A-Z Database
To go to the wall is to fail, succumb or go bankrupt and has been well established in this sense since the mid-19th century. The origin may, however,...
The figurative meaning to do something exuberantly or excessively is originally American and dates from the mid-19th century when going to town for co...
To go under means to become bankrupt or insolvent dates from the late 19th century from the allusion to sinking or drowning.
see Viral
see Gone west
To go with the flow, means to conform, from the obvious analogy of the difficulties encountered in moving against a flow of water. Once again illustra...
see For a song
This word meaning unintelligible language or meaningless jargon was coined by the Democratic Congressman and Mayor of San Antonio, Maury Maverick. He...
Astonished, flabbergasted, as if smacked in the mouth, originally British slang dates from the 1980s. Gob as in shut your gob has become a somewhat vu...
An ancient prayer or wish that something may not happen; and is probably older than its occurrence throughout the Bible but the Bible source usually g...
Rhyming slang for kids, God forbids/kids, as in don’t wake the God forbids was first heard in the 1950s and is still popular. See also dustbin lids.
Meaning that God only helps those who show some initiative. It is an old Greek proverb, and therefore originally appeared in the form of 'the gods hel...
This was coined by William Cowper (1731-1800) in 1779 in Olney Hymns, although the original quotation is, “God moves in a mysterious way.”
This Anglo-Indian word for a shed or a store, spelt as one word, dates from the late 16th century and has nothing whatsoever to do with the phrase 'go...
see Up in the gods