ralph Waldo Emerson: to set oneself high aspirations—later also: to advance one’s ambitions by associating oneself with somebody more successful or powerful
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NOTES ON ‘PING-PONG’ (PARLIAMENTARY TERM)
13th Apr 2024.Reading time 14 minutes.
UK Parliament, 1902: rapid verbal exchanges between two parties—Queensland Parliament, 1902: the to and fro of amendments to bills between two Houses of Parliament
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‘BIBLIOTHERAPY’: MEANING AND ORIGIN
12th Apr 2024.Reading time 8 minutes.
the use of books for therapeutic purposes, especially in the treatment of mental health conditions—USA, 1914—coined by essayist and Unitarian minister Samuel McChord Crothers (1857-1927)
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‘USHERETTE’: MEANINGS AND ORIGIN
11th Apr 2024.Reading time 13 minutes.
USA, 1906: a female attendant who shows people to their seats in a church—USA, 1907: a female usher at Oscar Hammerstein’s Manhattan Opera House—from ‘usher’ and the suffix ‘-ette’, forming nouns denoting women or girls linked with, or carrying out a role indicated by, the first element
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‘MUNITIONETTE’: MEANING AND ORIGIN
10th Apr 2024.Reading time 13 minutes.
UK, 1915—a female worker in a munitions factory, especially during the First World War (1914-18)—from ‘munition’ and the suffix ‘-ette’, denoting women or girls linked with, or carrying out a role indicated by, the first element
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‘SPLENDID ISOLATION’: MEANINGS AND ORIGIN
9th Apr 2024.Reading time 11 minutes.
UK, 1860: used specifically of the political and commercial uniqueness or isolation of the United Kingdom—but used earlier, more generally, in reference to being cut off from one’s kind or from the rest of the world
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‘CRÈME DE LA CRÈME’: MEANING AND ORIGIN
8th Apr 2024.Reading time 15 minutes.
UK, 1839—France, 1843—the best people in a group, or the best type of a particular thing—a borrowing from French ‘crème de la crème’, literally ‘cream of the cream’
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‘YIMBY’: MEANINGS AND ORIGIN
6th Apr 2024.Reading time 11 minutes.
USA, 1986—consent by nearby residents to the siting of something despite the fact that they perceive it as unpleasant or hazardous—acronym from ‘yes in my back yard’, after ‘NIMBY’
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‘GENTRIFICATION’: TWO MEANINGS—AND TWO ORIGINS
5th Apr 2024.Reading time 10 minutes.
Australia, 1865 (nonce-use): the process of turning into a person of high social rank—UK, 1964 (coined by sociologist Ruth Glass): the process whereby middle-class people take up residence in a traditionally working-class area of a city
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‘BATHTUB RING’: MEANING AND ORIGIN
4th Apr 2024.Reading time 10 minutes.
also ‘ring (a)round the bath(tub)’—USA, 1914—a dirty water-level mark left on the inside of a bathtub after it has been drained, caused by a combination of hard water and a build-up of soap scum, oils from bath products, etc.
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BRITISH USES OF ‘A BOX OF FROGS’
3rd Apr 2024.Reading time 12 minutes.
has been colloquially used to express a great variety of notions, in particular ugliness and madness, but also unpleasantness, unpredictableness, agitation, disturbance, etc.
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‘AN OFFICER AND A GENTLEMAN’: MEANING AND ORIGIN
2nd Apr 2024.Reading time 8 minutes.
a person embodying the civilised qualities supposedly characteristic of both an officer in the armed forces and a gentleman—UK, 1749, in the Articles of War
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‘CHATTERING CLASSES’: MEANING AND ORIGIN
1st Apr 2024.Reading time 18 minutes.
the educated sections of society, considered as enjoying discussion of political, social and cultural issues—coined in 1980 by British journalist Frank Johnson, but had occasionally occurred from 1840 onwards
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2024-3

‘TALKAHOLIC’: MEANING AND ORIGIN
31st Mar 2024.Reading time 8 minutes.
USA, 1954: a person who talks excessively—USA, 1964: a person who is addicted to talk radio—from ‘talk’ and the suffix ‘-aholic’, forming nouns designating a person who is addicted to the thing, activity, etc., expressed by the first element
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MORE BRITISH USES OF ‘MARMITE’
30th Mar 2024.Reading time 9 minutes.
‘to spread [something or someone] like Marmite’ (1964)—‘like Marmite, a little goes a long way’ (1970)—Marmite is a savoury paste made from concentrated yeast and vegetable extract, used as a spread and for enriching soups and stews
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A BRITISH USE OF ‘MARMITE’ (DIVISIVENESS)
29th Mar 2024.Reading time 15 minutes.
1973—someone or something that polarises opinions by provoking either strongly positive or strongly negative reactions, rather than indifference—proprietary name for a savoury paste made from yeast and vegetable extract, which is either loved or hated
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‘BRING YOUR OWN BOOZE’ | ‘BRING YOUR OWN BOTTLE’
28th Mar 2024.Reading time 29 minutes.
indicates that a place or event is one to which guests may or should bring their own alcoholic drink—UK, 1858—USA, 1910—in early U.S. use, often referred to the prohibition of alcohol
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‘BRING-YOUR-OWN-BOTTLE PARTY’ | ‘BRING-A-BOTTLE PARTY’
27th Mar 2024.Reading time 13 minutes.
a party to which attendees are encouraged to bring their own drinks, especially alcohol—‘bring-your-own-bottle party’: USA, 1923, in the context of Prohibition—‘bring-a-bottle party’: UK, 1928
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‘ON ONE’S JACK JONES’: MEANING AND ORIGIN
25th Mar 2024.Reading time 19 minutes.
‘on one’s own’—UK, 1926—‘Jack Jones’ is rhyming slang for ‘alone’, or for ‘own’ in ‘on one’s own’
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‘NO WUCKING FURRIES’: MEANING AND ORIGIN
24th Mar 2024.Reading time 12 minutes.
Australia, 1986—used as an assurance that all is fine, or to express one’s agreement or acquiescence—euphemistic alteration, with switching of the initial consonants, of ‘no fucking worries’
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‘AMBULANCE-CHASER’: MEANING AND ORIGIN
23rd Mar 2024.Reading time 13 minutes.
New York City, 1896—a lawyer who seeks accident victims as clients and encourages them to sue for damages—refers to lawyers, or their agents, following ambulances taking accident victims to hospital, in order to gain access to those victims
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‘TO PUT ONE’S SKATES ON’: MEANINGS AND ORIGIN
22nd Mar 2024.Reading time 16 minutes.
to hurry up (1849 in Charles Dickens’s David Copperfield); the image is of a skater gliding rapidly over an ice surface—also, in early use (USA, 1886): to get drunk; the rolling gait of a drunk person is likened to the swaying motion of an ice skater
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‘TO BE ECONOMICAL WITH THE TRUTH’: MEANING AND ORIGIN
21st Mar 2024.Reading time 13 minutes.
Ireland, 1832—particularly associated with Lord Robert Armstrong and the ‘Spycatcher’ trial (1986)—‘economy of truth’ was used in 1796 by Edmund Burke
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‘TO BE ECONOMICAL WITH THE ACTUALITÉ’: MEANING AND ORIGIN
20th Mar 2024.Reading time 8 minutes.
UK, 1992—coined by Alan Clark during the Matrix Churchill trial—variant of ‘to be economical with the truth’, meaning: to deceive people by deliberately not telling them the whole truth about something
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‘TO MEET ONE’S WATERLOO’: MEANING AND ORIGIN
19th Mar 2024.Reading time 14 minutes.
to be utterly defeated—alludes to the defeat of Napoléon I at the Battle of Waterloo in 1815—UK, 1832, as ‘to meet with a Waterloo’—USA, 1838, as ‘to meet one’s Waterloo’
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‘ETERNAL TRIANGLE’: MEANING AND ORIGIN
18th Mar 2024.Reading time 14 minutes.
UK, 1894—a love-relationship in which one member of a married couple is involved with a third party—loan translation from French ‘triangle éternel’, coined by Alexandre Dumas fils in L’Homme-Femme (1872), a pamphlet about a wronged husband’s right to take the life of his adulterous wife
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‘TALISWOMAN’: MEANINGS AND ORIGIN
16th Mar 2024.Reading time 11 minutes.
UK, 1856—a talisman associated with a woman—a woman likened to a talisman, especially a female sports player regarded as the leading representative of her team—alteration of ‘talisman’ with substitution of ‘woman’ for the element ‘-man’
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‘CAULIFLOWER EAR’ | ‘OREILLE EN CHOU-FLEUR’
15th Mar 2024.Reading time 7 minutes.
‘cauliflower ear’ (USA, 1887)—French calque ‘oreille en chou-fleur’ (1913)—an ear permanently deformed as a result of injuries from repeated blows, as in boxing
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‘TO PLAY A BLINDER’: MEANING—AND ORIGIN?
14th Mar 2024.Reading time 10 minutes.
to perform outstandingly well—UK, 1902, originally in football: to play an excellent game—the image may be of a footballer whose speed and skill overpower opponents
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‘PADRE’S HOUR’: MEANING AND ORIGIN
13th Mar 2024.Reading time 13 minutes.
UK, 1942—a weekly hour of religious instruction provided by chaplains to British-Army units—‘padre’ (literally ‘father’) is colloquially used to designate and address a male chaplain in the armed forces
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‘A BLIND BIT OF ——’: MEANING AND ORIGIN
12th Mar 2024.Reading time 10 minutes.
UK, 1922—used in negative constructions with a following noun to mean ‘a single ——’, ‘any ——’; the nouns most commonly used in those constructions are ‘notice’ and ‘difference’
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‘A BLESSING IN DISGUISE’: MEANING AND ORIGIN
10th Mar 2024.Reading time 5 minutes.
an apparent misfortune that works to the eventual good of the recipient—first half of the 18th century (from 1713 onwards) in the plural form ‘blessings in disguise’
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‘THE SECOND-OLDEST PROFESSION (IN THE WORLD)’: MEANINGS AND ORIGIN
9th Mar 2024.Reading time 17 minutes.
a profession which has long been established or which is regarded as having similarities with prostitution—also sometimes used jocularly—alludes to ‘the oldest profession in the world’ (i.e., prostitution)
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‘THE OLDEST PROFESSION IN THE WORLD’: MEANING AND ORIGIN
8th Mar 2024.Reading time 12 minutes.
prostitution—1889 as ‘the most ancient profession in the world’ in On the City Wall, by Rudyard Kipling—was used earlier, with positive connotations, of various professions, especially agriculture
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‘IN ONE’S BIRTHDAY SUIT’: MEANING AND ORIGIN
7th Mar 2024.Reading time 10 minutes.
in a state of nudity—1732 as ‘in one’s birthday clothes’—refers to the naked condition in which a person is born—here, ‘birthday’ means ‘the day on which a person was born’
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‘MONA LISA SMILE’: MEANING AND ORIGIN
6th Mar 2024.Reading time 10 minutes.
USA, 1888—an enigmatic, mysterious smile, reminiscent of that represented in the Mona Lisa, a portrait of Monna Lisa del Giocondo, painted by Leonardo da Vinci
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‘TO BE SKATING ON THIN ICE’: MEANING AND ORIGIN
5th Mar 2024.Reading time 15 minutes.
to court danger by behaving in an obviously risky manner that cannot be sustained for long—1841 in an essay by Ralph Waldo Emerson
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‘ZIPPER PROBLEM’: MEANING AND ORIGIN
3rd Mar 2024.Reading time 8 minutes.
a man’s habit of sexual promiscuity or infidelity—refers to the zipper on the flies of a pair of trousers—USA, 1982, originally used of Members of Congress in Washington, D.C., and recorded by gossip columnist Diana McLellan
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NOTES ON THE PHRASE ‘TO BE MORE POPULAR THAN JESUS’
1st Mar 2024.Reading time 14 minutes.
notoriously used of the Beatles by John Lennon in an interview published in the Evening Standard (London, England) of 4 March 1966—but had been used earlier, for example in 1927 of Charlie Chaplin
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2024-02

‘CACHE-SEXE’: MEANINGS AND ORIGIN
29th Feb 2024.Reading time 8 minutes.
1923: a small garment worn to cover the genitals—hence (1926): anything intended to conceal something regarded as shameful or indecent—from French ‘cache-sexe’, from ‘cacher’ (to hide) and ‘sexe’ (sex, genitals)
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‘BACKSTABBING’: MEANING AND ORIGIN
27th Feb 2024.Reading time 8 minutes.
UK, 1803, as an adjective—UK, 1842, as a noun—in reference to the action or practice of attacking, or acting against, someone in a treacherous or underhand manner
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‘FRONTSTABBING’: MEANING AND ORIGIN
25th Feb 2024.Reading time 8 minutes.
Ireland, 1914—the action or practice of attacking, or acting against, someone in a candid or open manner, as opposed to deceptively or duplicitously—coined after ‘backstabbing’ (i.e., the action or practice of attacking, or acting against, someone in a treacherous or underhand manner)
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‘STALKERAZZO’: MEANING AND ORIGIN
23rd Feb 2024.Reading time 10 minutes.
USA, 1995—a freelance videographer or photographer, characterised as being extremely aggressive in pursuing celebrities to video or photograph them—a blend of the nouns ‘stalker’ and ‘paparazzo’
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ADDITIONAL NOTES ON ‘HOBSON’S CHOICE’
22nd Feb 2024.Reading time 9 minutes.
an early account of a forced choice from a number of horses, associated with William Hobson (died 1581), a London haberdasher—itself adapted from earlier accounts, in which the main protagonist remained unnamed
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‘SPIDER SENSE’: TWO DIFFERENT MEANINGS—AND TWO DIFFERENT ORIGINS
21st Feb 2024.Reading time 15 minutes.
UK, 1914: an apparent ability to sense or intuit the presence of nearby spiders—USA, 1963, in reference to Spider-Man: a supernatural ability or power to perceive things beyond the normal range of human senses
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‘CHUMOCRACY’: MEANING AND ORIGIN
19th Feb 2024.Reading time 10 minutes.
chiefly UK politics—a culture characterised by influential networks of close friends—from ‘chum’ (a close friend) and ‘-ocracy’ (forming nouns designating forms of government or groups who exercise political or social power)
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‘TO FRIGHTEN SEVEN BELLS OUT OF SOMEBODY’: MEANING AND ORIGIN
18th Feb 2024.Reading time 13 minutes.
New Zealand (1890) & Australia (1891)—to terrify somebody—probably modelled on the earlier phrase ‘to knock seven bells out of somebody’ (‘to give a severe beating to somebody’)
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‘TO KNOCK SEVEN BELLS OUT OF SOMEBODY’: MEANING—AND ORIGIN?
17th Feb 2024.Reading time 16 minutes.
USA, 1826, as ‘to flog somebody like seven bells’—to give a severe beating to somebody—‘seven’ is perhaps simply an arbitrary intensifier—cf. phrases such as ‘like seven bells half-struck’ (‘with as much speed as possible’) and ‘to blow seven bells’ (‘to blow a violent gale’)
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‘BLACK-EYE FRIDAY’: MEANING AND ORIGIN
16th Feb 2024.Reading time 6 minutes.
UK & Ireland, 2005—the last Friday before Christmas—refers to the high number of fights caused by revellers on that day
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2024-01

‘OLD SPANISH CUSTOM’: MEANING—AND ORIGIN?
16th Jan 2024.Reading time 13 minutes.
a questionable or unorthodox practice that has long been established—1929 in U.S. film ‘Bulldog Drummond’—perhaps coined by British author Herman Cyril McNeile
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‘TO EMBIGGEN’: MEANING AND ORIGIN
11th Jan 2024.Reading time 7 minutes.
to make bigger or greater, to enlarge—UK, 1884, as a translation of ancient Greek ‘µe?a???e??’ as used in the Acts of the Apostles, 5:13—recoined in 1996 in the U.S. animated television series The Simpsons
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‘TO SIGN ON THE DOTTED LINE’: MEANINGS AND ORIGIN
9th Jan 2024.Reading time 11 minutes.
(literally) to formally agree to something by signing an official document—(figuratively) to make a firm commitment about something—USA, 1900s, in reference to life-insurance contracts
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‘SNEAKY-BEAKY’: MEANING AND ORIGIN
5th Jan 2024.Reading time 15 minutes.
an intelligence operative, also an intelligence operation—UK, 1966—from ‘sneaky’ (furtive, deceitful) and ‘beaky’ (referring to an overly inquisitive person, with allusion to a prominent nose)
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‘POWER BEHIND THE THRONE’: MEANING AND ORIGIN
1st Jan 2024.Reading time 9 minutes.
a person who covertly exercises power by personal influence over a ruler or government without having any formal authority—ascribed to William Pitt the Elder by William Godwin in 1783
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2023-12

