A-Z Database
see Dukes/duke it out
Be prepared to back up the validity of one’s statements with appropriate action or a money wager to the same effect, is first cited in America from th...
This expression meaning to make an effort derives from Aesop’s Fables c.550 BC in the fable of Hercules and the Wagoner where after his wagon gets stu...
A put-down in its figurative sense means a snub, as in putting someone in their place. The OED gives a date of origin from 1860, but Google N-Grams sh...
Putting on the dog means putting on a flashy, showy display; an American expression dates from the second half of the 19th century. It is thought to d...
A victory gained at such great cost that it is almost a defeat. The expression first appeared in print during the 19th century but may been used befor...
These initials stand for the Latin quod erat demonstrandum meaning, ‘what was to be demonstrated’. It was coined by Euclid in Greek c. 300 BC but it i...
see On the QT
Many people wrongly believe that 'quack' is slang for doctor. In fact, quack is not slang at all and is a term for a medical charlatan. Quack in this...
This coined by Seneca (8 BC - 68 AD) in Epistles, “It is quality rather than quantity that matters.”
Slang for an effeminate male homosexual dates from the late 19th century.
Since the 1500s, the word queer has enjoyed two meanings. From 1508, it has meant ‘odd, peculiar, eccentric or strange’ and from 1561 it has also mean...
Despite its lack of political correctness, this expression is still used today to describe a homosexual but this was not the original meaning. Because...
To queer somebody’s pitch is to spoil their chances of success and dates in this figurative sense from the late 18th/early 19th century. The sense of...
This is early 19th century British slang for financial difficulties and is still in common use on both sides of the Atlantic. Queer Street was an imag...