A-Z Database
The expression large as life dates from the early 19th century and originally described portraits or statues, which are literally life-size. Lewis Car...
Larger than life is a more modern expression dating from the mid-20th century describing persons or characters whose behaviour is more flamboyant or e...
To frolic, play tricks etc dates from the early 19th century. Sometimes also known as skylarking and derives from the aerobatic antics of the European...
see Laanie
A popular expression in Australia where it is still used to describe rowdy but generally good-natured hooligans. First cited in Australia from around...
The earliest citation for this now well-worn phrase appears to be from John Lyly Euphues and His England (1580) “last, but not the least”, closely fol...
This expression is now a metaphor for the final opportunity to accomplish something or retrieve a situation, and dates from the early 20th century. It...
This is literally the moment before death, the last breath but can also mean the last chance or opportunity to complete something before a deadline or...
A final, often valedictory, performance or appearance; derives from the Edwin O’Connor novel The Last Hurrah (1956) which was made into a movie of the...
To get the last laugh means to come out on top at the very end, usually at someone else’s expense. The expression derives from the 15th century prover...
To be on one’s last legs is to be very near to exhaustion, usefulness or even death. The expression dates from the late 16th century.
The closing and usually definitive remark on a subject dates from the 19th century and led to the expression the last word meaning the ultimate or ver...
One final, desperate attempt or defence dates from the late 17th century and derives from the military sense of a ditch or trench being the last line...
The last straw is the final small difficulty that exasperates to the point of being unbearable. The full expression is the last straw that broke the c...
see Cry all the way to the bank