‘MORE POWER TO YOUR ELBOW’: MEANING AND ORIGIN
31st Dec 2023.Reading time 6 minutes.
Ireland, 1826—an expression of approval or support for a person who is involved in an activity that the speaker regards as praiseworthy
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‘MORE PEOPLE KNOW TOM FOOL THAN TOM FOOL KNOWS’: MEANING AND ORIGIN
29th Dec 2023.Reading time 9 minutes.
used in a situation in which someone is recognised by a person or persons whom he or she does not know or recognise—1722 in Colonel Jack, by Daniel Defoe—1656 with ‘the clown’ instead of ‘Tom Fool’
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‘GROCKLE’: MEANING, ORIGIN (?) AND EARLY OCCURRENCES
25th Dec 2023.Reading time 10 minutes.
Southwest England—a tourist—first used in The System (1964), a British film written by Peter Draper and directed by Michael Winner—of uncertain origin
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‘AN IRON HAND IN A VELVET GLOVE’: MEANING AND ORIGIN
20th Dec 2023.Reading time 11 minutes.
1815—inner ruthlessness and determination disguised in outward gentleness and courtesy—loan translation from French ‘une main de fer dans un gant de velours’ (1814)
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‘TO IRON OUT THE WRINKLES’: MEANING AND ORIGIN
18th Dec 2023.Reading time 11 minutes.
USA, second half of the 19th century—to eliminate minor difficulties—the image is of removing the creases from a piece of fabric, using a hot iron
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‘TO ADD INSULT TO INJURY’: MEANING AND ORIGIN
17th Dec 2023.Reading time 16 minutes.
UK, 1748, as ‘to add insult to injuries’—to act in a way that makes matters worse in a bad situation or when somebody has already been hurt or upset
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‘BEATLEMANIA’: MEANING AND EARLY OCCURRENCES
15th Dec 2023.Reading time 9 minutes.
UK, 1963—with reference to the Beatles, a pop and rock group from Liverpool: the frenzied behaviour of the Beatles’ admirers; addiction to the Beatles and their characteristics
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‘PINKY SWEAR’: MEANING AND ORIGIN
12th Dec 2023.Reading time 12 minutes.
USA—also ‘pinky promise’—a binding promise made while linking one’s little finger with that of another person—‘pinky’ designates the little finger
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2023-11

‘A TROUT IN THE MILK’: MEANING AND ORIGIN

5th Dec 2023.Reading time 12 minutes.

highly convincing circumstantial evidence—USA, 1862—ascribed to Henry David Thoreau—refers to the practice of surreptitiously diluting milk with stream-water

‘WHAT HAS THAT GOT TO DO WITH THE PRICE OF TEA IN CHINA?’: MEANING AND ORIGIN

2nd Dec 2023.Reading time 10 minutes.

USA, 1930—a rhetorical question calling attention to a non-sequitur or irrelevant statement or suggestion made by another person—one of the phrases built on the pattern ‘what has that got to do with the price of ——?’

‘UNDER THE RADAR’: MEANING AND ORIGIN

1st Dec 2023.Reading time 16 minutes.

USA, 1969—the phrases ‘off the radar’, ‘under the radar’ and ‘below the radar’ are used of something or someone that cannot be detected—the reference is to an aircraft flying too low to be detected by a radar

‘A BLOT ON THE LANDSCAPE’: MEANING AND ORIGIN

28th Nov 2023.Reading time 11 minutes.

UK, 1813, as ‘to blot the landscape’, meaning, of an ugly feature, to spoil the appearance of a place—also used figuratively of anything unsightly or unappealing that spoils an otherwise pleasant scene

‘TO BLOT ONE’S COPYBOOK’: MEANING AND ORIGIN

27th Nov 2023.Reading time 14 minutes.

UK, 1879, as ‘a blot on one’s copybook’: a fault, misdemeanour or gaffe which blemishes one’s reputation—‘copybook’: an exercise book with samples of scripts, in which children practised their writing

‘WHAT HAS THAT GOT TO DO WITH THE PRICE OF ——?’: MEANING AND ORIGIN

25th Nov 2023.Reading time 20 minutes.

USA, 1832—a rhetorical question calling attention to a non-sequitur or irrelevant statement or suggestion made by another person—the noun following ‘the price of’ is irrelevant to the context in which it is used

‘ALL THE TEA IN CHINA’: MEANING AND ORIGIN

23rd Nov 2023.Reading time 16 minutes.

Ireland, 1891—used in negative contexts to denote rejection, especially in ‘not for all the tea in China’, meaning ‘not in any circumstances’—refers to China as a major producer of tea, and to tea as a commodity of great value

‘KNACKER’S YARD’: MEANINGS AND ORIGIN

22nd Nov 2023.Reading time 8 minutes.

UK—1824: a slaughterhouse where old or injured horses are slaughtered and their bodies processed—1832: a notional place where ends up someone or something that is no longer useful or successful

‘LIKE A BANDICOOT ON A BURNT RIDGE’: MEANING AND ORIGIN

20th Nov 2023.Reading time 10 minutes.

1894—in Australian English, the noun ‘bandicoot’, which designates an insectivorous marsupial native to Australia, has been used in numerous similes denoting deprivation or desolation

‘THE BUCK STOPS HERE’: MEANING AND ORIGIN

19th Nov 2023.Reading time 22 minutes.

USA, 1929—the final responsibility lies with a particular person—from ‘to pass the buck’—‘buck’: in the game of poker, any object in the jackpot to remind the winner of some obligation when his or her turn comes to deal

‘CONTROL FREAK’: MEANING AND ORIGIN

17th Nov 2023.Reading time 6 minutes.

USA, 1967—a person with a need to exercise tight control over their surroundings, behaviour or appearance—‘freak’ is used as the second element in compounds designating a person who is obsessed with the activity, interest or thing denoted by the first element

‘SIT-DOWN MONEY’: MEANING AND ORIGIN

16th Nov 2023.Reading time 7 minutes.

Australia, 1976—used by Aborigines to depreciatively designate unemployment or welfare benefits—‘sit-down’ means: performed or obtained while sitting down, with the implication that no or few efforts are required

‘TO DRAW THE CRABS’: MEANINGS AND ORIGIN

14th Nov 2023.Reading time 9 minutes.

Australia, 1932: to attract unwelcome attention or criticism—originally, WWI slang: to draw artillery fire from the enemy, in reference to crab shells, used with punning allusion to artillery shells

‘TO SELL THE FAMILY SILVER’: MEANING AND ORIGIN

13th Nov 2023.Reading time 16 minutes.

UK, 1979—to sell a valuable resource or asset for immediate advantage—in particular: to dispose of a nation’s assets for financial gain—‘family silver’: something considered to be of great value, materially or otherwise

‘CHEWY ON YOUR BOOT’: MEANING AND ORIGIN

12th Nov 2023.Reading time 9 minutes.

Australia—in Australian Rules football: used as a call to discourage or distract a player in a rival team attempting to kick for goal—more widely: used to deride a person or organisation deemed to be performing poorly, or to wish someone bad luck—‘chewy’ = ‘chewing gum’

‘TO PISS IN SOMEONE’S POCKET’: MEANING AND ORIGIN

11th Nov 2023.Reading time 20 minutes.

Australia, 1953—to flatter someone or to (seek to) ingratiate oneself with someone, to curry favour with someone—cf. 19th-century British phrase ‘to piss down someone’s back’ (to flatter someone)

‘THE HUNGRY MILE’: MEANING AND ORIGIN

10th Nov 2023.Reading time 12 minutes.

Australia, 1925—a section of Sussex Street, on the Sydney waterfront, along which, in the 1920s and 1930s, unemployed wharf-labourers trudged, waiting to be handpicked for the few available jobs

‘(AS) SCARCE AS HEN’S TEETH’: MEANING AND ORIGIN

9th Nov 2023.Reading time 11 minutes.

USA, 1831—very rare—since the late 17th century, the expression ‘hen’s teeth’ has been used as a type of something which is extremely rare, unattainable or non-existent

‘ONE MAN’S MEDE IS ANOTHER MAN’S PERSIAN’: MEANING AND ORIGIN

7th Nov 2023.Reading time 13 minutes.

humorous variant of ‘one man’s meat is another man’s poison’—USA, 1929—refers to the phrase ‘the law of the Medes and Persians’, denoting something which cannot be altered

‘JACK THE PAINTER’: MEANING AND ORIGIN

6th Nov 2023.Reading time 12 minutes.

Australia, 1846—the name of a coarse green tea drunk in the bush—this name referred to the colour of this tea and to its awful taste

‘ONE MAN’S MEAD IS ANOTHER MAN’S POISON’: MEANINGS AND ORIGIN

5th Nov 2023.Reading time 12 minutes.

humorous variant of ‘one man’s meat is another man’s poison’—USA, 1938—used in particular to play on the surnames ‘Mead’ and ‘Meade’

‘POMMY-BASHING’: MEANING AND ORIGIN

4th Nov 2023.Reading time 19 minutes.

Australia & New Zealand, early 1970s—‘Pommy’: a British immigrant to Australia or New Zealand; a British (especially an English) person—‘-bashing’: the activity of abusing or attacking the people mentioned just because they belong to a particular group or community

‘POMMY SHOP STEWARD’: MEANING AND ORIGIN

3rd Nov 2023.Reading time 9 minutes.

Australia, 1974—a radical British shop steward in an Australian trade union—‘Pommy’ designates a British immigrant to Australia, also a British (especially an English) person

‘WHINGEING POMMY’: MEANING AND ORIGIN

2nd Nov 2023.Reading time 24 minutes.

Australia, 1962—an immigrant from Britain who complains about Australia—‘Pommy’: apparently a shortening of ‘pomegranate’, used to designate an immigrant from Britain

2023-10

‘LIKE A ROBBER’S DOG’: MEANINGS AND ORIGIN

31st Oct 2023.Reading time 18 minutes.

Australia & UK—denotes physical ugliness; also used of temporary states such as tiredness, hangover, anger, etc. (Australia, 1946)—also denotes rapidity (Australia, 1947)

‘LIKE A BEATEN FAVOURITE’: MEANING AND ORIGIN

30th Oct 2023.Reading time 4 minutes.

Australia, 1982—denotes physical ugliness

‘A HATFUL OF ARSEHOLES’: MEANING AND ORIGIN

29th Oct 2023.Reading time 9 minutes.

Australia, 1957, as ‘a hatful of bronzas’—used in similes expressing notions such as ugliness and silliness

‘SILLY AS A WHEEL’: MEANING AND ORIGIN

28th Oct 2023.Reading time 8 minutes.

Australia, 1931—extremely silly—the underlying notion is probably that anything is silly that does all the hard work

‘TO DOT THE I’S AND CROSS THE T’S’: MEANING AND ORIGIN

27th Oct 2023.Reading time 9 minutes.

USA, 1820—with reference to cursive writing: to pay attention to every detail, especially when finishing off a task or undertaking; to be accurate and precise

‘TO SHOOT THE BREEZE’: MEANING AND EARLY OCCURRENCES

26th Oct 2023.Reading time 12 minutes.

USA, 1909—to converse idly, to gossip; to talk nonsense or to exaggerate the truth

‘DOLE BLUDGER’: MEANING AND ORIGIN

24th Oct 2023.Reading time 6 minutes.

Australia & New Zealand—a person who exploits the system of unemployment benefits by avoiding gainful employment—first used in 1974 by the Australian Minister for Labor and Immigration Clyde Cameron in reference to young people who migrated to the Gold Coast

‘TO THROW A WOBBLY’: MEANING AND ORIGIN

23rd Oct 2023.Reading time 21 minutes.

also ‘to throw a wobbler’—New Zealand, 1964—to lose one’s self-control in a fit of nerves, temper, panic, etc.—‘wobbly’, also ‘wobbler’, denotes a fit of temper or panic

‘A WHIM-WHAM FOR A GOOSE’S BRIDLE’: MEANING AND ORIGIN

20th Oct 2023.Reading time 12 minutes.

also ‘a wigwam for a goose’s bridle’—UK, 1836—denotes something absurd or preposterous; now typically used evasively in response to an unwanted or annoying question

AN AUSTRALIAN USE OF ‘BOTTOM OF THE HARBOUR’

18th Oct 2023.Reading time 6 minutes.

1980—a tax evasion scheme in which a company and its records vanish completely (figuratively to the bottom of the harbour, originally Sydney Harbour) with an unpaid tax bill

‘CHECKOUT CHICK’: MEANING AND ORIGIN

17th Oct 2023.Reading time 11 minutes.

colloquial—USA, 1949—a female employee who works at a supermarket checkout counter—is also occasionally applied to males

‘LITTLE AUSSIE BATTLER’: MEANING AND ORIGIN

15th Oct 2023.Reading time 8 minutes.

a person who struggles for a livelihood, and who displays great determination in so doing—Australia, 1974—originally applied to the Australian television host, radio presenter and singer Ernie Sigley

‘OFF ONE’S PANNIKIN’: MEANING AND ORIGIN

14th Oct 2023.Reading time 6 minutes.

Australia, 1879—the noun ‘pannikin’ has been used figuratively in the sense of ‘the head’ in the dated slang phrase ‘off one’s pannikin’, meaning: ‘off one’s head’, ‘out of one’s wits’, ‘crazy’

‘GLITTERATI’: MEANING AND ORIGIN

13th Oct 2023.Reading time 14 minutes.

the celebrities of the fashionable literary and show-business world—USA, 1944—blend of ‘glitter’ ((to make) a brilliant appearance or display) and of ‘literati’ (intellectuals)

‘TO COME DOWN ON SOMEONE LIKE A TON OF BRICKS’: MEANINGS AND EARLY OCCURRENCES

11th Oct 2023.Reading time 11 minutes.

to attack or punish someone with great vigour; to reprimand someone severely—USA, 1862; New Zealand, 1863

‘TO HAVE A SHOT IN THE LOCKER’: MEANINGS AND ORIGIN

10th Oct 2023.Reading time 13 minutes.

to have something in reserve but ready for use; to have a chance or opportunity remaining—nautical, USA, 1789—‘shot’: a projectile designed for discharge from a firearm—‘locker’: the compartment for keeping ammunition on a ship

‘(AS) THICK AS A BRICK’: MEANING AND ORIGIN

9th Oct 2023.Reading time 8 minutes.

very stupid—popularised by Jethro Tull’s ‘Thick as a Brick’ (1972), but already existed—in early use (19th century) applied to nouns such as ‘skull’ and ‘head’, used metonymically for ‘intelligence’

‘UNDER THE WEATHER’: MEANING AND ORIGIN

8th Oct 2023.Reading time 10 minutes.

USA, 1815—not completely well; slightly ill or depressed—the image is of a ship caught in a storm (the noun ‘weather’ has long been used to denote a storm)

2023-09

‘HIP-POCKET NERVE’: MEANING AND ORIGIN

7th Oct 2023.Reading time 5 minutes.

Australia, 1946—an imaginary nerve that reacts whenever demands are made on one’s money, especially in the context of government proposals to increase taxes—first used, if not coined, by Ben Chifley, Prime Minister of Australia (1945-49)

‘TO KICK THE CAN DOWN THE ROAD’: MEANING, ORIGIN (?), AND EARLY OCCURRENCES

6th Oct 2023.Reading time 8 minutes.

to delay dealing with a difficult situation—USA, 1983—may refer to toying idly with a discarded can while walking down a road or street

‘TO PUT ONE’S CUE IN THE RACK’: MEANING AND ORIGIN

2nd Oct 2023.Reading time 8 minutes.

USA, late 19th century—to give up, to retire, also, occasionally, to die—from the image of a billiard-player putting the cue back in the rack when the game is over

‘WHAT DO YOU THINK THIS IS, BUSH WEEK?’: MEANING AND ORIGIN

1st Oct 2023.Reading time 22 minutes.

Australia, 1938—an indignant response to someone who is taking the speaker for a fool—alludes to the condescending way in which townspeople treated people from the country during bush week (i.e., a festival held in a town or city, celebrating bush produce, activities, etc.)

