A-Z Database
The bare bones means the essential, basic facts or components, without any added frills, as in expressions like, “Give me the bare bones” or “Let’s ge...
In the 16th century, barefaced meant simply shaven or without a beard but by the 17th century, its meaning had shifted to shameless effrontery. Theref...
To vomit, throw up, US college slang dates from the late 1940s. It is thought to be echoic i.e. resembling the sound of vomiting.
This American expression is from the late 19th century and alludes to the practice of marking down and storing obsolete or end-of-range merchandise in...
To bark up the wrong tree is originally an American expression that dates from the early 19th century for any endeavour that has run off course, and...
Barking mad means extremely mad, where barking is used as an intensifier. Barking, however, is sometimes used on its own, and a person who is describe...
Since the mid-19th century, barmy is British slang describing a weak-minded idiot. Barm is an Old English word, from before 1150, for the alcoholic sc...
Rhyming slang for hair, Barnet Fair/hair. It is one of the oldest examples of rhyming slang, first recorded in 1857. By 1880, its ‘clipped’ form ‘Barn...
Barney has been British slang for an argument, a fight or trouble in general and dates in this sense from the late 19th/early 20th century. This meani...
This expression is American from the early 19th century and is a combination of barn and the figurative sense of storm as in excitement or commotion....
This word meaning to mock or jeer an opponent, especially in a sporting context, dates from the late 19th century. Although there is still some contro...
The full expression is 'more fun than a barrel (full) of monkeys' and it is originally American from the latter half of the 19th century. The first kn...
This informal idiom for fun or jollity is originally American and dates from the early 19th century but its usage soon spread to the rest of the Engli...
The OED gives alternative spellings for this expression, with one 'l' or two. 'To barrel along' is to move or travel quickly and purposefully, as in a...
Bash meaning to strike with a blow dates from the 16th century and the OED says it derives from combining the words bang and smash. In the late 19th/e...