A-Z Database
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...
Jocular slang for male genitalia, first attested in America in the 1920s but now widespread across the English-speaking world.
An enthusiast, particularly of sport; this Americanism is an abbreviation of fanatic and dates from the late 19th century, originally associated with...
Outside of North America this is slang for the female pudenda and is first cited from c.1860 although its verbal usage may well date from before. Acco...
see Sweet Fanny Adams
Far corners of the earth/world
Attributed to Sir Walter Scott in Rob Roy (1817), “Lochow and the adjacent districts formed the original seat of the Campbells. The expression of ‘a f...
This expression or quotation, which refers to getting away from crowds of people is probably better known as the title of a Thomas Hardy novel (1874)...
The current meaning, denoting something that is improbable or wildly exaggerated dates from the early 19th century. Before this, its original meaning...
Meaning widely distributed, scattered or remote, dates from the late 19th century.
Rhyming slang for haemorrhoids, Farmer Giles/piles, dates from the mid-20th century. See also Chalfont St Giles.
As if we did not know, the OED tells us this word is not in decent use, but this applies only from the 18th century onwards. Before this it was a perf...