‘TO KICK THE TYRES’: MEANING AND ORIGIN

29th Sep 2023.Reading time 13 minutes.

USA, early 1960s—to test, check or research the condition or quality of a product, service, etc., before purchase or use—alludes to the practice consisting for a prospective buyer in kicking the tyres of a motorcar when inspecting it

MEANING AND ORIGIN OF THE POLITICAL TERM ‘DOG WHISTLE’

27th Sep 2023.Reading time 9 minutes.

the targeting of a potentially controversial message to specific voters while avoiding offending those voters with whom the message will not be popular—Canada, 1995—the image is that, like the sound made by a dog whistle, the message is only fully audible to those at whom it is directly aimed

‘TO KICK INTO THE LONG GRASS’: MEANING AND ORIGIN

26th Sep 2023.Reading time 9 minutes.

UK politics, 1962—to delay dealing with something, in the hope that it will be forgotten—from the image of sending a ball into the tall grass off the playing field during a sporting event, which interrupts this event

‘BRIDEZILLA’: MEANING AND ORIGIN

25th Sep 2023.Reading time 6 minutes.

USA, 1995—a woman thought to have become intolerably obsessive or overbearing in planning the details of her wedding—from ‘Godzilla, the suffix ‘-zilla’ is used to form humorous nouns which depict a person or thing as a particularly fearsome, relentless or overbearing example of its kind

‘POPEMOBILE’: ORIGINAL MEANING

24th Sep 2023.Reading time 6 minutes.

USA, 1969—the 1964 Lincoln Continental specially built and equipped for Pope Paul VI’s 1965 visit to the United States

‘WHEN THE BAND BEGINS TO PLAY’: MEANING (AND ORIGIN?)

23rd Sep 2023.Reading time 14 minutes.

UK, 1879—when matters become difficult or serious—of obscure origin—perhaps originally in reference to a music-hall song of that title, interpreted from 1870 onwards by Annie Adams

‘NOT WITH A BANG BUT A WHIMPER’: MEANING AND ORIGIN

21st Sep 2023.Reading time 8 minutes.

early 1930s—in an anti-climactic, disappointing way (used of something that comes to an end)—alludes to the last line of The Hollow Men (1925), by T. S. Eliot

‘THE LUNATICS ARE RUNNING THE ASYLUM’: MEANING AND ORIGIN

20th Sep 2023.Reading time 14 minutes.

UK, 1886—those in charge of an organisation, project or initiative lack the fundamental qualities needed to fulfil their responsibilities

‘THE GREEKS HAD A WORD FOR IT’: MEANINGS AND ORIGIN

19th Sep 2023.Reading time 21 minutes.

USA, 1930—used either literally or of something that should not or cannot be named or mentioned—alludes to ‘The Greeks Had a Word for It’, the title of a 1930 stage play by Zoe Akins

‘ONE MAN’S MEAT IS ANOTHER MAN’S POISSON’: MEANINGS AND ORIGIN

17th Sep 2023.Reading time 12 minutes.

humorous variant of ‘one man’s meat is another man’s poison’—Australia, 1872—used in particular of the opposition between flesh-eating and fish-eating in relation to the religious observance of fasting

‘TO FACE THE MUSIC’: MEANING AND EARLY OCCURRENCES

16th Sep 2023.Reading time 15 minutes.

to accept or confront the inevitable, or the unpleasant consequences of one’s actions—USA, 1833—origin uncertain and disputed

‘LIKE A DOG WITH A BONE’: MEANINGS, ORIGIN AND EARLY OCCURRENCES

15th Sep 2023.Reading time 9 minutes.

UK, 1810—tenacious, persistent, obstinate—unwilling to yield, to relent or to let go—unable to set aside a preoccupation or obsession—the image is that a dog with a bone will not let go of that bone, no matter what

‘(AS) CUNNING AS A MAORI DOG’: MEANING AND ORIGIN

14th Sep 2023.Reading time 12 minutes.

very cunning—New Zealand, 1908—‘Maori dog’: a dog of Polynesian origin; also any mongrel dog associated with Maori settlements or living in a wild state

‘PART OF THE FURNITURE’: MEANING AND EARLY OCCURRENCES

13th Sep 2023.Reading time 19 minutes.

USA, 1834—a member of a group, organisation, etc., who is so familiar as to be regarded as a permanent feature, and therefore often taken for granted

‘TO BLOW A FUSE’: MEANINGS AND ORIGIN

11th Sep 2023.Reading time 10 minutes.

literally (USA, 1889): to cause a fuse to melt—figuratively (USA, 1908): to lose one’s temper—from ‘fuse’, denoting a safety device placed in an electric circuit

‘SHRINKFLATION’: MEANING AND ORIGIN

9th Sep 2023.Reading time 10 minutes.

the practice of reducing a product’s amount or volume per unit while continuing to offer it at the same price—blend of ‘shrink’ and ‘inflation’—2014—apparently coined by Pippa Malmgren

‘TO BLOW A GASKET’: MEANINGS AND ORIGIN

6th Sep 2023.Reading time 6 minutes.

to lose one’s temper—USA, 1913—in an internal-combustion engine, a gasket is sealing layer between adjoining surfaces—hence ‘to blow (out) a gasket’ (USA, 1874): to have a gasket come loose due to excess pressure

‘GAME, SET (AND) MATCH’: MEANINGS AND ORIGIN

4th Sep 2023.Reading time 10 minutes.

literally (UK, 1876): a victory in a tennis match, secured by winning the deciding game of the last set required to win—in extended use (UK, 1906): a complete and decisive victory

‘LOONY LEFT’: MEANING AND ORIGIN

3rd Sep 2023.Reading time 12 minutes.

a very radical, extreme or fanatical left-wing faction within a political party or the political spectrum—USA, 1945, as ‘loony leftists’

‘LUNATIC FRINGE’: MEANINGS AND ORIGIN

1st Sep 2023.Reading time 12 minutes.

USA, 1913: a minority group regarded as eccentric, extremist or fanatical, or simply stupid—but originally, USA, 1874: a woman or girl’s hairstyle in which the front is cut straight and square across the forehead

2023-08

‘IDIOT FRINGE’: MEANINGS AND ORIGIN

31st Aug 2023.Reading time 10 minutes.

USA, 1927: a minority group regarded as eccentric, extremist or fanatical, or simply stupid—but originally, UK, 1873: a woman or girl’s hairstyle in which the front is cut straight and square across the forehead

‘TOM THUMB’ USED IN REFERENCE TO GOLF

30th Aug 2023.Reading time 11 minutes.

first used by Frieda Carter, Tennessee, 1928—in expressions such as ‘Tom Thumb golf course’, ‘Tom Thumb’ refers to a form of golf played on a small-scale course, or to a novelty putting course consisting of a variety of obstacles

‘MUGSHOT’: MEANING AND ORIGIN

29th Aug 2023.Reading time 7 minutes.

U.S. slang, 1935—a photograph of a person’s face, especially in police or other official records—from ‘mug’ (a person’s face) and ‘shot’ (a single photographic exposure)

A FIGURATIVE USE OF ‘TIGER’

25th Aug 2023.Reading time 11 minutes.

characterises a person who has an insatiable appetite for something—especially in ‘tiger for work’ (Australia, 1857) and ‘tiger for punishment’ (New Zealand, 1911)

‘TO PUT SPORT BACK ON THE FRONT PAGES’: MEANING AND ORIGIN

23rd Aug 2023.Reading time 8 minutes.

Australia, 1978—used of a desirable state of political stability—alludes to a remark made by Malcolm Fraser, Leader of the Liberal Party, during the campaign for the 1975 Australian federal election

‘JUKEBOX’: MEANING AND ORIGIN

22nd Aug 2023.Reading time 10 minutes.

a coin-operated phonograph (typically in a gaudy, illuminated cabinet) having a variety of records that can be selected by push button—USA, 1939—earlier appellation: jook organ (Florida, 1937)

‘GAIETY OF NATIONS’: MEANING AND ORIGIN

21st Aug 2023.Reading time 12 minutes.

enjoyment or pleasure shared by a large number of people—coined by Samuel Johnson in his posthumous homage to David Garrick published in Prefaces, biographical and critical, to the works of the English poets (London, 1779)

‘TO MAKE THE FUR FLY’: MEANING AND ORIGIN

20th Aug 2023.Reading time 9 minutes.

to cause trouble or an argument—USA, 1814—based on the image of cats fighting

‘RUMPY-PUMPY’: MEANING AND ORIGIN

19th Aug 2023.Reading time 7 minutes.

sexual intercourse—Scotland, 1968—reduplication (with variation of the initial consonant and addition of the suffix ‘-y’) of the noun ‘rump’, denoting a person’s buttocks

‘STONE THE CROWS’: MEANING AND ORIGIN

11th Aug 2023.Reading time 10 minutes.

exclamation of surprise, regret or disgust—New Zealand and Australia, early 20th century—one of several similar phrases, such as ‘starve the rats’, expressing those feelings

‘MONOKINI’: MEANING, ORIGIN AND EARLY OCCURRENCES

9th Aug 2023.Reading time 13 minutes.

a woman’s topless swimsuit, consisting of the lower half of a bikini—from the prefix ‘mono-’ and ‘-kini’ in ‘bikini’, reinterpreted as containing the prefix ‘bi-’—coined in 1946 by French clothing designer Louis Réard

‘WAHINE TOA’: MEANINGS AND ORIGIN

8th Aug 2023.Reading time 7 minutes.

a brave Maori female warrior; by extension, any strong or brave woman—New Zealand—in Maori, 1873—in English, 1902—from ‘wahine’ (a Maori woman or wife) and ‘toa’ (a brave Maori male warrior)

‘(AS) FULL AS A BOURKE-STREET TRAM’: MEANING AND ORIGIN

4th Aug 2023.Reading time 4 minutes.

drunk—Australia, 1983—refers to Bourke Street, one of the main streets in the centre of Melbourne, Victoria—in Australian English, the adjective ‘full’ is used in various phrases referring to drunkenness

‘NOT TO KNOW WHETHER IT’S TUESDAY OR BOURKE STREET’: MEANING AND ORIGIN

3rd Aug 2023.Reading time 6 minutes.

Australia, 1952—used of a state of confusion or stupidity—refers to Bourke Street, in Melbourne, Victoria

‘BLOCKBUSTER’: MEANINGS AND ORIGIN

2nd Aug 2023.Reading time 6 minutes.

USA, 1942: a large aerial bomb that can destroy a whole block of buildings—USA, 1942: a thing of enormous impact, power or size

2023-07

‘TO FLY OFF THE HANDLE’: MEANING AND ORIGIN

31st Jul 2023.Reading time 8 minutes.

to become very agitated or angry, especially without warning or adequate reason—USA, 1816—from the image of the head of an axe or other tool becoming detached from its handle

‘COMET WINE’ | ‘COMET VINTAGE’: MEANING AND ORIGIN

30th Jul 2023.Reading time 7 minutes.

a wine, or a vintage, produced in a year in which a notable comet appeared, and therefore thought to be of superior quality—UK—‘comet wine’ 1817—‘comet vintage’ 1819

‘SLEEPING POLICEMAN’ | ‘GENDARME COUCHÉ’

27th Jul 2023.Reading time 26 minutes.

a raised band across a road, designed to make motorists reduce their speed—1961—based on the image of a policeman lying asleep in the middle of a road—in early use often with reference to Jamaica

‘SHORT FUSE’: MEANING AND ORIGIN

25th Jul 2023.Reading time 10 minutes.

a tendency to lose one’s temper easily—USA, 1942—‘fuse’ refers to a device by which an explosive charge is ignited—adjective ‘short-fused’: USA, 1952

‘CLIFFHANGER’: MEANINGS, ORIGIN AND EARLY OCCURRENCES

23rd Jul 2023.Reading time 17 minutes.

a suspenseful ending to an episode of a serial; the serial itself—USA, early 1930s—originally referred to serials which ended episodes with their protagonists literally hanging from cliffs, or in similarly dangerous situations

‘TO SNATCH VICTORY FROM THE JAWS OF DEFEAT’ | ‘TO SNATCH DEFEAT FROM THE JAWS OF VICTORY’

22nd Jul 2023.Reading time 14 minutes.

‘to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat’: to win a battle, contest, etc., when defeat seemed inevitable—‘to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory’: to be defeated in a battle, contest, etc., when victory seemed inevitable

‘FLOPBUSTER’: MEANING AND ORIGIN

21st Jul 2023.Reading time 8 minutes.

a film which fails to achieve the commercial success that was expected—UK, 1986—from ‘flop’ (a failure) and ‘-buster’ in ‘blockbuster’ (a film which achieves great commercial success)

‘BACK O’ BOURKE’: MEANING AND ORIGIN

20th Jul 2023.Reading time 10 minutes.

a remote and sparsely populated inland area of Australia—1896, in a poem by William Henry Ogilvie—refers to Bourke, the most remote town in north-western New South Wales

‘GET-OUT-OF-JAIL-FREE CARD’: MEANING AND ORIGIN

19th Jul 2023.Reading time 13 minutes.

something that enables a person to evade punishment, adverse consequences or an undesirable situation—refers to a card in the game of Monopoly which allows a player to leave the jail square

‘THE SCHOOL OF (THE) HARD KNOCKS’: MEANING AND EARLY OCCURRENCES

17th Jul 2023.Reading time 10 minutes.

the experience of a life of hardship regarded as a means of instruction—USA, 1870

‘TO WALK LIKE AN EGYPTIAN’: MEANING AND ORIGIN

16th Jul 2023.Reading time 7 minutes.

to walk with arms extended, elbows and wrists bent at right angles, one arm up, one down—1962 in To Kill a Mockingbird—refers to the representation of the human body by the ancient Egyptians

‘THE UNIVERSITY OF LIFE’: MEANING AND EARLY OCCURRENCES

15th Jul 2023.Reading time 15 minutes.

USA, 1854—the experience of life regarded as a means of instruction, in contrast to formal (higher) education—now often used with the implication that life experience is of greater benefit than formal education

‘TALKING HEAD’: MEANING AND EARLY OCCURRENCES

14th Jul 2023.Reading time 9 minutes.

USA, 1963—frequently in plural: a person on television who is shown merely speaking, as in a newscast or an interview

‘TO DRIVE A COACH AND HORSES THROUGH SOMETHING’: MEANING AND ORIGIN

13th Jul 2023.Reading time 10 minutes.

1691—to expose the flaws in something such as a law, a policy, an argument or a belief—these flaws are likened to holes large enough to drive a coach and horses through them

‘BLUE FUNK’ (AMERICAN USAGE)

11th Jul 2023.Reading time 10 minutes.

a state of depression or despair—1893—a shift in meaning of the British-English expression ‘blue funk’, denoting a state of extreme nervousness or dread (the original meaning in American English)

‘BLUE FUNK’ (BRITISH AND IRISH USAGE)

10th Jul 2023.Reading time 11 minutes.

a state of extreme nervousness or dread—UK, mid-19th century—‘blue’ is an intensifier of ‘funk’, denoting a state of extreme nervousness or dread

‘UGLY DUCKLING’: MEANING AND ORIGIN

9th Jul 2023.Reading time 16 minutes.

a person or thing, initially ugly or unpromising, that changes into something beautiful or admirable—New Zealand, 1848—from Hans Christian Andersen’s story about a supposed ugly duckling that turns out to be a swan

‘TWELVE GOOD MEN AND TRUE’: MEANING AND ORIGIN

8th Jul 2023.Reading time 11 minutes.

a jury in a lawcourt—17th century—but the selection of twelve good men and true to form a jury was mentioned in the 16th century

‘BLUE FLU’: MEANING AND ORIGIN

7th Jul 2023.Reading time 9 minutes.

absenteeism among police officers (and by extension other workers) who claim to be ill but are in fact absent to support union contract demands or negotiations—USA, 1967—alludes to the traditional colour of police uniforms

‘NEVER THE TWAIN SHALL MEET’: MEANING AND ORIGIN

6th Jul 2023.Reading time 15 minutes.

two different people or things are totally incompatible—1901—alludes to “East is East and West is West, and never the twain shall meet” in Ballad of East and West (1892), by Rudyard Kipling

‘MARK TWAIN’: MEANING AND ORIGIN

5th Jul 2023.Reading time 11 minutes.

