A-Z Database
A flagstone is large paving stone that has nothing to do with flag as in a standard or pennant. The etymology is from an Old Norse word flaga meaning...
Dissension, opposition or criticism, this figurative use is American and dates from the 1960s. The original meaning is of course anti-aircraft fire, d...
Meaning eccentric, unreliable or untrustworthy is American slang from c. 1959 from the allusion that a flake is a fragile sliver of anything, perhaps...
see Flim-flam
British slang for vagina dates from the early 21st century.
British slang for talk or behaviour designed to flatter or deceive. As a noun, it means unnecessary and vacuous ostentation, dates from the early 20th...
A Flash Harry is a derogative term for an over-confident and showy young man. It is thought to derive from the fictional character called Flash Harry...
Means temporary or ephemeral success and has been used in this figurative sense since the late 18th/early 19th century. Its earlier literal sense deri...
Flat meaning an apartment is a British colloquialism that dates from around 1824. From the late 18th/early 19th century, flat was commonly used to mea...
Flat out meaning at top speed dates from the early 20th century and the origin remains uncertain. ‘Flat out like a lizard drinking’ is Australian from...
To be in a flat spin means to be in a state of confusion or disarray and dates from the early 20th century. Before this, from the late 18th/early 19th...
This expression is much beloved by sports commentators and, for some unknown reason, has become one of their favourites, even though they generally mi...
One would imagine that a flea or some such insect in one’s ear would cause a great deal of distress and this must have been the case when lice and fle...
This idiom for a member of one's family or a close relative, is first cited in the New Testament, Ephesians 6-12. Flesh and blood can also be used to...
To flesh out something is to add more detail in order to communicate a fuller understanding or picture of something or other, from the allusion of add...