A-Z Database
Means to change the rules to make something easier or more difficult to achieve, depending on the context, dates from the 1970s and is of American ori...
People with influence who can typically shape events; the phrase was coined by British poet Arthur O’Shaughnessy in an 1874 poem entitled Ode, “Yet we...
According to the OED, is first attested from 1913 and is of American origin, an abbreviation of moving picture. See also Flick.
see Trailer, movie
A very old Anglo-Saxon word from before the 11th century meaning to cut down grass or crops with a scythe and more latterly with a machine; sometimes...
This is certainly not a famous quotation. Famous last words are usually recorded for posterity, but these, in a sense, were first words and not famous...
A great deal of fuss over nothing of importance; it was of course the title of one of Shakespeare’s plays written in 1599 and the expression has survi...
This odd expression meaning very much alike or more of the same thing is attributed to Sir John Vanbrugh in his play The Provoked Husband, which was p...
To muck about or muck around is a British colloquial expression that means to act or behave in a pointless, unproductive way, and dates from the late...
Eric Partridge has this as a British officer’s toast from the muddy trenches of WWI c. 1915. One would like to believe it.
Slang for cunnilingus, dates from the early 20th century (the slang rather than the practice) derives from 17th century slang muff, now largely obsole...
Plain clothes worn by a person who when at work wears a uniform e.g. servicemen, policemen, guards, railway officials etc. derives from the Arabic muf...
Mug is an old word of Scandinavian origin for an earthenware container and as a drinking vessel dates from the 1600s. Mug has been slang for face sinc...
Muggins is a surname that has become a British colloquialism for a simpleton or fool since the late 19th century, especially when referring to oneself...
In the lead-up to the British general election in 2017, Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson described the Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn as a muttonheaded mu...