1809—U.S. nautical, obsolete: the two-fathom mark on a sounding-line—Samuel Langhorne Clemens chose it as his pen-name in 1863, but a pilot named Isaiah Sellers had first used it as his pen-name

‘LIGHT AT THE END OF THE TUNNEL’: MEANING AND ORIGIN

4th Jul 2023.Reading time 8 minutes.

a long-awaited sign that a period of hardship or adversity is nearing an end—UK, 1862—the image is of a railway tunnel, and the phrase has been used literally

‘KANGAROO COURT’ AND SYNONYMS: MEANINGS AND EARLY OCCURRENCES

3rd Jul 2023.Reading time 31 minutes.

also ‘mustang court’ and ‘kangaroo inquest’—USA, 1840—a mock court that disregards or parodies existing principles of law; any tribunal in which judgment is rendered arbitrarily or unfairly

‘KANGAROO CLOSURE’: MEANING AND ORIGIN

2nd Jul 2023.Reading time 6 minutes.

UK, 1909—parliamentary procedure: a form of closure by which the chair or speaker selects certain amendments for discussion and excludes others—based on the image of a kangaroo leaping over obstacles

2023-07

‘WHEELIE BIN’: MEANING AND ORIGIN

30th Jun 2023.Reading time 14 minutes.

UK, 1983—a large, rectangular dustbin with a hinged lid and wheels on two of the corners—bins on wheels were introduced into the United Kingdom in 1980 on the model of what was done in the Federal Republic of Germany

‘TO TALK TURKEY’: ORIGINAL MEANING, EARLY OCCURRENCES (AND ORIGIN?)

28th Jun 2023.Reading time 30 minutes.

USA, 1792—to say to a person the things that they want to hear—allegedly from the story of a white man and an Indian who went hunting together, and killed a turkey and a buzzard

‘TO DRIVE THE PORCELAIN BUS’: MEANING AND ORIGIN

26th Jun 2023.Reading time 14 minutes.

to vomit from drunkenness—U.S. students’ slang, 1980—likens the position of the hands of a person holding onto the sides of a toilet bowl while vomiting therein, to that of a bus driver’s hands holding the steering wheel

‘TECHNOSAUR’: MEANING AND ORIGIN

25th Jun 2023.Reading time 7 minutes.

a person who shows no proficiency in the use of information technology—USA, 1998—from ‘techno-’ in ‘technological’ and ‘technology’, and ‘-saur’ in ‘dinosaur’, i.e., a person who is unable to adapt to change

‘MICAWBERISM’: MEANING AND ORIGIN

24th Jun 2023.Reading time 12 minutes.

irresponsible or unfounded optimism—1857, apparently coined by Charles Dickens—refers to Wilkins Micawber, a character in Dickens’s novel David Copperfield (1850)

‘FARTICHOKE’: MEANING AND ORIGIN

23rd Jun 2023.Reading time 10 minutes.

the Jerusalem artichoke—UK, 1968—blend of ‘fart’ and ‘artichoke’ in ‘Jerusalem artichoke’—refers to the flatulence caused by eating Jerusalem artichokes

‘FLASH MOB’: MEANING AND ORIGIN

21st Jun 2023.Reading time 14 minutes.

USA, 2003—a group of people organised by means of the internet, mobile phones or other wireless devices, who assemble in public to perform a prearranged action together and then quickly disperse

‘BALL AND CHAIN’ (LITERAL AND FIGURATIVE USES)

20th Jun 2023.Reading time 17 minutes.

USA 1813—a heavy metal ball secured by a chain to a person’s leg to prevent escape or as a punishment—figuratively, mid-19th century: anything seen as a heavy restraint, especially the matrimonial bonds

‘TO HANG SOMEONE OUT TO DRY’: MEANING AND ORIGIN

19th Jun 2023.Reading time 18 minutes.

to put someone in a difficult, vulnerable or compromising situation, especially by exposing them to blame—USA, 1945, sports—the image is of suspending wet washing in the open so that it can dry

‘BOB-A-JOB’: MEANING AND ORIGIN

14th Jun 2023.Reading time 9 minutes.

UK, 1944—the slogan of the Boy Scout Association’s effort to raise money for funds by doing jobs, originally at a shilling a time

‘WORKINGTON MAN’: MEANING AND ORIGIN

13th Jun 2023.Reading time 8 minutes.

UK, 2019—an older, white, working-class, Brexiteer, Northern-English man—coined by thinktank Onward to designate the Conservative Party’s target voter in the 2019 general election—refers to Workington, in Cumbria

‘SOD THIS FOR A GAME OF SOLDIERS’: MEANING AND EARLY OCCURRENCES

12th Jun 2023.Reading time 10 minutes.

UK slang—expresses exasperation at a situation or course of action—military, 1941—what ‘game of soldiers’ refers to is unclear

‘BUTSKELLISM’: MEANINGS AND ORIGIN

11th Jun 2023.Reading time 8 minutes.

UK, 1954—the economic policy of Rab Butler, Conservative Chancellor of the Exchequer (1951-5), regarded as largely indistinguishable from that of Hugh Gaitskell, Labour Chancellor of the Exchequer (1950-1)—blend of ‘Butler’ and ‘Gaitskell’ plus suffix ‘-ism’

‘GARDENING LEAVE’: MEANING AND ORIGIN

9th Jun 2023.Reading time 13 minutes.

British, colloquial: a period during which an employee who is about to leave a company continues to receive a salary and in return agrees not to work for anyone else—origin, British Army: a paid leave between the end of one posting and the beginning of another

WHY THE FRENCH LANGUAGE IS INTRINSICALLY SEXIST.

4th Jun 2023.Reading time 6 minutes.

In French, the concept of dependency underlies the semantic distribution of some basic lexical items: the female is strictly defined in her relation of dependency to the male, as a daughter or as a spouse.

2023-05

‘TO DROP ONE’S AITCHES’: MEANING AND EARLY OCCURRENCES

11th May 2023.Reading time 24 minutes.

also ‘to drop one’s h’s’—not to pronounce the letter h at the beginning of words in which it is pronounced in standard English—1855—1847 as ‘not to sound one’s h’s’

‘GALLIC SHRUG’: MEANING AND ORIGIN

10th May 2023.Reading time 14 minutes.

a gesture (made by a French person to deny responsibility, knowledge or agreement) consisting typically in shrugging one’s shoulders while upturning one’s hands

THE NAPOLEONIC ORIGIN OF ‘TO WASH ONE’S DIRTY LINEN IN PUBLIC’

9th May 2023.Reading time 9 minutes.

to discuss an essentially private matter, especially a dispute or scandal, in public—UK, 1819—loan translation from French ‘laver son linge sale en public’, originated by Napoléon Bonaparte in 1814

‘POTEMKIN VILLAGE’: MEANING AND ORIGIN

8th May 2023.Reading time 18 minutes.

an impressive facade or show designed to hide an embarrassing or shabby fact or condition—1843—from the sham villages said to have been built by Grigori Potemkin to deceive Catherine II

2023-04

‘GLORY BOX’: MEANING AND ORIGIN

4th Apr 2023.Reading time 8 minutes.

a box in which a young woman stores clothes and household articles in preparation for her marriage—Australia, 1902—perhaps related to the British ‘glory hole’, denoting a place for storing odds and ends

‘HOPE CHEST’: MEANING AND ORIGIN

2nd Apr 2023.Reading time 15 minutes.

a chest or box in which a young woman collects articles towards a home of her own in the event of her marriage—USA, 1904

2023-03

‘BOTTOM DRAWER’: MEANING AND ORIGIN

31st Mar 2023.Reading time 8 minutes.

a young woman’s collection of clothes and household articles, kept in preparation for her marriage—UK, 1835?—refers to the (notional?) receptacle where those clothes and household articles are supposed to be kept

‘TO TICKLE THE DRAGON(’S TAIL)’: MEANING AND ORIGIN

29th Mar 2023.Reading time 13 minutes.

to undertake a dangerous or hazardous operation or activity—UK, 1867, as ‘to tickle the dragon’s nose’—‘to tickle the dragon’s tail’ was used of a nuclear experiment at Los Alamos during WWII

‘SPOILS SYSTEM’: MEANING AND ORIGIN

25th Mar 2023.Reading time 14 minutes.

the practice of filling appointive public offices with friends and supporters of the ruling political party—USA, 1834—from “to the victor belong the spoils of the enemy”, used in 1832 by Senator William Marcy

‘DEAD-CAT STRATEGY’: MEANING AND ORIGIN

24th Mar 2023.Reading time 13 minutes.

the strategy consisting in deliberately making a shocking announcement in order to divert attention from a difficulty in which one is embroiled—from the image of throwing a dead cat on the table—first defined in 2013 by Boris Johnson

‘DRAMA QUEEN’: MEANING AND ORIGIN

19th Mar 2023.Reading time 11 minutes.

(derogatory) a person who is prone to exaggeratedly dramatic behaviour—UK, 1978

‘WET BLANKET’: MEANINGS AND ORIGIN

18th Mar 2023.Reading time 10 minutes.

literally (1618): a blanket dampened with water so as to extinguish a fire—figuratively (1775): a person or thing that has a subduing or inhibiting effect

‘TO PUT TWO AND TWO TOGETHER’: MEANING AND ORIGIN

17th Mar 2023.Reading time 10 minutes.

to draw an obvious inference from available evidence—early 19th century—but ‘two and two make four’, used as as a paradigm of the obvious conclusion, is first recorded in the late 17th century

‘THAT MAKES TWO OF US’: MEANING AND ORIGIN

15th Mar 2023.Reading time 9 minutes.

used conversationally to declare, often ironically, that one shares the opinion, sentiment, predicament, etc., of the previous speaker—USA, early 20th century

‘TRUTH IS STRANGER THAN FICTION’: MEANING AND ORIGIN

14th Mar 2023.Reading time 7 minutes.

real events and situations are often more remarkable or incredible than those made up in fiction—first occurred as ‘truth is always strange, stranger than fiction’ in Don Juan (1823), by George Gordon Byron

‘TO SWEAR LIKE A TROOPER’: MEANING AND ORIGIN

13th Mar 2023.Reading time 9 minutes.

to use a lot of swearwords—first used in 1713 by Joseph Addison—alludes to the fact that troopers (i.e., soldiers of low rank in the cavalry) had a reputation for coarse language and behaviour

TO BE CAUGHT WITH ONE’S PANTS DOWN’: MEANING AND ORIGIN

11th Mar 2023.Reading time 10 minutes.

to be caught off-guard; to be surprised in an embarrassing or compromising situation—USA, 1886

‘THE OLDEST TRICK IN THE BOOK’: MEANING AND ORIGIN

10th Mar 2023.Reading time 9 minutes.

a ruse or stratagem that is still effective although it has been used for a long time—USA, 1929—seems to have originated in sports

‘TOWN AND GOWN’: MEANING AND ORIGIN

8th Mar 2023.Reading time 11 minutes.

1750—the non-academic inhabitants (‘town’) of a university city and the resident members of the university (‘gown’, denoting the distinctive costume of a member of a university)

‘TINFOIL HAT’ (USED IN RELATION TO PROTECTION)

5th Mar 2023.Reading time 11 minutes.

alludes to the belief that such a hat or cap protects the wearer from mind control, surveillance or similar types of threat—USA, 1972 as ‘tinfoil-lined hat’

‘PIPSQUEAK’: MEANINGS AND ORIGIN

4th Mar 2023.Reading time 14 minutes.

a person or thing that is insignificant or contemptible—1910—originally (1900): a type of small high-velocity shell, with reference to the high-pitched sound of its discharge and flight

‘BLOUSON NOIR’: MEANING AND ORIGIN

2nd Mar 2023.Reading time 20 minutes.

in French contexts: a young person, especially a young man, belonging to a youth subculture of the 1950s and 1960s—UK, 1959—from the noun ‘blouson’ (a short jacket) and the adjective ‘noir’ (black)

2023-02

‘TO THROW SOMEONE UNDER THE BUS’: MEANING AND ORIGIN
26th Feb 2023.Reading time 31 minutes.
to abandon or betray someone in order to protect or advance one’s own interests—originally (British politics, 1971) ‘to push someone under a bus’—derived from ‘to go under a bus’ (British politics, 1969)
‘FEW AND FAR BETWEEN’: MEANINGS AND ORIGIN
24th Feb 2023.Reading time 8 minutes.
scarce; infrequent; difficult to find or to come by—one early use in 1668—but popularised by the Irish author Thomas Campbell in The Pleasures of Hope (1799)
‘IN FULL FIG’: MEANING AND ORIGIN
23rd Feb 2023.Reading time 11 minutes.
smartly dressed—from the verb ‘fig out/up’, meaning ‘to smarten up’—this verb is probably an alteration of the verb ‘feague’, of uncertain origin, meaning ‘to make (a horse) lively’
‘TO RAIN PITCHFORKS (WITH THEIR POINTS DOWNWARDS)’: MEANING AND ORIGIN
22nd Feb 2023.Reading time 46 minutes.
to rain very heavily—UK, 1820—sometimes appended to the phrase ‘to rain cats and dogs’
‘TO RUSH IN WHERE ANGELS FEAR TO TREAD’: MEANING AND ORIGIN
21st Feb 2023.Reading time 10 minutes.
to embark enthusiastically on a course of action that most sensible people would avoid—coined as ‘fools rush in where angels fear to tread’ by the English poet Alexander Pope in An Essay on Criticism (1711)
‘TO BE THANKFUL FOR SMALL MERCIES’: MEANING AND ORIGIN
20th Feb 2023.Reading time 6 minutes.
to be glad of minor benefits, especially in an otherwise unpleasant or troublesome situation—first recorded in The Heart of Midlothian (1818), by Walter Scott
‘DUNNING-KRUGER EFFECT’: MEANING AND ORIGIN
18th Feb 2023.Reading time 10 minutes.
a bias whereby people who have little ability in, or knowledge of, a particular task or subject tend to overestimate their capabilities—USA, 2008—refers to David Dunning and Justin Kruger, who described this bias in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology in 1999
‘MAUVAIS COUCHEUR’: MEANING AND ORIGIN
17th Feb 2023.Reading time 9 minutes.
a difficult, uncooperative or unsociable person—UK, 1829—from French ‘mauvais coucheur’, literally ‘bad bedfellow’, with original allusion to a person whom a traveller had to share a bed with when stopping over at an inn
‘TO RAIN CATS AND DOGS AND TO HAIL CABS’: MEANING AND ORIGIN
16th Feb 2023.Reading time 6 minutes.
UK, 1856—jocular extension of ‘to rain cats and dogs’ (i.e., ‘to rain very hard’)—puns on the verb ‘hail’ (i.e., ‘to pour down like hail’) and the verb ‘hail’ (i.e., ‘to call out (a cab)’)
‘BLOODY CAESAR’: MEANING AND ORIGIN
5th Feb 2023.Reading time 9 minutes.
a drink consisting of vodka and Clamato juice—Canada, 1969—coined after ‘Bloody Mary’—this drink is said to have been invented by bartender Walter Chell
‘CRUYFF TURN’: MEANING AND ORIGIN
4th Feb 2023.Reading time 7 minutes.
in soccer: a manoeuvre used by one player to evade another—UK, 1980s—refers to Dutch footballer Johan Cruyff, who first brought this manoeuvre to public attention by performing it in 1974
‘THE BALLOON GOES UP’: MEANING AND ORIGIN
3rd Feb 2023.Reading time 21 minutes.
the action, excitement or trouble starts—USA, late 19th century—originally alluded to the release of a balloon to mark an event

