A-Z Database
Usually occurs in the negative as in did not bat an eye/eyelid, which means to show indifference or lack of reaction. Bat is an old word from the 1400...
Some claim that it can be traced back to Aristophanes The Birds 414 BC. “Then that bat of a Chaerephon came up from hell to drink the camel’s blood.”...
Means holding ones breathing in expectation of something important or dramatic and as such it is one of the most frequently miss-spelt phrases in the...
see Take a bath
A glorious expression that describes madness or eccentricity has been around since the late 19th century and the earliest citations indicate it is of...
Rhyming slang for boozer (pub), battle cruiser/boozer dates from c. 1940. Before this, it was battleship and cruiser then battle and cruiser, which bo...
see Won on the playing fields of Eton
This expression dates from the late 1400s and originates in a military context denoting a battle on a grand scale or of great strength and size. It wa...
The spelling in America would be battle-ax and it is originally American slang from the late 19th/early 20th century for a formidable or domineering w...
see Carbon copy
see Cleft stick
see Fine fettle
To be in or out of favour with someone, dates from the early 19th century and means the same thing as to be in someone’s good or bad graces, which dat...
see Greatness
see On one’s mettle