A-Z Database
Put one’s back into it is to make a strenuous effort, from the allusion of using the strength of one’s back in physical labour, dates from the late 19...
To put one's best foot forward is a metaphor for making the best possible start in any endeavour. Shakespeare used a similar version, but did not coin...
To make a mistake or get into trouble dates from the 1500s when the expression used to be the bishop or some other member of the clergy has ‘put their...
Put oneself in a potentially dangerous situation or face up to something bravely, derives from circus lion-tamers’ practice of literally putting their...
see Nose out of joint
see Get one’s skates on
See Dip / put / stick one’s toe / toes in the water
To identify or explain something with precision or certainty, often used in the negative, dates from the late 19th century
Put someone in a difficult or awkward situation is American and dates from the 1920s.
Since the 1600s this was Standard English for to kill or murder someone but from the early 19th century onwards it was considered low or colloquial. T...
see Nose out of joint
see Keep something on the back burner
This quaint American expression dates from the early 19th century and is simply a more expressive way of saying ‘take that’ or ‘ponder that’ usually a...
see Cart before the horse
To put or drop the hammer down, sometimes with the word ‘down’ omitted, has come to mean to exert maximum pressure or attention to some task or other....