A-Z Database
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...
This wonderful word dates from the 1400s; a good word to throw out occasionally, usually to a stunned or uncomprehending audience. Take care not to sl...
Originally, US slang for movie, dates from c. 1920; an abbreviation of flicker from the flickering visual appearance of early films. See also Chick fl...
A fantasy or pipedream, usage dates from the mid-17th century.
Means a piece of nonsense or twaddle designed to trick or deceive, dates from the early 16th century and is probably of old Scandinavian origin, akin...
see Blow one’s lid/top
Originally, an American term for a somersault from 1902, later in 1935 it was an electronic term for a switching circuit and finally in the 1960s it w...
American version of giving the middle finger dates from the 1960s.
British euphemism for the f word dates from the early 20th century.
This was the famous catchphrase of Muhammad Ali c. 1963.
To float someone’s boat is to excite, arouse, or turn someone on and is sometimes used in a sexual sense. This Americanism dates from the early 1980s...