A-Z Database
A fair or equal opportunity, an Americanism, dates from the early 19th century and probably derives from playing with or gambling with dice. See also...
Someone who will only support or befriend another when it is easy to do so, but who will desert them when difficulties or problems arise, dates from t...
This tautological phrase usually used as a plea for fair play, without bias or advantage to one party or another, dates from late 19th century. The OE...
Denoting a generous benefactor who provides unexpected and lavish assistance, has been used in this sense since the 19th century, derives of course fr...
Belief and conviction can sometimes achieve what appears to be impossible. The source is St Paul, Corinthians I, 13:2, “Though I have all faith, so th...
see Between two stools
Ninepins or skittles has been a popular game since The Middle Ages. This expression meaning to fall in a heap or collapse dates from the 16th century.
To fall from grace is to lose esteem and derives from the allusion to the fall of man in Genesis 3, when Adam and Eve fell from the grace of God, whic...
Victim or scapegoat, someone who takes the blame or the fall, is an Americanism that dates from c.1900.
The literal meaning is to commit suicide by inverting one’s sword and falling upon it as disgraced Roman generals used to do after losing battles. Peo...
In the sense of uncontrolled falling debris, following an explosion dates from c. 1945. Soon thereafter, it was being used widely in the sense of atom...
see On the wagon
To fall or to land in butter, or a tub of butter, is an expression that means to be lucky or fortunate in the sense of being able to enjoy the finer t...
See Easy as falling off a log
A very old proverb, the sense of which first appears in Aesop’s Fables, The Fox and the Lion, c. 550 BC. The OED maintains the exact construction in E...