A-Z Database
Bleeding is a British slang euphemism for the swear word bloody and dates from the mid-19th century. Hence the word bleeder, which means a bloody fool...
A term of endearment, usually directed towards children that dates from the late 19th/early 20th century. It is simply another form of “bless his/her...
The original expression is thought to be God bless you and the practice of blessing someone after a sneeze has been around for a long time, in the Chr...
A blessing in disguise is a good or fortunate outcome from an ostensibly bad or adverse situation, and according to the OED is first cited from 1896.
A blighter is literally one who blights or spoils something. It is a colloquial British word from the late 19th century meaning rogue or rascal, often...
Blighty is British army slang for Britain or home, the word’s origin lies in British rule in India, as bilāyatī, a regional variant of vilāyatī, an Ur...
This expression of surprise or disgust dates from the late 19th century and is a contraction of the very much older oath, “May God blind me”. Sometime...
Blimp was the name given to the barrage balloons of WWI. Thereafter, Colonel Blimp was a character invented by the cartoonist David Low (1891-1963) in...
As used in expressions like blind rage, blind fury etc means reckless, indiscriminate, from literally not seeing and dates from the 14th century. Blin...
A blind alley is the same thing as a cul de sac and is so-called because it has no eye or through passage. It dates from the early 1600s, but its figu...
This expression, based on the misconception that bats are blind, has been around since the early 15th century. Not only do bats see very well but they...
A bend in the road where the view ahead is restricted or obscured, dates from mid-17th century.
So drunk that vision and senses are impaired. The expression has been in use in use since the 17th century. Hence, blind and blinder, which both mean...
A familiar saying the source of which is the New Testament, Matthew 15:14. “And if the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch.”
This well-known children’s game dates from the late 1500s and there is no doubt the original name is ‘blind man’s buff’ and not ‘blind man’s bluff’. T...