A-Z Database
Dotty meaning mad or silly is a very old word dating from the 14th century. It comes from a now archaic word dottypoll where poll is the Old English w...
Used either as a verb or noun and now means to betray or a betrayal. From the early 19th century, a cross was slang for a pre-arranged swindle in spor...
Double down is an American expression first used in the gambling game of blackjack where a player may double a bet upon the receipt of only one card....
see Dutch courage
A whammy is an American colloquialism from the 1930s for hex, hoodoo or a setback, usually in a sporting context. Double whammy came along during the...
A metaphor for something that has both favourable and unfavourable consequences dates from the 17th century. It is quite hard to understand the logic...
Douche is French for a shower or a jet of water applied to some part of the body and in this latter, chiefly medical sense, it has been in the English...
A third class university degree from rhyming slang, Douglas Hurd/third, dates from the 1980s. Douglas Hurd was a long-serving member of Margaret Thatc...
see Bring down a peg or two
An Americanism that means destitute, penniless or incapacitated and dates from the late 19th century, originally from boxing where it means utterly de...
Down at heel meaning impoverished, destitute, sometimes shabby or miserable, dates from the early 18th century, and derives from the fact that poor pe...
see Out for the count
To be down in the dumps is to be unhappy, sad or depressed. The dumps has been an expression for melancholy or sadness since the early 16th century. I...
Morose and glum dates from the 1600s and refers to the corners of the mouth being turned down when people feel like this.
To be down on one's luck is to experience a time of ill-fortune, dates from the early 19th century.