A-Z Database
Most people in a current generation might believe this is the proprietary name of an internet services provider. They are, of course, absolutely right...
Outside of America, Yankee and its contraction Yank are terms generally applied to all Americans. Within America, however, Yankee refers only to Ameri...
see Spin a yarn
Pejorative slang for a white male South African derives from the Afrikaans Japie, which is a diminutive of Jaap which in turn derives from the Afrikaa...
see Since the year dot
South African informal for yes, derives from the Zulu yebo meaning yes, which although probably centuries old in Zulu, has only become part of mainstr...
Yellow or yellow-belly meaning cowardly is of American origin from the mid-19th century. It is thought that the expression yellow-belly may have been...
This refers to the largely irrational and unfounded Caucasian fears prevalent during the late 19th/early 20th century for the oriental people of China...
see Whoopee
Yob meaning a street ruffian is originally British back slang from the word boy and the OED gives its origin as dating from the mid-19th century. Yobb...
Although this familiar dairy product dates back to 6000 BC and Genghis Khan’s Mongol armies lived on it during their conquests in the 12th century, th...
British slang for a very long time dates from the 1960s, perhaps derived from donkey’s years.
This is a specialist term from the game of cricket. It describes a ball bowled in line with the stumps, landing at the batsman’s feet, with the object...
This retort is usually used in response to a threat that is unlikely or incapable of being carried out. It is uncertain whether the origin is British...
These Americanisms dating from the mid-19th century are short for you can bet on it. They are used mainly in common speech as intensifiers to add assu...