2023-01

‘LEAR WITHOUT THE KING’ | ‘HENRY V WITHOUT THE KING’
31st Jan 2023.Reading time 17 minutes.
an event or occasion at which the expected principal participant is not present—coined after ‘Hamlet without the Prince’—‘Lear without the King’ 1904—‘Henry V without the King’ 1964
NOTES ON ‘WAITING FOR GODOT WITHOUT GODOT’
30th Jan 2023.Reading time 4 minutes.
UK, 1999—refers to ‘Waiting for Godot’, a play by Samuel Beckett—absurd phrase, since the titular character never appears in the play—always occurs in association with the phrase ‘Hamlet without the Prince’
NOTES ON ‘WAVE’ (I.E., CROWD MOTION)
29th Jan 2023.Reading time 12 minutes.
USA, 1981—said to have been invented by cheerleader ‘Krazy George’—popularised worldwide during the 1986 FIFA World Cup in Mexico, as a translation of Spanish ‘ola’—hence the British phrase ‘Mexican wave’ (1986)
THE BIBLICAL ORIGIN OF ‘TO GO THE EXTRA MILE’
27th Jan 2023.Reading time 18 minutes.
meaning: to try especially hard to achieve something or do it well—originally ‘to go the second mile’—alludes to the gospel of Matthew, 5:41: “And whosoeuer shall compell thee to goe a mile, goe with him twaine”
‘MEXICAN OVERDRIVE’: MEANING AND ORIGIN
26th Jan 2023.Reading time 9 minutes.
the practice of coasting downhill in a motor vehicle, with the engine disengaged—USA, 1949, lorry-drivers’ slang—one of the phrases in which ‘Mexican’ denotes basic devices or processes compared unfavourably with more advanced equivalents
‘MORE THAN MEETS THE EYE’: MEANING AND EARLY OCCURRENCES
25th Jan 2023.Reading time 11 minutes.
also ‘more than meets the ear’—meaning: more significance or complexity than is at first apparent—first used by John Milton as ‘more is meant than meets the ear’ in Il Penseroso (1645)
‘TO PUT ONE’S FEET UNDER THE TABLE’: MEANINGS AND EARLY OCCURRENCES
24th Jan 2023.Reading time 16 minutes.
(literally) to sit at a table; (figuratively) to establish oneself firmly in a situation—‘to put one’s feet under the same table with somebody’: (literally) to sit at a table with somebody; (figuratively) to associate oneself with somebody
‘EVERY LITTLE HELPS’: MEANING AND ORIGIN
23rd Jan 2023.Reading time 8 minutes.
every contribution towards a goal is valuable, regardless of how small it may be—UK, 1707—in Britain, particularly associated with Tesco, which has used this phrase as its slogan since 1993
‘TARDIS’: MEANINGS AND ORIGIN
22nd Jan 2023.Reading time 16 minutes.
various meanings, in particular: something with a larger capacity than its outward appearance suggests—UK, 1968—the name, in TV series Doctor Who, of a time machine outwardly resembling a police telephone box, yet inwardly much larger
‘NOT CRICKET’: MEANINGS AND ORIGIN
21st Jan 2023.Reading time 10 minutes.
the game of cricket played in the incorrect manner or improper spirit—hence, more generally, something contrary to traditional standards of fairness or rectitude—UK, 19th century
‘A WALK IN THE PARK’: MEANING AND ORIGIN
19th Jan 2023.Reading time 8 minutes.
(the type of) something easy, effortless or pleasant—USA, 1937—originally denoted, in golf caddies’ slang, a nine-hole round, with some reference to the literal sense of the phrase
‘NOT TO PUT A FOOT WRONG’: MEANING AND ORIGIN
18th Jan 2023.Reading time 8 minutes.
to make no mistakes at all—UK, 1864—this phrase was originally used of racehorses and hunting horses
‘BLACK HOLE OF CALCUTTA’: MEANING AND ORIGIN
17th Jan 2023.Reading time 9 minutes.
an oppressive, very confined or crowded space—UK, 1764—refers to the punishment cell at Fort William, Calcutta, in which, in 1756, the Nawab of Bengal reputedly confined British and Anglo-Indian prisoners
‘THE SECOND SEX’: MEANING AND ORIGIN
15th Jan 2023.Reading time 10 minutes.
women collectively, regarded as inferior to men—first occurred in ‘Don Juan’ (1821), by George Gordon Byron
‘BONKBUSTER’: MEANING AND ORIGIN
13th Jan 2023.Reading time 8 minutes.
a type of popular novel characterised by frequent explicit descriptions of sexual encounters between the characters—from ‘bonk’, referring to sexual intercourse, and ‘blockbuster’—UK, 1988—perhaps coined by Sue Limb
‘SEX AND SHOPPING’: MEANING AND ORIGIN
12th Jan 2023.Reading time 11 minutes.
a genre of popular fiction featuring wealthy and glamorous characters who typically engage in frequent sexual encounters and extravagant spending—USA, 1985 & 1986, in reference to British novelist Jackie Collins and U.S. novelist Judith Krantz
‘TO BE ALL FINGERS AND THUMBS’: MEANING AND ORIGIN
11th Jan 2023.Reading time 11 minutes.
also ‘to be all thumbs’—to be extremely clumsy (i.e., lacking in manual dexterity)—19th century—variants of the original phrase ‘each finger is a thumb’, already proverbial in the mid-16th century

0

(E?)(L?) https://wordhistories.net/alphabetical-index/#0

numerals

999

miscellany

a 19th-century document on English phrases

19th-century nicknames for London newspapers

Eating in the Romance languages

French pig idioms

Galloglossia

The language of domination

On biblical translations: “what is lacking” vs. “the number of fools”

On errors in the Oxford English Dictionary

Our lunatic contributor

The meaning of ‘temptation’ in the Lord’s Prayer

‘Wuthering Heights’

A

(E?)(L?) https://wordhistories.net/alphabetical-index/#A

a/an (indefinite article)

A1

a bad quarter of an hour

a baker’s dozen

a bastard on Father’s Day

abdabs, or habdabs (to give somebody the (screaming) abdabs, or habdabs)

a bit of crackling

a bit tight under the arms

above board

above/below the salt

a box of birds

Absurdistan

a bull in a china shop

ACAB (all coppers are bastards)

a calf’s head is best hot

a car crash in slow motion

a cat may look at a king

accident (an accident waiting to happen)

accidents will happen in the best-regulated families

according to Cocker

according to Gunter

according to Hoyle

ache

a Chinaman’s chance

a chip on one’s shoulder

a cold day in hell

a cold day in July

to act one’s age, and not one’s shoe size

actress (as the actress said to the bishop – as the bishop said to the actress)

a cup of tea, a Bex and a good lie down

Adam and Eve (to believe)

adder (deaf as an adder)

admirable Crichton

ado

adorkable

a dose of salts

adultescent

aerial ping-pong

a far cry

a fart in a spacesuit

a fly in the ointment

a foot in both camps

a fox in a forest fire

after the Lord Mayor’s Show (comes the dung-cart)

Aga saga

age (to act one’s age, and not one’s shoe size)

age before beauty

agony aunt – agony column

a grape on the business

a green, or hot, Christmas, or winter, makes a fat churchyard

ailurophile

aisle (to have people rolling in the aisles)

a Jap on Anzac Day

Ajax

alar(u)ms and excursions

Alas! my poor brother

Albany doctor

albatross (an albatross around one’s neck)

Albion

alcoholiday

a legend in one’s (own) lifetime

a legend in one’s (own) lunchtime

Alexandra curl

Alexandra limp

a little bird told me

alive and kicking

alive and well (and living in ——)

all behind, like a cow’s tail

all chiefs and no Indians

all-dancing, all-singing

all dressed up with nowhere to go

all duck or no dinner

All-Hallown Summer

all hat and no cattle

all Lombard Street to a China orange

all mouth and (no) trousers

all my eye and Betty Martin

all of a tiswas

all one’s Christmases come at once

all over bar the shouting

all over the place like a mad woman’s [+ noun]

all over the shop

all right, you heard a seal bark

all roads lead to Rome

(all) round the houses

all-singing, all-dancing

all Sir Garnet

(all) the world and his wife

all wool and a yard wide

a load of cobblers

alone

a long streak of pelican shit

a man’s gotta do what a man’s gotta do

a memory like a sieve

(as) American as apple pie

am I bovvered?

a mind like a sieve

a millstone round someone’s neck

amour fou

to amputate one’s mahogany

an/a (indefinite article)

an accident waiting to happen

an albatross around one’s neck

a nasty piece of work

an axe to grind

and not a bone in the truck

and so to bed

(and) the best of British luck

an egg yesterday and a feather-duster tomorrow

an Englishman’s home is his castle

angel (on the side of the angels)

Annie’s room (up in Annie’s room)

annulaire – ring finger

a nod is as good as a wink

an old poacher makes the best gamekeeper

an old Spanish custom

another brick in the wall

another pair of shoes

the answer to a maidens’ prayer

the ant’s pants

antwacky

any man who hates children and dogs can’t be all bad

anyone for tennis?

anything for a quiet life

anything for a quiet wife

Apache (member of a North-American people – violent street ruffian in Paris)

ape (to lead apes in hell)

a penny soul never came to twopence

a piece of work (an unpleasant person)

a poke in the eye (with a sharp stick)

apostrofly

to appeal from Philip drunk to Philip sober

the apple of one’s eye

apple-pie (adjective: typically American in character)

apple-pie order

apple polisher/apple polishing

apples (Australian usage)

to apply the blowtorch to somebody’s belly

(just) a pretty face

aptonym – aptonymic – aptronym – aptronymic

a racing dog’s bollocks

a rat with a gold tooth

are you decent? (sufficiently clothed to see visitors)

arm (to chance one’s arm)

armchair (attributive modifier)

armed to the teeth

army boots (your mother wears army boots)

a Roland for an Oliver

Arthur (not to know whether one is Arthur or Martha)

a safe pair of hands

(as) American as apple pie

a sandwich short of a picnic

as Australian as meat pie

(as) bold as brass

Asbomania

(as) busy as a brickie in Beirut

(as) busy as a one-armed bill-sticker in a gale

(as) busy as a one-armed milker

(as) busy as a one-armed paperhanger

(as) busy as a one-armed taxi-driver with crabs

(as) camp as a row of tents

(as) cold as a stepmother’s breath

(as) cold as charity

(as) cold as Pharaoh’s heart

(as) daft as a brush

(as) dim as a Toc H lamp

(as) dead as the (or a) dodo

as demure as a whore at a christening

(as) drunk as Chloe

(as) dry as a Pommy’s towel

(as) fit as a fiddle

(as) fit as a mallee bull

(as) flash as a rat with a gold tooth

(as) fresh as a daisy

(as) full as a goog

(as) game as Ned Kelly

a shag on a rock

(as) happy as a clam

(as) happy as a sandboy

(as) happy as Larry

(as) hard as Pharaoh’s heart

(as) hot, or (as) strong, as mustard

ashtray (as useful as an ashtray on a motorbike)

(as) independent as a hog on ice

(as) keen as mustard

as lucky as the pox doctor’s clerk

(as) mad as a cut snake

(as) mad as a hatter

(as) mad as a March hare

(as) mad as a meat-ax(e)

(as) mad as a snake – (as) mad as snakes

as much use as a chocolate teapot

as much use as an ashtray on a motorbike

a snake in the grass

a sniff of the barmaid’s apron

a snowball’s chance (in hell)

a spare tyre around the waistline

asphalt jungle

(as) poor as a church mouse

a sprat to catch a mackerel

as quick as greased lightning

(as) right as a trivet

(as) savage as a meat-ax(e)

as scarce as pork chops in a Jewish boarding house

as scarce as rocking-horse manure

(as) sick as a parrot

(as) snug as [animal name] (in —)

(as) sure as God made little apples

as the actress said to the bishop

as the bishop said to the actress

as the blind man said (used in association with ‘see’)

as the crow flies

(as) thick as thieves

(as) thick as two short planks

a stiff upper lip

a storm, or a tempest, in a teacup, or in a teapot

Astroturf

as useful as a chocolate teapot

as useful as an ashtray on a motorbike

(as) warm as toast

(as) wicked as a meat-ax(e)

a tempest, or a storm, in a teacup, or in a teapot

a thumbnail dipped in tar

Atlantic

atone

at one fell swoop

at sixes and sevens

at someone’s beck and call

to attend Lilywhite’s party

Attila ((somewhere) to the right of Attila, or of Genghis Khan)

auld lang syne

Aunt (The Sydney Morning Herald)

Auntie: The Times (London newspaper) – the BBC

Aunt Sally

au reservoir

Australian (the (great) Australian adjective)

Australian (the (great) Australian salute)

autumn-spring

a verandah over the toy shop

avoirdupois

Avon’s Swan

away with the fairies

a wet blanket

a whale of a (good) time

the awkward age – l’âge ingrat

awkward turtle

a word in your shell-like

axe (an axe to grind)

B

(E?)(L?) https://wordhistories.net/alphabetical-index/#B

baby blues

backronym

backroom boys

backseat driver

back to the drawing board

backward in coming forward

backwards, the way Molly went to church

bad hair day

a bad quarter of an hour

bag lady

bag of mystery

a baker’s dozen

bald-headed (in a rush without care or caution)

baloney

Bamboo Curtain

Bananaland (Queensland) – Bananalander (Queenslander)

banana republic

bandwagon

banger

bang for the buck

to bang like a dunny door

bang went, or goes, sixpence

bank (to laugh/cry all the way to the bank)

bankster

barbecue stopper

Barcoo (the Barcoo salute)

Bardolatry

barefoot(ed) and pregnant

bark mitzvah

barmy

Barney’s bull

basket case

basket(ful) of crabs

a bastard on Father’s Day

bat (to have bats in one’s belfry)

Bath (go to Bath (and get your head shaved))

BCGs – birth-control glasses

to be able to talk under water (or under wet cement, under wet concrete)

to be a far cry from

to be all fingers and thumbs

to be all hat and no cattle

to be all mouth and (no) trousers

to be all thumbs

to be all to the mustard

beanfeast

beano

to beard the lion in his den

the Beast from the East

to beat Banagher

to beat the bejesus out of someone

to beat the Dutch

beauty sleep

beaver (eager beaver)

to be a box of birds

to be barking up the wrong tree

to be born on the wrong side of the blanket

to be born with a silver spoon in one’s mouth

beck (at someone’s beck and call)

to be decent (sufficiently clothed to see visitors)

bedlam

bedside manner

bee (social gathering for a specific purpose)

bee (to have a bee in one’s bonnet)

been there, done that (and got the T-shirt)

been thrown out of better places than this

beer and skittles

beer o’clock

beer today (and) gone tomorrow

the bee’s knees

beetle-crusher

to beggar belief

before one can say Jack Robinson

begging bowl (appeal for financial help)

behind, like a cow’s tail

behind the eight ball

to be in a cleft stick

bejesus

to be left holding, or carrying, the baby

belief (to beggar belief)

to belittle

to bell the cat

below/above the salt

belt and braces – belt and suspenders

to be mustard

Benjamin’s mess – Benjamin’s portion

to be not so green as one is cabbage-looking

to be on hand like a sore thumb

to be on the blanket

to be part and parcel of

to be past one’s sell-by date

to be saved by the bell – être sauvé par le gong

best bib and tucker

(and) the best of British luck

the best thing since sliced bread

to be the mustard

better dead than red – better red than dead

better than a poke in the eye with a sharp stick

Betty Martin (all my eye and Betty Martin)

between a rock and a hard place

between the devil and the deep blue sea

betwixt and between

to be unable to run a whelk stall

beyond the pale

bib and tucker (one’s best bib and tucker)

Big Ben

big girl’s blouse

big hat—no cattle

the big smoke

bijou

bikini

Bill (black, or dark, over Bill’s, or Will’s, mother’s)

bimbette

bingo (the (great) god Bingo)

bingo wings

bird (a little bird told me)

bird (to get the bird)

(the) birds and (the) bees (the facts about sexual reproduction)

bird’s-eye view

birth-control glasses

biscuit (to take the biscuit)

bishop (as the bishop said to the actress – as the actress said to the bishop)

the bitch goddess

to bite the bullet

black, or dark, over Bill’s, or Will’s, mother’s

black sheep

blackboard jungle

blanket

blanket finish

blarney

blind date

blind eye (to turn a blind eye)

blind Freddy

blind man (‘said the blind man’ and variants used in association with ‘see’)

blind scouse

blonde moment

blood (someone’s blood is worth bottling)

blood, sweat, and tears

blood wagon

Bloody Mary (cocktail)

Bloody Mary (unnamed precursors of the cocktail)

Bloomsday – Bloom’s day

blotto

to blow a raspberry

blowtorch (to apply the blowtorch to somebody’s belly)

blue (out of the blue)

blue-arsed fly (like a blue-arsed fly)

blue Monday

blue moon

blues

blue sky and hot air

blue-sky research

blue-sky talk

blurb

board (above board)

bobby

bob’s your uncle

Boche

bodkin (a person wedged between others)

to bogart

to boggle (the mind boggles)

(as) bold as brass

bollocks (the dog’s bollocks – the bollocks)

boloney

bomb (to go (down) like a bomb – to go down a bomb)

