A-Z Database
An American minced oath for Jesus Christ dates from the early 20th century, also a famous Walt Disney character since 1940. It is doubtful Disney woul...
Rhyming slang for piddle, i.e. urinate, Jimmy Riddle/piddle, dates from the late 19th century and does not derive from any known person.
As in the jingle of bells, spurs, keys etc dates from the 14th century and is purely imitative or echoic in origin. Jingle in the sense of a catching...
Scots dialect word meaning, to move in a sudden, quick manner dates from the early 18th century. Rugby commentators talk of players setting off on a j...
In Greek mythology, Iynx, from whom the word is derived, was a nymph, the daughter of Pan. Her speciality was love potions, one of which induced Zeus...
A style of energetic swing or jazz dancing that originated in Harlem. New York in the early 1920s. It originated from a similar style of dancing calle...
To have or get the 'jitters' is to feel frightened or nervous and is an American word that was coined circa 1925. Its etymology remains unknown but is...
A piano, rhyming slang Joanna/piano, where piano is pronounced ‘pianna’, dates from c. 1912.
Jock is a Scottish nickname for John since the 1500s, also informal for any Scottish soldier from more or less the same time. Jock was also slang for...
To manoeuvre in such a way as to gain an advantage, a phrase borrowed from horseracing and used in this figurative sense since the late 18th/early 19t...
Sports undergarment for men since the latter half of the 19th century, an American invention, derives from the slang meaning of Jock for penis. See al...
Rhyming slang for 'shocker' meaning a mistake or error of some kind. Joe Cocker/shocker, dates from the late 20th/early 21st century, and derives from...
Rhyming slang, Joe Soap/dope, a stupid person, now generally refers to Mr Average, the British equivalent of the American John Doe, often used mistake...
This American expression for the toilet dates from around 1930. Many theories abound, most of them revolving around manufacturers’ names starting with...
Nowadays used mainly in America for a male person usually deceased who has not or cannot be identified. John of course is a generic name for bloke, ch...