A-Z Database
A phrase that describes Britain or England as treacherous or untrustworthy, especially in international affairs. It is often wrongly attributed to Nap...
British slang, usually derogatory, applied to a rogue or rascal dates from the late 19th century. The adjective perishing dates from around the same t...
Describes a man who stays boyish and youthful, sometimes immature, dates from c. 1914 and derives from the J.M.Barrie play Peter Pan (1904) where the...
Peter, meaning to stop or leave off, is cited by the OED as slang or colloquial dating from 1812. It then goes on to give ‘peter out’, meaning to dimi...
An almost universal exclamation that can virtually mean anything depending on the context in which it is used, first attested from the early 17th cent...
Proper name for the crosshead screw and its corresponding screwdriver, named after their US inventor Henry F. Phillips (1890-1958).
see Physog
The full quotation is “E.T. Phone home” which became the popular catchphrase from the 1982 movie E.T. The Extra Terrestrial directed by Steven Spielbe...
US slang expression of disgust or contempt dates from the 1920s and derives from the German pfui that means the same thing.
see Gone phut
Slang for the face, variously spelt as phyzog, fizzog, phizzog etc but the generally accepted or more correct spelling should be physog or even physio...
Appears in various spellings and describes a child, invariably an African or Negro child and dates from the mid-17th century. It is an anglicisation o...
see Bone to pick
In the sense of to goad or aggressively start a fight or quarrel with someone dates from the mid-1400s.
Eat fastidiously or without relish dates from the late 16th century.