Bombay duck

Bondi (like a Bondi tram)

bone (to make no bones about something)

bone-box

bone idle

bonfire

bonkers

boo (wouldn’t say boo to a goose)

boob tuber

boodle (the whole boodle)

the books won’t freeze

boots under the bed

born in a barn/a field/a sawmill/a tent

born on the wrong side of the blanket

born with a silver spoon in one’s mouth

bothsideism – bothsidesism

bottle episode – bottle show

boudoir bandicoot

boustrophedon

bovver (am I bovvered?)

bovver boy

to bow (down) in the house of Rimmon

bowler (hat) ((return to) civilian life)

Box and Cox

box and dice

Boxing Day

a box of birds

box of dominoes

box of ivories

boy (to send a boy to do a man’s work)

boycott

boy meets girl

boys in the backroom

boys will be boys

brass (to bring [someone or something] (right) down to the brass)

brass (to come (right) down to the brass)

brass monkey (extremely cold weather)

brass tacks (to come, or to get, down to brass tacks [early instances])

brass tacks (to come, or to get, down to brass tacks [hypothesis as to the origin])

bread (to have one’s bread buttered for life)

bread (it’s no bread and butter of mine)

bread (to know on which side one’s bread is buttered)

bread (to want one’s bread buttered on both sides)

bread-and-butter letter

bread and circuses

bread and roses

bread-artist

breadline

to break a butterfly on a wheel

breakfast (call me anything, so long as you don’t call me late to breakfast)

to break one’s duck

to break the ice

breastaurant

breath (don’t hold your breath)

brewery (couldn’t organise a piss-up in a brewery)

Brexit

brick (to drop a brick)

bright-eyed and bushy-tailed

to bring [someone or something] (right) down to the brass

to bring home the bacon

to bring [someone or something] (right) down to the brass

Bristol (shipshape and Bristol fashion)

Briticism

brolly hop

brothel-creepers

brown bomber

Brownie (Girl Scout or Girl Guide)

brownie point

brunch

Brylcreem Boy

Buckley’s (chance)

budget

budgie smugglers

Buggin’s turn

Bugs Bunny (eagle at the top of the Australian-American Memorial in Canberra)

bull (like a bull in a china shop)

bullamacow

bulldozer

bully

bullycide

bums on seats

Bunburying

bunny boiler

burnsides

to burn the midnight oil

buroo (on the buroo)

burton (to go for a burton)

to bury one’s head in the sand

bus (to miss the bus)

bush telegraph

(as) busy as a brickie in Beirut

(as) busy as a one-armed bill-sticker in a gale

(as) busy as a one-armed milker

(as) busy as a one-armed paperhanger

(as) busy as a one-armed taxi-driver with crabs

the butcher, the baker, and the candlestick maker

buttered (to have one’s bread buttered for life)

buttered (to know on which side one’s bread is buttered)

buttered (to want one’s bread buttered on both sides)

butterfingered – butterfingers

butterflies in one’s stomach

butterfly

butterfly kiss

to button-hold – to buttonhole

butty (sandwich – slice of bread spread with butter)

to buy a pig in a poke

by a long chalk

by hook or by crook

by the skin of one’s teeth

C

(E?)(L?) https://wordhistories.net/alphabetical-index/#C

cabbage (to be not so green as one is cabbage-looking)

cab off the rank

caboodle (the whole caboodle)

cackleberry

cahoot

cake (to take the cake)

cake (you can’t have your cake and eat it)

cakeage

calf’s head is best hot – calves’ heads are best hot

to call a spade a spade

calligram

call me anything, so long as you don’t call me late to dinner

(as) camp as, or camper than, a row of tents

can a moose crochet?

canary in the coal mine

can eat an apple through a picket fence

cannon (loose cannon)

cannon fodder

can talk under water (or under wet cement, under wet concrete)

cap-a-pie

caper (to cut a caper)

cappuccino

capsize

captcha

Capuchin

a car crash in slow motion

car-crash television

carrot and stick

to carry coals to Newcastle

(to be left) to carry the baby

castle (an Englishman’s home is his castle)

castles in Spain/in the air

to cast nasturtiums on, or at

cat (a cat may look at a king)

cat (to let the cat out of the bag)

cat (like a cat on hot bricks)

cat (like a cat on a hot tin roof)

cat (to look like something the cat has brought in)

cat (no room to swing a cat)

cat (not a cat in hell’s chance)

cat (to see which way the cat jumps)

the Cat-and-Mouse Act

cat mitzvah

cat-o’-nine-tails

cats and dogs, to rain (authentic origin)– part 1

cats and dogs, to rain (hypothesis as to the origin) part 2

the cat’s whiskers

caught in the headlights

caviar to the general

chain-smoker

chair à canon

chalk (by a long chalk)

champagne socialism – champagne socialist

to chance one’s arm

chance would be a fine thing

to change horses in midstream/while crossing a stream

chardonnay socialism – chardonnay socialist

to charge like the Light Brigade

charity ((as) cold as charity)

charity dame – charity moll

charley horse

to chase the dragon

Château-la-Pompe

Château Plonk

chateau tap-water

chav

cheese – fromage

cherchez la femme

Cheshire cat (to grin like a Cheshire cat)

chestnut (old chestnut – marronnier)

to chew nails and spit rust

chicken-and-egg

chief (too many chiefs and not enough Indians)

Chief Mouser to the Cabinet Office

chillax

China orange (all Lombard Street to a China orange)

Chinaman (he must have killed a Chinaman)

a Chinaman’s chance

Chinese burn

a chip on one’s shoulder

chocolate teapot (as much use as a chocolate teapot)

choke, chicken: more are hatching

chook (may your chooks turn into emus and kick your dunny down)

to chop and change

Christmas grip – Christmas hold

Christmas Truce of 1914

church ain’t out ’till the fat lady sings, ’till the singing is over

church mouse ((as) poor as a church mouse)

churchyard (a green, or hot, Christmas, or winter, makes a fat churchyard)

churchyard cough

churchyard luck

ciao

cicerone

clam ((as) happy as a clam)

clanger (to drop a clanger)

Clapham (the man on the Clapham omnibus)

the Clapham Sect

clapper (like the clappers)

claptrap

cleanliness is next to godliness

the clean potato

cleft stick

clew

cloak

cloak-and-dagger

clock

cloud (every cloud has a silver lining)

cloud-cuckoo-land

clover (in clover, i.e., in ease and luxury)

clue

to clutch the pearls

coals (to carry coals to Newcastle)

cobbler (let the cobbler stick to his last)

cobblers (rhyming slang for ‘balls’, i.e., ‘testicles’, hence ‘nonsense’)

cock-a-hoop

to cock a snook

cock-and-bull story

cocked hat, to knock into a

Cocker, according to

cockle (to warm the cockles of one’s heart)

cockney

coconut (black) (Australian Aborigine who has ‘betrayed’ his identity)

codswallop

Coggeshall job

coil (this mortal coil)

(as) cold as a stepmother’s breath

(as) cold as charity

(as) cold as Pharaoh’s heart

cold call

cold comfort

a cold day in hell

a cold day in July

cold enough to freeze the balls off a brass monkey

the cold shoulder

cold turkey (as used of a drug addict)

Collins (letter of thanks for hospitality)

column (one from column A (and) one from column B)

to come a cropper

to come a gutser

to come, or to get, down to brass tacks (early instances)

to come, or to get, down to brass tacks (hypothesis as to the origin)

to come (right) down to the brass

to come out of the woodwork

to come (right) down to the brass

to come to a sticky end

to come the old soldier over someone

to come up with the rations

coming? so is Christmas!

concreteberg

concrete jungle

conspicuous by one’s/its absence

Continent isolated (satirical of British insularity)

contranym

contredanse

contronym

conundrum

cookie (that’s how, or the way, the cookie crumbles)

cookie ((that’s when) the cookie crumbled)

cookie pusher

cool Britannia

cootie

Corbynista

corduroy

coronation chicken

Corrupticut

costa (Spanish noun used in invented place names)

couch potato

could eat an apple through a picket fence

couldn’t knock the skin off a rice pudding

couldn’t lead a flock of homing pigeons

couldn’t organise a piss-up in a brewery

couldn’t punch a hole in a wet Echo

couldn’t stop a pig (in a gate)

couldn’t work in an iron lung

could sell refrigerators to the Eskimos

could talk under water (or under wet cement, under wet concrete)

to count sheep – compter les moutons

counter (to nail to the counter)

to cover more ground than Burke and Wills

coward

cowardy, cowardy custard

crackling (women regarded collectively as objects of sexual desire)

to crawl out of the woodwork

crazy bone

crébilloner – lèche-vitrine(s) – window shopping

credit (to give credit where credit is due)

cretin

Crichton, admirable

criss-cross

croque-madame

croque-monsieur

cross I win (and) pile you lose

cross my heart (and hope to die)

to cross the floor

crow’s nest

crumbs from a rich man’s table

crumpet (sexual meanings in British English)

crumpet (not worth a crumpet)

cruse (widow’s cruse)

to cry/laugh all the way to the bank

cucumber sandwiches on the lawn

cuff (off the cuff)

culture vulture

cupboard love

a cup of tea, a Bex and a good lie down

the cup that cheers

curate’s egg

curfew

curiosity killed the cat

curiouser and curiouser

to curse one’s stars

curtain lecture

curtain-twitcher – curtain-twitching

cut (to have one’s work cut out)

to cut a caper

cut and dried

to cut both ways

to cut off one’s nose to spite one’s face

to cut the mustard

to cut to the chase

Cymru

D

(E?)(L?) https://wordhistories.net/alphabetical-index/#D

dadchelor party

dad-dancing

dad-joke

Daily Fail, Daily Heil, Daily Wail (nicknames for the Daily Mail of London)

daisy, (as) fresh as a

daisies, to push up

damn, not to give a tinker’s

damnall at Blackall

(you’re) damned if you do and damned if you don’t

dandelion

dandy

dark, or black, over Bill’s, or Will’s, mother’s

day (the day’s (only) a pup)

daylight robbery

dead (— is dead but won’t lie down)

dead and never called me mother

dead man’s shoes, to wait for

deadline

dementia Americana

devil (between the devil and the deep blue sea)

devil (the devil to pay)

Dickless Tracy

Dicky’s meadow, in

dictionary (to have swallowed a dictionary)

different ships, different long splices

different strokes for different folks

(as) dim as a Toc H lamp

dine and dash

dinner (call me anything, so long as you don’t call me late to dinner)

dinnyhayser

Disgusted

to do a Dame Nellie – to do a Melba

doesn’t buy (the) groceries

to doff

dog mitzvah

dog’s letter, the

dole, on the

dolly (up to dolly’s wax)

domino (figurative uses)

domino-box

to don

done up like a pox doctor’s clerk

donkey

donkey’s years

don’t argue (the straight-arm fend-off in rugby)

don’t do anything I wouldn’t

don’t hold your breath

don’t laugh—your daughter may be inside

don’t look a gift horse in the mouth

don’t spoil the ship for a ha’p’orth of tar

dook (the hand or fist)

doolally

doona day

Dorothy Dix (Australian politics)

dose (like a dose of salts)

Double Pay (i.e., Double Bay, in Sydney, Australia)

down the back of the sofa

down the river, to sell

down the side of the sofa

dozen, a baker’s

dozen, thirteen to the

drawing board, back to the

dressed to the nines

Dr. Greenfield (to worship under Dr. Greenfield)

to drink the Kool-Aid

to drive pigs (to market)

to drop something or somebody like a hot potato

(as) drunk as Chloe

(as) dry as a Pommy’s towel

duck (to break one’s duck)

ducks on the pond

dumb bunny

to dumbsize

dunny (in Australian phrases)

duration, for the

Dutching

duvet day

E

(E?)(L?) https://wordhistories.net/alphabetical-index/#E

eager beaver

early door(s) (early admission to a theatrical performance)

early doors (near the beginning)

earthling

earworm

to eat humble pie

to eat the calf in the cow’s belly

eavesdrop

eggs, to teach one’s grandmother to suck

eight ball (behind the eight ball)

eighth wonder of the world

elbow grease

eligible bachelor

ember months

Emma Chisit

the Emmaville Express

enemy (How goes the enemy?)

Energizer bunny

English as she is spoke

an Englishman’s home is his castle

enemy within, the

esprit d’escalier

even ash

even a stopped clock is right twice a day

even paranoids have enemies

every cloud has a silver lining

every Preston Guild

everything but the kitchen sink

everything’s apples

everything’s wrong in Wollongong

Eve-teaser – Eve-teasing

excuse-me dance

excuse my French

to extract the urine

to extract the Michael

eye (all my eye and Betty Martin)

eyes, to pull the wool over someone’s

F

(E?)(L?) https://wordhistories.net/alphabetical-index/#F

face, to cut off one’s nose to spite one’s

fag end

fair-weather friend

to fall off the turnip truck

false dawn

famous for fifteen minutes

fang-farrier

Fanny Adams – Harriet Lane

far from the madding crowd

a fart in a spacesuit

fatberg

fat churchyard (a green, or hot, Christmas, or winter, makes a fat churchyard)

father (is your father a glazier?)

fat lady (church ain’t out, the opera ain’t over, until the fat lady sings)

fawn

feather-duster (an egg yesterday and a feather-duster tomorrow)

fed up

fedora

feeding time at the zoo

to feel like a bastard on Father’s Day

fell swoop, at one

feminophobia – femiphobia

femme, cherchez la

fetus

fiddle, (as) fit as a

field bishop

fifteen minutes, famous for

fifth column

to fight like Kilkenny cats

to fight one’s way out of a paper bag

figures won’t lie, but liars will figure

Fiji uncle

(fingernails) in mourning for the cat

fire (to set the Thames on fire)

first catch your hare

(as) fit as a fiddle

(as) fit as a mallee bull

five o’clock shadow

(as) flash as a rat with a gold tooth

flat out like a lizard drinking

flea market

flexible friend (i.e. credit card)

flexitarian

flirt

to fly a kite

fly-by-night

a fly in the ointment

fly-tipping

foaled of an acorn, a horse that was

fog in Channel—Continent isolated

foie gras

food for powder

foolometer

for the duration

the forbidden fruit

forelock, to take time by the

forlorn hope

for show and not for blow

forty winks

four-leaf, or four-leaved, clover

the fourth estate

fox (a fox in a forest fire)

Franglais

Franken-

Frankenstein food

Frankenstein’s monster

freedom fries

Fremantle doctor

French, excuse my

French hours

French kiss

French leave

(as) fresh as a daisy

frightener (to put the frighteners on somebody)

frog (to have a frog in one’s throat)

Froggy

to frog-march

frogspawn (tapioca pudding)

fromage – cheese

from hero to zero

from marbles to manslaughter

from pillar to post

from soup to nuts

from the horse’s mouth, straight

from zero to hero

front (more front than)

fudge factor

(as) full as a goog

full monty

funny bone

the funny things you see when you haven’t got your gun

further back, or further behind, than Walla Walla

G

(E?)(L?) https://wordhistories.net/alphabetical-index/#G

galaxy

gallery, to play to the

(as) game as Ned Kelly

garbage in, garbage out

garbageologist – garbageology

garbologist (refuse collector)

garbology (refuse collection)

garters, to have someone’s guts for

gas and gaiters

gauntlet, to run the

gavroche

gazette

geek

General February/Fevrier

General January/Janvier

General Winter

Georgium Sidus

get inside and pull the blinds down

get on your bike

to get off, or out, at Redfern, at Gateshead, etc. (to practise coitus interruptus)

to get the bird

gianduja

gift horse (don’t look a gift horse in the mouth)

giggle-house

GIGO (garbage in, garbage out)

gigolo

ginger group

gippy tummy

girls will be girls

to give a poke in the eye (with a — stick)

to give a raspberry

not to give a tinker’s damn

to give credit where credit is due

to give someone furiously to think

to give the little lady a (great) big hand

glad and sorry (hire purchase)

Glasgow kiss

glazier (is your father a glazier?)

globaloney

glutton for punishment

to go (and) jump in(to) the lake

to go ballistic

gobsmacked

Goddam (an Englishman)

