A-Z Database
Litotes is a figure of speech that expresses an affirmative by negating the opposite. For example, the sentence, “The lady was not unattractive,” mean...
As in the expression a little bird told me, indicating a secret source of information dates from the early 1500s but the exact origin remains unknown.
The actual quotation is “A little learning is a dangerous thing” and was coined by Alexander Pope in An Essay on Criticism (1711). Pope may have been...
Live and let live is first attested in English as a proverb in English Proverbs, a collection that was compiled by John Ray in 1670. Because Ray lists...
see Out of one’s wits
The actual quotation is, “All they that take the sword shall perish with the sword” meaning that violent or nefarious actions will reap similar reward...
see High on the hog
see In the lap of luxury
Survive or get by on very little income, appears to be of Australian/New Zealand origin and dates from the 1950s. The expression was later applied to...
The origin of this expression, usually used in the context of there was not a living soul to be seen or don’t tell a living soul, is the Bible, Genesi...
see Life of Reilly/Riley
Rhyming slang for head, loaf of bread/head, dates from the late 19th century, but is now almost Standard English in phrases such as use your loaf.
To idle, dawdle or laze about, hence one who does so, an Americanism that dates from the early 19th century. The OED maintains that it is “probably fr...
A loan shark person is a person who lends money at exorbitant interest rates and is an American expression first attested from the early 20th century....
Just as it is always pleasing to find new, genuine first citations for idioms, it is even more pleasing to find new, authentic evidence for their orig...