A-Z Database
A red-letter day is a special day to mark a holiday or a celebration and the expression has been used in this way since the 18th century. The origin d...
Term used to describe universities other than Oxford and Cambridge and hence somewhat inferior, although this negative connotation has since largely d...
Young male prostitute; British slang from the early 1980s.
see No respecter of persons
To rest on one’s laurels is to take time out to relax after one’s achievements and successes and dates in this sense from the early 18th century. The...
This rather sinister saying advising that vengeance is more enjoyable when it is cold and calculating was coined by the French writer Pierre Choderlos...
In Britain, this is an everyday exclamation for rubbish or nonsense, usually in response to something that has been said and dates from the early 20th...
see No rhyme or reason
The OED defines rhyming slang as follows: “a variety of (orig. Cockney) slang in which a word is replaced by a phrase which rhymes with it.” The phras...
When the word rich is used metaphorically, as in the statement, ‘that’s a bit rich’ it is expressing amusement or preposterousness and is first record...
Croesus c. 550 BC was the fabulously wealthy King of Lydia, an ancient kingdom once situated in what is modern Western Turkey. He is mentioned in the...
A third class university degree, from Richard III, a British student witticism dates from the 1980s. According to Eric Partridge, Richard III is earli...
To ride a tiger is to be in a very precarious or dangerous situation and this usage dates from the late 19th century. It derives from an ancient Chine...
Means to domineer, tyrannise or treat someone without any consideration and dates in this sense from the early 18th century. The origin derives from r...
Originally an American expression that means to travel in the front passenger seat of a motor car next to the driver. It derives from the earlier prac...