God help those who are caught helping themselves

to go down a bomb – to go (down) like a bomb

to go down like a lead balloon

God slot

godwottery

to go for the jugular

to go from hero to zero

to go from zero to hero

to go haywire

to go home in an ambulance

golf widow

go to Bath (and get your head shaved)

gone to Gowings

good field, no hit

to go postal

gone on the padre’s bike

gongoozler

goose, wouldn’t say boo to a

gooseberry, to play

to go over like a lead balloon

Gorgeous Wrecks

gorilla dust

gory details

gossip

got a feed at the Tweed

to go to Lilywhite’s party

to go to Specsavers

got the arse at Bulli Pass

government stroke

Granny (The Sydney Morning Herald)

granny-bashing – granny-battering

a grape on the business

grasshopper (a tourist, Australia)

grass widow

grass widower

Grauniad

grease monkey

the (great) Australian adjective

the (great) Australian salute

green (to be not so green as one is cabbage-looking)

a green, or hot, Christmas, or winter, makes a fat churchyard

Greenfield (to sleep in Mother Greenfield’s (lodgings) – to worship under Dr. Greenfield)

green fingers

green thumb

Greek (it’s (all) Greek to me)

grey meanie

grimalkin

to grin like a Cheshire cat

grog

grotty

Guardianista

Gundy (no good to Gundy)

Gunter (according to Gunter)

guts (to have someone’s guts for garters)

gutser

guy

gyppy tummy

H

(E?)(L?) https://wordhistories.net/alphabetical-index/#H

hail-fellow-well-met

hair (keep your hair on)

hair of the dog

hairy dog

hairy eyeball

hairy goat

halcyon

half seas over

the Ham and Egg Parade

ham-fisted – ham-handed

Hamlet without the Prince

hand (the right hand doesn’t know what the left hand’s doing)

handbag (verb)

handbags at ten paces

hand of glory

happy as a bastard on Father’s Day

(as) happy as a clam

(as) happy as a sandboy

happy little Vegemite

(as) hard as Pharaoh’s heart

hardy annual

hare (first catch your hare)

Harriet Lane – Fanny Adams

hash (to make a hash of something)

hash (to settle someone’s hash)

hat trick

hatter, (as) mad as a

to have a bee in one’s bonnet

to have a foot in both camps

to have a frog in one’s throat

to have a person’s name on it

to have a tiger by the tail

to have bats in one’s belfry

to have both oars in the water

to have butterflies in one’s stomach

to have death adders in one’s pocket

to have got sand in one’s shoes

to have passed one’s sell-by date

to have someone’s guts for garters

to have someone’s name on it

to have swallowed a dictionary

to have two left feet, or, two left hands

haywire, to go

headless chicken

heads I win (and) tails you lose

to heap Pelion upon Ossa

heart (to warm the cockles of one’s heart)

heart of hearts

heart of oak

Heavens to Betsy

hell (to lead apes in hell)

hell (not a cat in hell’s chance)

hell hath no fury like a woman scorned

hell is paved with good intentions

“Hell!” said the duchess

hellzapoppin’

helpmate

Hesperus (like the wreck of the Hesperus)

hewer of wood and drawer of water

to hide the salami

to hide the sausage

hikikomori

Hobson’s choice

Hogs Norton

hold (don’t hold your breath)

holier-than-thou

Hollywood ending

home (an Englishman’s home is his castle)

home (away) from home

home is where the heart is

home, James (and don’t spare the horses)

honest Injun

honeymoon

hooligan

Hooray Henry

hope your rabbit dies

horror stretch

a horse that was foaled of an acorn

horse (to change/swap horses in midstream/while crossing a stream)

horse (don’t look a gift horse in the mouth)

horse (straight from the horse’s mouth)

hospital pass

hot (like a cat on hot bricks)

hot (like a cat on a hot tin roof)

hot-arsed

a hot, or green, Christmas, or winter, makes a fat churchyard

hot dog

hot mess

hovercraft

how about a game of tennis?

how are you off for soap?

how goes the enemy?

how long is a piece of string?

Hoyle, according to

Hughie (Australian usage)

huile de coude (i.e., elbow grease)

human bean

humble pie, to eat

humongous

hung parliament

I

(E?)(L?) https://wordhistories.net/alphabetical-index/#I

I don’t care what they call me, so long as they don’t call me late to dinner

if it should rain — (and variants, used of ill luck)

if it’s Tuesday, this must be Belgium

if my aunt had been a man, she would have been my uncle

if the mountain will not come to Mahomet, Mahomet must go to the mountain

if your aunt had been a man, she would have been your uncle

if you want to get ahead, get a hat

ignorance is bliss

I hope your rabbit dies

I’ll go to the foot of our stairs

imbecile

imbuggerance (absolute indifference)

immolate

impressionism – impressionist

I’m talking to the butcher, not to the block

in a cleft stick

in a nutshell

in Annie’s room, up

in cahoots

in clover (in ease and luxury)

incunabula

(as) independent as a hog on ice

Indian burn

Indian summer

in Dicky’s meadow

in jail at Innisfail

in more trouble than Speed Gordon

in mothballs

(fingernails) in mourning for the cat

inoperative statement

interview without coffee

in the grip of the grape

in the pudding club

in the swim

I resemble that remark

Irishman’s rise

iron lung (wouldn’t work in an iron lung)

iron maiden

Iron Weathercock (Liz Truss)

— is dead but won’t lie down

I see, said the blind man

is your father a glazier?

itching palm

itchy feet

it’s (all) Greek to me

it’s all over bar the shouting

it’s moments like these

it’s no bread and butter of mine

it’s raining in London

it takes two to tango

it will be all right at night (theatrical phrase)

I’ve been thrown out of better places than this

I’ve got the time if you’ve got the inclination

ivory-box

ivory tower

J

(E?)(L?) https://wordhistories.net/alphabetical-index/#J

Jack Robinson (before one can say Jack Robinson)

jam butty – jam sandwich (police patrol car)

a Jap on Anzac Day

Jenny Darby (policeman)

jerry-builder

Jesus boots

Jesus Hilton

Jimmy Woodser

jingo

job (that job’s jobbed)

Joe Bloggs

Joe Six-Pack

Joe Soap

Johnny Arab

Johnny Canuck

Johnny Crapaud

Johnny Darm (policeman)

Johnny Foreigner

Johnny Onions

jolly hockey stick(s)

Joneses, to keep up with the

jot – tittle

to judge a book by its cover

to jump one’s horse over the bar

to jump the queue

jump up whitefellow

(just) a pretty face

K

(E?)(L?) https://wordhistories.net/alphabetical-index/#K

to kangaroo (to receive or to give kangaroo care)

kangaroo care

kangaroo visit

Kathleen Mavourneen

to keep an ear to the ground

to keep the bastards honest

to keep up with the Joneses

keep your eye on the sparrow

keep your hair on

keep your shirt on

Kensington Gore (artificial blood)

kettle of fish, a pretty

keytar

to kick the bucket

kidnap

kidney, of that

kidult

Kilkenny cats

Kilroy (early instances)

Kilroy (origin?)

Kindertransport

King (to take the (King’s/Queen’s) shilling)

King Charles’s head

kingdom come

kippers and curtains

kiss cam

kissing-trap

kitchen sink, everything but the

kite, to fly a

knife-and-forker – knife-and-fork man

knight in shining armour

to knock into a cocked hat

to knock the skin off a rice pudding

to know one’s onions

knuckle-butty – knuckle-sandwich

kompromat

Kruschen (that, or the, Kruschen feeling)

kunlangeta

L

(E?)(L?) https://wordhistories.net/alphabetical-index/#L

Lady Blamey

lager lout

the land of fruits and nuts

land of Nod

to lark about

last, to stick to one’s

La Stupenda

to laugh like a drain

to lead apes in hell

lead balloon

lead in one’s pencil

leather and prunella

leave, French

to leave in the lurch

to leave no stone unturned

the left hand doesn’t know what the right hand’s doing

leg, to pull someone’s

to let the cat out of the bag

let the cobbler stick to his last

lettuce

to lick into shape

lightbulb moment

like a Bondi tram

like a cat on hot bricks

like a cat on a hot tin roof

like a country dunny

like a deer caught in the headlights

like a dose of salts

like a dunny in a desert

like a headless chicken

like a pork chop in a synagogue

like a rabbit caught in the headlights

like a red rag to a bull

like a stunned mullet

like a twisted sandshoe

like billy-o

like death warmed up

like one o’clock

like pulling teeth

like the back (end) of a bus

like the wreck of the Hesperus

like watching paint dry

Lilywhite’s party

limerence

limousine liberal

Linus blanket

the (little) man in the boat

little man, you’ve had a busy day

little old ladies in tennis shoes

little rabbits have big ears

to live on the smell of an oil rag

liver, to wash the milk off one’s

Liverpool gentleman (as opposed to Manchester man)

Liverpool pantile (sea-biscuit)

Liverpudlian

lobster

loco-foco

locust

all Lombard Street to a China orange

Londongrad

London to a brick

a long streak of pelican shit

to look like a pox doctor’s clerk

to look like something the cat has brought in

look (mum, or ma), no hands!

loony bin

loony doctor

loose cannon

lorem ipsum

to lose one’s marbles

to lose the dressing room

love (no love lost)

lower than a snake’s belly

low man on the totem (pole)

lucky as a bastard on Father’s Day

lupus

lurch, to leave in the

Lushington

M

(E?)(L?) https://wordhistories.net/alphabetical-index/#M

MacGyver

Maconochie

(as) mad as a cut snake

(as) mad as a hatter

(as) mad as a March hare

(as) mad as a meat-ax(e)

(as) mad as a snake – (as) mad as snakes

Madchester

madding crowd, far from the

madeleine

mad money

magpiety

mahogany (to amputate one’s mahogany)

mahogany reef

mahogany ridge

maiden’s prayer, the answer to

to make a better door than (a) window

to make a hash of something

to make a spoon or spoil a horn

to make a Virginia fence

to make (both) ends meet

to make no bones about something

to make one’s marble(s) good

Malabar Hilton

Mallaby-Deeley

Malley’s cow

Mamamouchi

MAMIL

Manchester man (as opposed to Liverpool gentleman)

man from Mars

Manhattanhenge

the (little) man in the boat

the man on the Clapham omnibus

the man outside Hoyt’s

a man’s gotta do what a man’s gotta do

marbles, to lose one’s

March hare, (as) mad as a

mardy

mare nostrum

marines, tell that to the

Marquis of Queensberry (rules)

marronnier – old chestnut

marrowsky

Martha (not to know whether one is Arthur or Martha)

martini lunch

maudlin

mauley (the hand or fist)

mauldy

Maundy

Mayday

mayonnaise

may your chooks turn into emus and kick your dunny down

may your rabbits die

meat (one man’s meat is another man’s poison)

meat and two veg

a memory like a sieve

men in buckram

the men in (the) white coats

merrythought – wishbone

mess of pottage

Mexican standoff

mice and men, of

midinette

midnight oil, to burn the

might find a berth in Perth

milk (to wash the milk off one’s liver)

milliner

million (as a magic number)

a millstone round someone’s neck

milquetoast

a mind like a sieve

Mintie

Miss – Ms

Miss Otis regrets

to miss the bus

Moab

mockumentary

molly (in molly-dook, molly-handed, etc.)

Mondayitis

money for old rope

monkey (to put [something] where the monkey put(s) the nuts)

Monsieur Crapaud

Montezuma’s Revenge

moon, once in a blue

moon, over the

moonraker

moonshine

more camp than a row of tents

more front than (early Australian uses)

more front than (British and Irish uses)

more hide than Jessie

morning, noon and night

moron

Morrison hour

mortal coil, this

Morton’s forkMother Carey’s chicken

mothball (in/out of mothballs)

Mother Carey’s chicken

Mother Greenfield’s (lodgings)

motherhood and apple pie

Mothering Sunday

mother’s ruin

mouseburger

mouser

Mr – Mrs

Mr Fixit

Mr Nice Guy

Mr Plod (policeman)

Mrs Grundy

Ms (combination of Mrs and Miss)

Mummerset

must have killed a Chinaman

muttons, to return to one’s

my (giddy, sainted, etc.) aunt!

myrmidon

my stars and garters!

mystery bag

N

(E?)(L?) https://wordhistories.net/alphabetical-index/#N

Nacht und Nebel

to nail one’s colours to the mast

nail, on the

to nail (to the counter)

to name and shame

nanny state

nasty piece of work

neatnik

neck and crop

neck of the woods

neighbour(s) from hell

neither fish nor fowl

Nelson (until/when Nelson gets his eye back)

nice but dim

night (the night’s (only) a pup)

nightcap

nincompoopiana

Nine-nine-nine

nines, dressed to the

the nineteenth hole

no bread and butter of mine

nod (a nod is as good as a wink)

Noddy suit

no feedin’ at Eden

no good to Gundy

no joy without alloy/annoy

no love lost

no lucre at Echuca

no man’s land

nom de —

nom de disc

no more Mr Nice Guy

no names, no pack drill

no room to swing a cat

nose (to cut off one’s nose to spite one’s face)

nose, to pay through the

nosey parker

not a bone in the truck

not a cat in hell’s chance

nothingburger

not just a pretty face

not the only pebble on the beach

not the sharpest —— in the ——

not to be able to fight one’s way out of a paper bag

not to be able to [verb] for toffee

not to be just a pretty face

not to have two yachts, or Rolls-Royces, to rub together

not to know whether one is Arthur or Martha

not worth a crumpet

nul points

nuppence

nutshell, in a

O

(E?)(L?) https://wordhistories.net/alphabetical-index/#O

off one’s trolley

of mice and men

of that kidney

oil on troubled waters, to pour

ointment, a fly in the

old chestnut – marronnier

old school tie

old soldier (to come the old soldier over someone)

Oliver (a Roland for an Oliver)

omelette

OMG

omnibus (the man on the Clapham omnibus)

omnishambles

once in a blue moon

one for show and one for blow

one from column A (and) one from column B

one fell swoop, at

one flash and you’re ash

one for the road – stirrup cup

one man’s meat is another man’s poison

one may as well have the game as the name

one’s best bib and tucker

one’s trumpeter is dead

one swallow does not make a summer

onion (to know one’s onions)

Onion Johnny

the only game in town

on the blanket

on the buroo

on the dole

on the nail

on the pig’s back

on the side of the angels

on the spur of the moment

on the wrong side of the tracks

oojah

oojah-cum-spiff

oojamaflip

open and shet, sign o’ more wet

to open the kimono

opera (the opera ain’t over until the fat lady sings)

orange (all Lombard Street to a China orange)

ordeal

the order of the bootout of one’s skull

Ossa (to pile Pelion upon Ossa)

to out-Herod Herod

out of mothballs

out of the blue

outside the box

to out-Zola Zola

overpaid, overdressed, oversexed and over here

over the moon

over the top

owlhoot

Oxford comma

oxygen

oxymoron

oyster, the world is one’s

P

(E?)(L?) https://wordhistories.net/alphabetical-index/#P

padoodle

padre (gone on the padre’s bike)

to paint the Forth Bridge

to paint the map red, or pink

to paint the town red

pale, beyond the

panda (pedestrian crossing)

panda (police patrol car)

pandemonium

panier de crabes

panjandrum

pan-loafy

pantile (flat cake or biscuit – sea-biscuit)

paparazzi

paper bag (not to be able to fight one’s way out of a paper bag)

paper tiger

paper yabber

paranoid (even paranoids have enemies)

paraphernalia

Paris syndrome

parlour (attributive modifier)

parlour patriot

parlour socialist | parlour socialism

parson’s week

part and parcel

Parthian shot

parting shot

passion-killer

to pass the parcel

pastiche – pastis

the patter of tiny feet

Paul Pry

to pay through the nose

PC Plod (policeman)

peaceable kingdom

pebble (the only pebble on the beach)

pedigree

peeping Tom

Pelion (to pile Pelion upon Ossa)

pen (the pen is mightier than the sword)

penny (the penny dropped)

a penny soul never came to twopence

permacrisis

person from Porlock

pester power

the Pest from the West

Peter Grievous

petrichor

Pharaoh’s Revenge

Philip (to appeal from Philip drunk to Philip sober)

philtrum

piano player in a brothel

Piccadilly window

picnic

picnic (a sandwich short of a picnic)

piece of work (unpleasant person)

pig (to buy a pig in a poke)

pig (to sweat like a pig)

pig in a python

pigs might fly

pigeon à la crapaudine – toad-in-the-hole

to pile Pelion upon Ossa

pillar to post, from

pineapple, the rough end of the

pink

pink on the map

pin-up girl

pip (to squeeze until the pips squeak)

pipe dream

piping hot

Pip, Squeak and Wilfred

pizza face (a person with facial acne)

place in the sun

plain vanilla

to play a good knife and fork

to play gooseberry

to (play) hide the salami

to (play) hide the sausage

to play possum

to play to the gallery

please the pigs

Plod (policeman)

plonk (cheap inferior wine)

plot (the plot thickens)

plus-fours and no breakfast

poacher turned gamekeeper

pogue

point-blank

poison (one man’s meat is another man’s poison)

the politics of the warm inner glow

Pollyanna

poodle-faker

Pooh-Bah

(as) poor as a church mouse

to pop one’s clogs

pork pie – porky pie – porky (rhyming slang for ‘lie’)

port – starboard

posh

postal, to go

postcode (used attributively)

potato-box

potato-jaw

potato-trap

POTUS

poulet

pound-noteish

pour encourager les autres

to pour oil on troubled waters

powfagged

pox doctor’s clerk

pregnant

pregnant and barefoot(ed)

the proof of the pudding is in the eating

prosecco socialist

prunes and prism(s)

