A-Z Database
An American expression for niceness dates from the 1930s, from the allusion to apple pie, which has long been an American symbol for niceness and home...
This was British comedian and TV host, Bruce Forsyth’s catchphrase, which was established in Britain by the mid-1970s, when he hosted the BBC (Britis...
see Close, but no cigar
In the sense of to steal is British slang from the mid-19th century, whereas nicked meaning to be arrested by the police is earlier from the late 18th...
see In the nick of time
To nickel and dime someone is to hinder, annoy or harass someone with trivialities and non-essentials, obviously an American expression, which dates f...
An alternative name, dates from the 1400s and before then was originally an ‘eke name’ meaning an ‘also name’, which through elision or the sliding to...
Surprisingly, this slang adjective meaning smart, fashionable, in a somewhat blatant sense, is of American origin from the mid-19th century and only b...
British jocular slang for Guinness, partly because of its colour but also because of Nigerian predilection for the drink, dates from the 1990s.
Now classified as the n-word because it is considered too offensive to use in public but from the late 18th century it was used freely to refer to any...
Rarely heard in these days of political correctness, it means a catch or a problem, much the same as a spanner in the works. Originally an American ex...
A long night of revelry and debauchery, this British expression dates from the late 19th/early 20th century and alludes to the habits of domestic cats...
This word for a bad dream or a situation that resembles a bad dream dates from the 16th century and has nothing to do with female horses. Its literal...
Nincompoop is not a meaningless word as some people maintain. Try calling your boss a nincompoop and see what happens. More correctly, it is ‘nonsense...
A nine-day wonder is a person or event that starts promisingly and excitingly but wanes to mediocrity after a short time. Why ‘nine’ days, nobody know...