A-Z Database
Meaning to carry as in pack horse dates from the 1890s and is of American origin. “Are you packing?” common in North America meaning, “Are you carryin...
To carry or bear a forceful impact dates from the late 19th century and is of American origin.
British slang for desist or refrain from doing something dates from the 1940s and derives from the earlier sense of packing up i.e. gathering things t...
Pack has been a collective noun for animals, especially dogs, wolves etc, since the 1300s. Extended to playing cards in the 1590s, to ice as in pack i...
see Filled/full to the gunwales/gunnels
Rafters are the sloping beams that support the roof of a house, be it slates, tiles, thatch etc. Packed to the rafters, ceiling or roof are hyperboles...
Meaning something has ceased to work or function dates from the early 20th century from the figurative sense of having gathered one’s things to desist...
Contrary to popular belief, ‘packed’ meaning crowded or crammed does not derive from ‘packed like sardines’. ‘Packed’ has existed on its own from the...
Pad meaning a bundle of straw to lie on or somewhere to sleep dates from the early 1700s but was revived as US slang for a place to live or sleep in d...
Act independently without reliance on anyone else is an American expression and has been used in this figurative sense since the early 19th century an...
Everyone knows what a padlock is and its use in the language is first cited from the late 15th century but the ‘pad’ part remains a complete etymologi...
This is an old proverb meaning that bad intentions or actions against others often backfire and result in bad consequences for the initiator. This con...
Most of these expressions for an annoying, troublesome person date from the late 19th/early 20th century. Pain in the neck is the polite euphemism, wh...
see Corner
To go on wild spree is an American expression that dates from the late 19th century. Despite the claims of Melton Mowbray, a town in England, that the...