P’s and Q’s

public enemy number one

pudding (in the pudding club)

pudding (the proof of the pudding is in the eating)

to pull one’s socks up

to pull out all the stops

to pull someone’s leg

to pull the wool over someone’s eyes

pumpkinification

to punch a hole in a wet Echo

pup (the night’s (only) a pup)

pup, to sell a

to push up daisies

pussy’s bow (up to pussy’s bow)

put a sock in it

to put a tiger in one’s tank

to put on one’s thinking cap

to put [something] where the monkey put(s) the nuts

to put the cat among the pigeons

to put the frighteners on somebody

to put the toothpaste back in the tube

Q

(E?)(L?) https://wordhistories.net/alphabetical-index/#Q

Queen (to take the (King’s/Queen’s) shilling)

Queen Anne front and Mary Ann back

Queen Anne is dead

Queen Anne’s fan

Queen Elizabeth is dead

Queensberry rules

Queensland (the Queensland salute)

queue-jump

(in) quick sticks

quiz

R

(E?)(L?) https://wordhistories.net/alphabetical-index/#R

(white) rabbit(s) (good-luck incantation)

Rachmanism

rainbow (the end of the rainbow)

to rain cats and dogs – part 1

to rain cats and dogs – part 2

to rain stair rods

ranz-des-vaches

raspberry (rude sound made by blowing with the tongue between the lips)

a rat with a gold tooth

rat (to smell a rat)

razor gang

to read the riot act

real George

the real Simon Pure

to recharge one’s batteries

red, to paint the town

red herring

red-light district

red on the map

red rag to a bull

Red Sea pedestrian

red top

to reinvent the wheel

reseda

to return to one’s muttons

rhesus

rhubarb (theatrical term + denoting ‘nonsense’)

rice pudding (couldn’t knock the skin off a rice pudding)

Richard’s himself again

Richard Snary

to ride shotgun

rift in the lute

(as) right as a trivet

the right hand doesn’t know what the left hand’s doing

ring finger – annulaire

riot act, to read the

river, to sell down the

river, to send up the

roaring forties

robot

to rob Peter to pay Paul

rocking-chair job

rocking-chair money

rocking horse (as scarce as rocking-horse manure)

Roland (a Roland for an Oliver)

Roman holiday

roost, to rule the

rose-coloured spectacles

rosinback

rôti sans pareil – turducken

Rotten row

the rough end of the pineapple

royal we

Ruby Murray (curry)

rugby, racing and beer

—— rule(s) OK

to rule the roost

to run like a hairy goat

to run the gauntlet

S

(E?)(L?) https://wordhistories.net/alphabetical-index/#S

to sack

sæva indignatio

a safe pair of hands

said the blind man (used in association with ‘see’)

Sally, Aunt

sandboy, (as) happy as a

sandwich

sandwich (a sandwich short of a picnic)

sanglier

sauce (what’s sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander)

(as) savage as a meat-ax(e)

to save the day

saved by the bell – sauvé par le gong

savoury duck

say boo to a goose, wouldn’t

to say prunes

scarlet letter

schoolgirl complexion

Scouse

Scousette

Scout’s honour

sea (between the devil and the deep blue sea)

season

to see a man about a dog

see that’s wet, see that’s dry

to see which way the cat jumps

see you later, agitator

segocia

to sell a pup

sell-by date (to be past one’s sell-by date)

to sell down the river

to sell refrigerators to the Eskimos

to sell sand in the Sahara

to send a boy to do a man’s work

send it down, Hughie!

to send to Coventry

to send up the river

serendipity

to set the cat among the pigeons

to set the Thames on fire

to settle someone’s hash

sex and shopping

a shag on a rock

shambles

Shank’s pony

sheep, black

shell-like (a word in your shell-like)

shell out

she’s apples

shilling (to take the (King’s/Queen’s) shilling)

ship (don’t spoil the ship for a ha’p’orth of tar)

shipshape and Bristol fashion

shirt (keep your shirt on)

shiver my timbers

Shock-headed Peter

shoe (another pair of shoes)

shoe (to wait for a dead man’s shoes)

to shoot the cat

shopaholic – shopaholism

shoplifting

shopping trolley (i.e., Boris Johnson)

to shop till one drops

short-arm inspection

short of a —— (mentally deficient, slightly crazy)

short shrift

shotgun (to ride shotgun)

shotgun wedding

shoulder, a chip on one’s

shoulder, the cold

should’ve gone to Specsavers

show a leg

Siberian Express

sieve (a memory, or a mind, like a sieve)

silent like the ‘p’ in swimming

silk (you can’t make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear)

silver lining, every cloud has a

silver spoon (to be born with a silver spoon in one’s mouth)

simon-pure

Simon says

simples (British interjection)

sing ’em muck

singing milkshake

sirloin

sixes and sevens, at

six-hat and fifty-shirt

six o’clock swill

sixty-four (thousand) dollar question

a skeleton at the feast

skin (by the skin of one’s teeth)

skinflint

skinhead

skirt patrol

skull (out of one’s skull)

slapstick

Slav – slave

to slave over a hot stove

to sleep in Mother Greenfield’s (lodgings)

to sleep like a top

Sloane Ranger

slobber-knocker – slobber-knock

the Slough of Despond

sly grog

small beer

small potatoes

to smell a rat

to smoke (you’ll be smoking next)

smoke and mirrors

a snake in the grass

Snary, Richard

sneeze

a sniff of the barmaid’s apron

(as) snug as [animal name] (in —)

soap (how are you off for soap?)

soapedy

soap (opera)

soccer

soccer mom

Socceroo

social distancing

sock (to pull one’s socks up)

sock (put a sock in it)

soft Mick

soldier (to come the old soldier over someone)

someone’s blood is worth bottling

something nasty in the woodshed

(from) soup to nuts

sow (you can’t make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear)

Spam medal

spare the rod and spoil the child

a spare tyre around the waistline

Speed Gordon (in more trouble than Speed Gordon)

spick and span

to spin a yarn

spine-bash

spit and sawdust

to spit the dummy

spoil (don’t spoil the ship for a ha’p’orth of tar)

spoon (to be born with a silver spoon in one’s mouth)

spoonerism

sport

a sprat to catch a mackerel

spud

spud-barber

spud-bash – spud-basher – spud-bashing

spur of the moment, on the

Spy Wednesday

squander-bug (British usage)

square-eyed | square eyes

squaw winter

squeaky clean

to squeeze a nickel until the Indian is riding the buffalo

squeeze pidgin

to squeeze until the pips squeak

squid (you can’t tell the mind of a squid)

squillion – squillionaire

stalking horse

stand and grow good

starboard – port

staycation

to steal someone’s thunder

stepmother ((as) cold as a stepmother’s breath)

to sticker-lick – sticker-licker

stick it up your jumper

sticks and stones may break my bones but names will never hurt me

to stick to one’s last

stickybeak

stirrup cup – one for the road

stone (to leave no stone unturned)

a storm, or a tempest, in a teacup, or in a teapot

storm on Channel—Continent isolated

straight and narrow, the

straight from the horse’s mouth

strawberry preacher

Strine

to study the history of the four kings (to play cards)

summer of discontent

sun (place in the sun)

sunlit uplands

sunstruck bone

(as) sure as God made little apples

svengali

to have swallowed a dictionary

one swallow does not make a summer

to swap horses in midstream/while crossing a stream

to sweat like a pig

to sweat the small stuff

swellegant

swim, in the

swoop, at one fell

T

(E?)(L?) https://wordhistories.net/alphabetical-index/#T

tabloid (1)

tabloid (2)

tace is Latin for candle

Taffia

take me to your leader (demand made by an extraterrestrial)

to take one’s courage in both hands

to take the checkered flag

to take the (King’s/Queen’s) shilling

to take time by the forelock

to talk a glass eye to sleep

to talk through (the back of) one’s neck

tango (it takes two to tango)

to tap the Admiral

tar (don’t spoil the ship for a ha’p’orth of tar)

tart

to teach one’s grandmother to suck eggs

Teddy boy

teeth like stars (false teeth)

teetotal

teetotum

tell that to the marines

a tempest, or a storm, in a teacup, or in a teapot

une tempête dans un verre d’eau

tennis

tennis, anyone?

Thames (to set the Thames on fire)

to thank one’s (lucky) stars

thank your mother for the rabbit(s)

that cock won’t fight

that dog won’t hunt

that job’s jobbed

that Kruschen feeling

that schoolgirl complexion

that way madness lies

the answer to a maiden’s prayer

the ant’s pants

the Barcoo salute

the Beast from the East

the bee’s knees

the big smoke

(the) birds and (the) bees (the facts about sexual reproduction)

the books of the four kings (playing cards)

the books won’t freeze

the cat’s whiskers

the Clapham Sect

the clean potato

the cold shoulder

the cup that cheers

the day’s (only) a pup

the devil to pay

the dog’s letter

the eighth wonder of the world

the Emmaville Express

the end of the rainbow

the enemy within

the fat lady (church ain’t out, the opera ain’t over, until the fat lady sings)

the first cab off the rank

the full monty

the funny things you see when you haven’t got your gun

the girls are bandy at Urandangie

the gory details

the (great) Australian adjective

the (great) Australian salute

the (great) god Bingo

the Ham and Egg Parade

the higher the fewer (answer to why is a mouse when it spins?)

the history of the four kings (playing cards)

the Kruschen feeling

the land of fruits and nuts

the land of Nod

the last cab off the rank

the (little) man in the boat

the man on the Clapham omnibus

the man outside Hoyt’s

the men in (the) white coats

the morning after the night before

the next cab off the rank

the night’s (only) a pup

the nineteenth hole

the only game in town

the only pebble on the beach

the opera ain’t over until the fat lady sings

the order of the boot

the patter of tiny feet

the pen is mightier than the sword

the penny dropped

the Pest from the West

the plot thickens

the politics of the warm inner glow

the proof of the pudding is in the eating

the Queensland salute

the real Simon Pure

there’s no work in Bourke

(there’s) trouble at t’mill

the right hand doesn’t know what the left hand’s doing

the river that flows upside down (the Yarra River)

the road to hell is paved with good intentions

the rough end of the pineapple

the sharpest —— in the ——

the skin of one’s teeth

the Slough of Despond

the straight and narrow

the thick plottens

the things I’ve done for England

the things you see when you haven’t got your gun

the toast of the town

the Volvo set

the whole boodle

the whole box and dice

the whole caboodle

the witching hour

the wogs begin at Calais

(all) the world and his wife

the world is one’s oyster

the wrong side of the tracks

(as) thick as thieves

(as) thick as two short planks

thick (the thick plottens)

things are crook in Muswellbrook, or in Tallarook

things are weak at Julia Creek

the things you see when you haven’t got your gun

thinking cap

to think outside the box

thirteen to the dozen

this mortal coil

three-martini lunch

three on the hook and three on the book

thrown out of better places than this

a thumbnail dipped in tar

thunder, to steal someone’s

tickety-boo

tiger (to have a tiger by the tail)

tiger (to put a tiger in one’s tank)

time (to take time by the forelock)

time flies? you cannot: they go too fast

tinker (not to give a tinker’s damn)

tiswas

tit for tat

tittle – jot

to a T – to a tee

toad-in-the-hole – pigeon à la crapaudine

toast (the toast of the town)

toast, (as) warm as

to toe the line

toffee (not to be able to [verb] for toffee)

toffee-nosed

to toilet-paper

Tom Mix in Cement

Tom Pepper

Tom Tiddler’s ground

(with) tongue in cheek

toot sweet

tooth fairy

top, to sleep like a

Torygraph (nickname for The Daily Telegraph of London)

Tory-lite

to toss in a blanket

to the nines, dressed

tough titty

tour d’ivoire – ivory tower

town red, to paint the

to T.P.

to trail one’s coat

to treat with ignore

trick or treat

trigger-happy

trolley (off one’s trolley)

trolley-dash

(there’s) trouble at t’mill

trumpery

trumpeter (one’s trumpeter is dead)

tulip

turban

turducken – rôti sans pareil

to turn a blind eye

T.W.O.C. (taking without owner’s consent)

two is company, three is a crowd

two left feet, or, two left hands

two-martini lunch

(Yorkshire) tyke

U

(E?)(L?) https://wordhistories.net/alphabetical-index/#U

uncle (Fiji uncle)

underground mutton

underpaid, underdressed, undersexed and under Eisenhower

une tempête dans un verre d’eau

to unfriend

unshirted hell

until hell freezes over

until Nelson gets his eye back

up in Annie’s room

up the river

up to dolly’s wax

up to pussy’s bow

useful idiot

useful innocent

V

(E?)(L?) https://wordhistories.net/alphabetical-index/#V

valentine

vanilla sex

Vaseline Valley

Vatican roulette

a verandah over the toy shop

Vicar of Bray

vinegar trip

Virginia fence (to make a Virginia fence)

virtus dormitiva

the Volvo set

W

(E?)(L?) https://wordhistories.net/alphabetical-index/#W

to wait for a dead man’s shoes

Wales

to walk a crack – to walk one’s chalks

Wardour-Street English

(as) warm as toast

to warm the cockles of one’s heart

warts and all

to wash the milk off one’s liver

watching paint dry, like

we aim to please (you aim too, please)

to wear cotton drawers

to wear army boots

well, I’ll go to the foot of our stairs

were you born in a barn/a field/a sawmill/a tent?

wet blanket

to wet one’s whistle

we’ve got the time if you’ve got the inclination

a whale of a (good) time

what can you expect from a hog but a grunt?

what’s sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander

when Nelson gets his eye back

when push comes to shove

where did you get your licence?

where’s your white stick?

where the bugs wear clogs

where the monkey put(s) the nuts

where there’s muck, there’s brass

where the rubber meets the road

white ants

white poppy

(white) rabbit(s) (good-luck incantation)

the whole boodle

the whole caboodle

who’s for tennis?

who’s robbing this coach?

who’s robbing this train?

who’s ‘she’—the cat’s mother?

who stole your scone?

why is a mouse when it spins?

(as) wicked as a meat-ax(e)

widow’s cruse

Will (black, or dark, over Bill’s, or Will’s, mother’s)

william-nilliam

windfall tax

window

winedot

wink (a nod is as good as a wink)

winter of discontent (the winter of 1978-79 in Britain)

wishbone – merrythought

wishful thinker – wishful thinking

witches’ knickers

witching hour

Witham

within a bull’s roar of

without a bone in the truck

(with) tongue in cheek

wogs begin at Calais

wokerati

wood-and-water joey

woodshed, something nasty in the

wool (to pull the wool over someone’s eyes)

a word in your shell-like

the world is one’s oyster

worm’s-eye view

to worship under Dr. Greenfield

wouldn’t say boo to a goose

wouldn’t work in an iron lung

would you buy a used, or a second-hand, car from this man?

wreck (like the wreck of the Hesperus)

wrong tree, to be barking up the

X

(E?)(L?) https://wordhistories.net/alphabetical-index/#X

Xmas

Y

(E?)(L?) https://wordhistories.net/alphabetical-index/#Y

yabber

ye gods and little fishes

yellow peril

Yorkshire tyke

you can call me anything, so long as you don’t call me late to dinner

you can’t have your cake and eat it

you can’t make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear

you can’t tell the mind of a squid

you’ll be smoking next

(you’re) damned if you do and damned if you don’t

you’re so sharp you’ll cut yourself

your head’s on fire

your mother wears army boots

you, too, can have a body like mine

you’ve shot your granny

Z

(E?)(L?) https://wordhistories.net/alphabetical-index/#Z

zero tolerance

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