A-Z Database
Figurative for merely average, ordinary, an American expression that dates from the late 19th century and originally alluded to ordinary, unsupervised...
Give someone such a hard time so as to exhaust them and give them the appearance of being reduced to rags. The expression dates from the early 20th ce...
This expression has nothing to do with gauntlet as in glove. There are two distinct etymologies for the word gauntlet. The first and oldest is gauntle...
see Red flag
Means to pursue two opposing causes or objectives, clearly a very difficult task; an old English proverb that dates from the mid-1400s.
To give someone the run-around is to deliberately mislead or confuse them, an Americanism that dates from the late 19th century.
Running scared is an American expression that means so frightened as to run away from whatever is causing one’s fear. It dates from the 1940s.
The origin of these words meaning someone who deliberately breaks or destroys something derives from the French sabot meaning a boot. During the 19th...
see Get the sack and Hit the hay/sack
To wear or don sackcloth and ashes is to be contrite and sorry for some transgression and dates in this figurative sense since the 16th century. It de...
A tenet or belief so strongly established that it cannot be questioned or criticised derives from the esteem in which the Hindu religion holds cows. D...
Safe and sound means to be well, out of danger, secure, and unharmed. It is a very old alliterative expression that dates from the 14th century, usual...
Perfectly safe, dates from the mid-19th century. The origin is obscure. Some sources maintain the meaning is literal; houses are generally safe struct...
In its purely nautical sense, dating back to the early 1600s, sailing close to the wind or sailing close-hauled, is a very fine line between rattling...
To sail into someone means to attack boldly, either physically or verbally. Its origin is obviously nautical and the expression has been in use since...