A-Z Database
see Cut
Originally, since 1721, a hallmark was the official stamp of quality and genuineness for gold and silver articles as approved by Goldsmith's Hall in L...
Halloween is a contraction of ‘All hallow even’ the eve of All Hallows Day, hallow being an obsolete, Old English word for a saint, hence the modern A...
Ham has a number meanings. Starting in chronological order, 'ham' in Old English, which means Anglo-Saxon English before 1150, meant a village or clus...
A bad or second-rate actor derives from an abbreviation of the 19th century American phrase ‘ham fatter’, denoting something that is second rate and d...
Sometimes spelt as one word, or when used as an adjective is often hyphenated, ham fisted or ham handed means clumsy and awkward. It is thought to be...
'Hamlet without the Prince' is an idiom that describes an event or occasion at which the expected principal participant is not present. It derives fro...
see Put a nail in someone’s coffin
To go at something hammer and tongs is to go at it with the utmost exuberance, zest or enthusiasm. The figurative use dates from the late 17th/early 1...
Rhyming slang for teeth, Hampstead Heath/teeth, dates from the mid-20th century. Hampstead Heath is area in North London.
This is rhyming slang for prick (penis), from Hampton Wick/prick and dates from the late 19th century. Hampton Wick is a place name in the Greater Lon...
see Wait on someone hand and foot
To be in league with or to be on intimate terms with somebody dates from the 17th century. It was listed as ‘hand and glove’ in Catalogue of English P...
see Cookie jar
Hand over fist means quickly or rapidly as in ‘making money hand over fist’, and acquired this figurative meaning from the mid-19th century. The expre...