A-Z Database
see Under one’s hat
see Start/Get/Keep the ball rolling
In the figurative sense of keeping the action or momentum going, dates from the 18th century.
see Clean slate
A proverb that means to have enough food or money to avoid hunger dates from the early 16th century and alludes to the fabled ravenousness of wolves....
This famous expression is an exhortation to retain your composure when others around you are panicking. It was coined by Rudyard Kipling in his poem I...
see Keep one’s powder dry
An American injunction to stay calm and cool and do not get angry, dates from the mid-19th century and derives from the practice of stripping off one’...
Put an issue or endeavour aside for now, keeping it on the agenda but not of immediate priority or concern, dates from c. 1960. The metaphor is origin...
see Too many balls in the air
Means striving to match the neighbours in spending and social standing, an Americanism that has spread to much of the English-speaking world. It dates...
This old Scottish dialect word for a commotion, fuss or disturbance has become so popular that the spelling ‘kerfuffle’ has become standard in most di...
Any sauce made by the reduction of vegetables, especially tomatoes, dates from the early 18th century. (The OED gives 1711 as the first citation.) The...
Rhyming slang for wristwatch, kettle and hob/fob, dates from the 19th century when most watches were fob watches. The expression, ‘a nice kettle’ refe...
The expression dates from the 18th century and has developed two meanings. Firstly, the original one, a fine kettle of fish means that an awkward or d...